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This summer flew by for our family. It felt like the end of the year party was yesterday, but here we are about two and a half months later heading back to early mornings and packing school lunches! Our days aren't perfect, but I've learned a few tricks to ease back into the school routine with as few tears as possible (for everyone!).

Happy New Year to you and your amazing family! 🎉 We can't wait to spill the beans on our epic 2023 journey, share our excitement for the adventures that lie ahead in 2024, and reveal the empowering mantras that keep us moms and founders grounded.

Let's admit it, getting little ones dressed up and herding them together for a family photoshoot can be quite the ordeal, even more so when you have to scramble at the last minute. Maybe you suddenly realized the holidays are around the corner, and you want something fresh for holiday cards! Whatever the case may be, taking DIY family photos at home can be just the ticket. It can also be fun (at least my kids think so)! So, put on some matchy or coordinated outfits, grab your phone, and say cheese 📸! What to wear? First things first - your family's outfits! We love the matchy matchy look, and the coordinated color palette. Guess what, Mightly + Origin just launched our first ever Mommy & Mini collection that's perfect for the whole family (psst, we have dresses and basics that so all littles can match mom). The prints are fun, bright, and perfect for a more playful family photoshoot. If you're more into a muted color palette, opt for colors like olive and navy, and mix and match the solid colors from one print. 

It's the BEST feeling when you find that perfect gift and you see your loved one's face light up when they open it. What feels even better? Knowing that a small and purpose-driven brand-owner did a happy dance when your order came through! We’ve curated our favorite small and impactful brands that we LOVE and we think you will too!l By shopping from ethical and sustainable brands, you can help support the planet and the small business working to make a difference. Shop our gift guide for our favorite fair trade, women-owned, and sustainable gift ideas for everyone on your nice list.

Excepted from an interview in Authority Magazine. You can read the entire interview here.  Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path? My backstory looks a bit different from the stereotypical Bay Area entrepreneur. I do not have an Ivy League education or a background in tech. I had my older daughter when I was 19 and raised her as a single mother for the first 12 years of her life. There is no question that being a single working mother prepared me to be an entrepreneur. I became an expert at juggling competing priorities and stretching resources, and I learned the value of simply continuing to put one foot in front of the other, no matter what. Early into motherhood, I realized that I was not going to be happy in just any job. I wanted a career I was passionate about, that was intellectually engaging and that allowed me to be creative. I studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in San Francisco and moved to New York for my first job in 1999. I loved being a designer and working with smart, talented women, but I quickly started to notice the industry’s exploitative and wasteful nature. I still enjoyed the art of creating clothes and the thrill of seeing items I had designed come to life on shop floors or on strangers walking down the street, but I didn’t feel good about the impact my industry was having on the planet or on the people who made the clothes I designed. Then, in the summer of 2005, I traveled to China for work, a trip which ultimately validated my concerns. I remember standing over this wastewater catchment at the factory I was visiting and noticing how beautifully bright blue the water was. Then I started to wonder what happened to that water, which was clearly contaminated. Where did it go? How was it treated? Where did it come from in the first place? When I got back from the trip, I started doing research into the environmental impacts of the apparel industry. I learned that textile mills generate around a fifth of the world’s pollution, that non-organic cotton farming is the fourth largest agricultural user of pesticides, and that the water used to grow cotton is often siphoned from drought-threatened rivers and lakes in cotton-growing regions. Around this same time, I started noticing that many of the women who were shopping at New York City farmer’s markets were wearing expensive jeans from brands like 7 for all Mankind and Citizens of Humanity. Clearly these brands were tapping into something women wanted, but I knew they weren’t living up to their aspirational names. I was sure that these customers, who were all shopping for local, organic food, would love to have the option of wearing jeans with the same premium look and fit but which were made in an eco-conscious way. