Origin Story
Superman has one. Batman has one. And we have one, too.
It started back in April of 2013. I stopped in a big chain store because my daughter, E, then almost three, needed new pajamas. And I did what I always did when buying her pajamas. First I went to the girls section and picked out a few sets that had some assortment of cute, pastel colors with ice cream cones, hearts, and butterflies. Then I walked to the other side of the store and bought her a few pairs from the boys section - red ones with dinosaurs, dark blue ones with rocket ships and planets, and an orange and blue set with construction equipment.
Back in 2013, there wasn't a single dress with a dinosaur on it. So we made one.
As I walked out past the girls section again I glanced through the dresses. My daughter, then and now, will only wear dresses. She loves to twirl and spin and doesn’t mind tying up the ends of her dress when climbing at the park or showing off her underwear when doing a somersault. We can sometimes convince her to wear a skirt, and on a rare occasion, she’ll wear pants or shorts without something twirly over it, but mostly she just loves dresses. And, to be totally honest, I love buying them for her.
But the thing I started thinking about that day as I walked to the register with my motley collection of packaged pajamas is that E also loves wearing her robot jammies and the ones with the dogs (the ones you know aren’t meant for girls because the dogs aren’t wearing lipstick or pearls or a hat with a flower). It’s too bad, I thought, that there are no dresses with robots on them, because she would totally wear that. Or a dress with a truck. Or a dinosaur. Or an airplane. Or a pirate. Or an alien. Or a train.
We made a dress with a train too.
I couldn’t shut my brain off. Even with a six week old baby, I couldn’t fall asleep that night. Someone should make dresses like this! I should make dresses like this! But I can’t sew. Should I learn to sew? Should I just call Old Navy and complain? Should I call Old Navy and try to sell my idea? Can you even do that? I should learn to sew. How should I do that? Who do I know that sews? Eva! She’s a great seamstress! Maybe she’ll want to teach me how to sew. Oh wait…. Even better! Maybe she’ll want to do this with me! And on and on my brain went.
A couple of weeks later, I threw myself a little birthday picnic out in Rock Creek Park, and Eva and family joined us. As soon as we had a slightly quiet moment, I pulled Eva aside.
AND a fire truck!
“Eva,” I said, “I want to start a company that makes girls clothes - like for girls, dresses and skirts and things - with things on them that are usually only on boys clothes - like trucks and dinosaurs and stuff. Do you want to do it with me? Be partners? Start a business together?”
I don’t remember exactly what she said, but I do remember that she answered immediately, without a moment’s pause and with a look of seriousness and excitement on her face. Serious excitement. Excited seriousness. And then she said, “Can you come over this week for a business meeting? We can start to plan.”
And that was it. Princess Awesome was born.
We've come a long way since our basement-sewn, handmade products four years ago. From left to right: our first pi dress, our Kickstarter sample, our Kickstarter tunic pi dress, and our twirly skirt with pockets longsleeve version.
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Deborah
October 13, 2019
My daughter found this site and I love it. My girls are grown so I’m purchasing for my niece who is 6 yrs old. She was told at school by a little boy that she couldn’t wear her NASA T-shirt because it was a boys shirt so I bought her the moon landing dress. I love the solar system dress and hope it will be in stock in time for Christmas.
I’m a mechanical engineer working in the chemical manufacturing both which still have a low percentage of women. Your new DNA, Pi and atom patterns are cool and the geek in me loves them and I think they’re great for the older girls. I’m not sure that these patterns are as relatable to the kindergarten set so I’d like to see some more tangible images for little ones. A chemistry pattern with Florence and Erlenmeyer flasks, a Bunsen burner, and maybe a molecule diagram or two. A pattern made of gears could be really cool too – different sizes and colors, Last a Rube Goldberg Machine could be really cool too. Magnets for physics..,, A lever, pulleys, springs…. Ok I”ll stop now. Keep it up ladies!
Deborah