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our lives today. Can you articulate to our readers what are the biggest family related challenges you are facing as a woman business leader during this pandemic? I have a nine-year-old at home who is dyslexic and has ADHD and, like most of us, sometimes struggles with anxiety. Supporting her in school was already a challenge before the pandemic. It has become exponentially harder since she started distance learning. I’m sure some nine-year-olds are capable of sitting in front of a computer all day and independently completing online assignments, but for my child this simply isn’t possible. Someone must be available to assist her throughout the school day, which is also a workday for both her father and myself. The most obvious challenge has been figuring out how to provide the support my daughter needs while still having enough time to dedicate to my fledgling business. But the more fundamental challenge is how do I protect my relationship with my daughter now that I am playing the role of teacher in a learning environment that is completely unsuitable for her? Can you share your advice about how to best work from home, while balancing the needs of homeschooling or the needs of a family? For households with two working parents, I believe it’s critical to be thoughtful and intentional about how you and your partner split responsibilities during this time. Both parties need to acknowledge that we’re living through exceptional circumstances. Whatever was working before is unlikely to work now. If your partner wasn’t an equal participant in childcare or managing the house before, now is the time for them to step up. There are things we can all do to make working from home more pleasant and efficient, like making sure that all members of the household have their own dedicated work space (even if it’s just a taped off part of the kitchen table). But the reality is that there is no tip, trick, or hack that matters nearly as much as a mutually supportive relationship.Many single working parents are in an even tougher bind. I’ve been inspired by the single moms I know who have built strong communities around themselves and their children and are able to tap into these support networks. Most working women are continually wondering how to be more efficient and effective. How much more can I squeeze out of myself? But perhaps a better question would be, who can I turn to for mutual support? Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?   My favorite life lesson quote is from the poet Anne Sexton, “Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.” I love this quote because it’s a reminder to listen to one’s intuition. Women are often taught to ignore our intuition, rather than to treat it as a source of wisdom. The best decisions of my life have been choices that didn’t make logical sense, like having a child so young or leaving a stable job to start a company. These were choices I made based on what I intuitively felt was right for me and that I was highly motivated to make work. Blindly following your gut, without being clear-eyed about the challenges, probably won’t work out well. However, intuition plus hard work can be a powerful force.

How Barrie Brouse, Mightly’s Creative Director, is making it work (mostly) Could you tell us a little bit about yourself, professionally? I am now Mightly’s Creative Director. Last year, I cofounded the company with two other Oakland mothers, both neighborhood friends. But I’ve been in children’s apparel for a long time. I started working in children’s wear about 20 years ago because I love the use of color and mixing unexpected patterns, textures, and themes together. I am a kid at heart! It also helps that my hand-sketch style lends itself to children’s designs. Whether in print design or other media, I am always drawn to hand-made qualities that highlight process rather than slick and highly finished aesthetics. How would you describe your work style, prior to the pandemic? Before COVID, work-life balance was hectic, a constant juggle with two very active and differently tempered, and spirited, boys. With two young kids, efficient use of time during the day has always been important because once 2:30 rolls around, family time begins. But I am a night owl and find that I am most creative once everyone is tucked in and I’ve had a few moments to clean up the kitchen and enjoy some quiet. How has COVID affected your family? We feel extremely lucky to be healthy but we have also felt the challenges. The four of us (plus Bodie, our 70lb hound dog) live in 790 square feet. It’s perfectly sized for small living during normal times but during quarantine, distance learning, and working from home, it has thrown us for a loop. We are all feeling squeezed to find any uninterrupted time or personal space. There doesn’t seem to be a moment when there aren’t simultaneous work and school calls. My husband and I try to take as many calls in our garden as possible but it isn’t always so easy, because of weather, our chickens clucking, or even a bee swarm from one of our hives! That said, we’ve come to embrace our lifestyle and seek mindful moments where we can. How has the pandemic affected your work for Mightly? I am used to working closely with our suppliers in India but since the pandemic, I find myself slowing down and taking the time to really check in them. Whether you are in the Bay Area or Kolkata, we are all in a similar situation, trying to keep our families and friends safe and healthy. We talk about what we see and hear, how our children feel, and the worries that come with trying to navigate these times. Now more than ever, I think about true partnerships and how we cannot do what we are doing alone.   How has Mightly been able to support you, as a working mother, during the pandemic? Working with other moms in a supportive environment feels incredibly good. I can’t say that I meet every deadline or that my kids haven’t popped up during a video call. (Their three favorite questions: where is their precious Lego? What to do when they have only 3% battery? How much longer will you be?) “Work from home” is just real life right now. It isn’t always predictable but it is understandable without having to feel apologetic. We talk about our good and bad days with each other, and together understand that keeping our homes healthy and happy is what’s most important. I have worked for other companies in the past where this wasn’t the case and where announcing a pregnancy or a personal vulnerability was not welcome. We all afford each other empathy and flexibility, which are so, so important.  Are there any hacks that have worked for you, that might also work for other working parents? With our limited space, my normal work area must be flexible. Staying organized and mobile is important, so I keep an “office in a bag.” I like the Puffy Tote from Baggu. Inside it, I have a tool-kit with my design essentials – pens and pencils, sketch pad, and scissors. This way they aren’t floating in the bag and everything has a “home.” I also keep all the other things that keep me plugged in, like charging cables, earbuds, Wacom tablet and pen, etc in another zip pouch. The tote itself holds everything I need for the day. At the end of a work session or the day (or in many cases, late at night), all the contents return back to the bag and are stowed out of the way. This limits distractions and lets me focus on my kids, when they need it most. And maybe they’ll learn from example! Are there any work-arounds that you’ve tried that have totally not worked? Yes! I tried to carve out 20-30 minute intervals of activity for the kids so I could get some work done, which didn’t work well at all. For me, turning work on and off is very difficult and, in the end, fills me with guilt for not carving out enough time to be fully engaged. How have things gotten easier as months in quarantine have passed? How have things gotten harder? Summer has been a great time for all of us to take a breath and have perspective on what worked, what didn’t, and what to expect with so much still unknown. We have come to know that sometimes, taking a break or going for a bike ride after breakfast just needs to happen. We are trying to listen to each other more and address our individual needs, as difficult as that can be. Waking up early has been increasingly harder! While we are not the family that spends all day in pajamas, you won’t see us hitting the redwood trails at 8:00am either. It is increasingly difficult to find newness and drum up the energy for another cardboard building project, tie dye experiment, etc. There was novelty in trying things for the first time, like riding a bike, skateboarding, magic tricks, planting potatoes, you name it, but we all yearn for the outside world to be healthy again. What do you most look forward to doing, when the pandemic is over? I can’t wait to see kids being kids without what seems to be the weight of the world on their shoulders. “Normal” may look different, but when kids can be together in a classroom with a teacher giving them encouragement, not behind a mask, but with a smile for all to see, and even a simple pat on the back, will be something that I am truly looking forward to. I also miss seeing my family that I am not able to see in person and of course, giving and receiving hugs. And who can forget seeing live music again? Seeing and hearing music, and dancing, are such wonderful releases for me. I was lucky to see a few live shows right before shelter-in-place, so I’ve been holding onto those memories and look forward to one day seeing shows again, feeling the music and dancing it all out! Amos 5 and Rafa 8, giving feedback on Mightly's new 100% organic cotton facemasks.  Mightly Made for Mightly Kids #MightlyMe ∙ #FairTradeCertified ∙ #OrganicCertified

Mightly was founded by three moms who together have two boys, four girls, and over 40 years of apparel industry experience. We founded Mightly to make the kind of clothes we want for our own kids: Kid-Friendly Styles in Earth-Friendly Fabrics at Family-Friendly Prices. As any parent knows, mornings can be hectic (even when school is at the kitchen table). Whether your child has sensory issues or just very strong opinions, getting dressed can mean frustration and tears. That is why we think about kids, not trends, in every step of our design process. We use flat seams and itch-free labels so touch-sensitive kids don’t hate getting dressed. We make our clothes extra durable by using premium fabrics, high quality construction, and special features like reinforced knees so you can pass them along when your child outgrows them. But that’s not all. Mightly exclusively uses certified organic cotton and non-toxic dyes because it’s better for your kids and for the kids who live in cotton farming communities. Our supply chain is completely transparent and certified: We know our factory, their suppliers, and even where our cotton is grown. By using certified organic cotton, and working with a Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Fair Trade Certified factory, Mightly supports sustainable farming and better working conditions for the people who make our clothes.  We believe that all children should be able to wear natural organic fabrics that are free from toxic dyes and chemicals. We believe that farmers and workers should have safe and healthy working conditions and be paid fairly. Our mission is to deliver high quality organic fair trade clothing at fair prices. We do that by investing in our products and supply chains, rather than in big marketing and advertising campaigns. Mightly Made for Mightly Kids by Mightly Moms. “It was my daughter’s last day of 2nd grade and she wanted to wear something special for the step up ceremony. For my daughter special usually means a favorite graphic tee (often from the boys section), animal prints, or something she has customized herself. It never means something frilly or sparkly or “princessy.” When she came out of her room wearing a hand painted tee shirt and a pair of leggings with a hole in the knee I told her she looked great and asked her if she was bothered by the hole (I hate to admit it, but I was). She shrugged and said she didn’t have any without holes. I found that hard to believe because she had a drawer packed full of leggings. But she was right, I pulled out pair after pair of leggings looking for a replacement and every single one had a hole in the knee, even the expensive ones I bought because I thought they would last longer. I looked at the pile and knew I could do better. I had over 20 years of experience in the apparel industry, the last fifteen dedicated to developing sustainable products and building Organic and Fair Trade Certified supply chains. I knew it was possible to make clothes that could handle active kids like my daughter at prices that working families like mine could afford. I knew it was possible to do it in a way that benefited, rather than exploited, the people who made them. And I knew exactly the two women I wanted to do it with."  - Tierra Del Forte, Co-founder and CEO    "I’ve long been a legal advocate for indigent women and children, in a variety of different ways. Mightly, which is a woman-led, Fair Trade Certified, organic clothing company, offered me the opportunity to invest not only in myself but also in other mothers, including the women who grow Mightly’s cotton on small certified organic family farms and those who sew Mightly’s clothing in our Fair Trade Certified factory. My ultimate goal is to make organic, fair trade clothing available at an affordable price so that more parents can afford to buy healthy, non-toxic clothing for their children and support a transparent supply chain that gives back, rather than takes away, from its workers, while reducing the overall environmental and pesticide burden on our planet.”              - Anya Marie Emerson, Co-founder and COO “It’s hard for me to remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by fabrics and how things were made. At an early age, equipped with only a needle and my imagination, I would update my favorite cardigans with vintage buttons or mend holes with scraps of fabric and embroidery floss. Over time, I learned to repurpose old pillow cases and bandanas into shirts, inspired by my older sister’s discarded Sassy magazines. Today, with decades of experience in the apparel industry, things aren't that different for me. I am still exploring with textiles, only now they are my own designs and prints. I spend my days drawing and sketching, thinking about what my two boys want to wear while skateboarding and also cozying up to read a favorite story, and what will keep them comfortable enough to sleep through the night. My kids inspire me to design clothing that lets them be their own superhero instead of wearing somebody else's idea of what that means. They remind me that itchy tags are never a good idea and that the softest t-shirt will always be the favorite. As a mom, I know the importance of making clothing last long enough to pass down to younger siblings. As a designer, I draw inspiration from kids' playfulness and curiosity and their need for simple comfort."  - Barrie Brouse, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer It’s been over a year since we launched our first products, 100% organic cotton tees featuring hand drawn graphics by print and textile artist Lili Arnold, and we are so proud of what we’ve accomplished! Since then we’ve shipped thousands of tees and launched other kid-friendly styles like long-lasting leggings, double-duty dresses, and no-nasties pjs. We have been awed by the support of our friends, family, and community who helped us get the word out about Mightly so we can invest our time and money into making great products, not making great ads. We never could have guessed we would be building our company while living through a pandemic and unexpectedly homeschooling our kids. Most importantly, the core values we created this company around--using our business to benefit the people who make our clothes and to support other working moms--feel more relevant than ever. Mightly Made for Mightly Kids #MightlyMe ∙ #FairTradeCertified ∙ #OrganicCertified