Awesome Thoughts from our Blog

If you are raising your daughter to be an independent, confident woman, chances are you’ve given thought to the clothes she wears - how to reconcile your feminist values with what stores are offering, much of which promotes a traditional view of girlhood. It makes helping girls learn to dress themselves a tricky and often daunting undertaking.  

On top of what we want our daughters to wear, there’s the equally important consideration of what they want to wear. Before my daughter was born, I swore I would never buy her anything pink. My daughter’s favorite color now? Pink.  A friend of mine was excited to have a girl to dress up in twirly dresses and lacy headbands. At age 2, her daughter is already completely uninterested in anything remotely “girly.”

So how do you clothe a budding feminist? Start with these five principles.

Friends, meet awesome customer Sara and her daughter, Scarlett.

Sara and Scarlett, may we present to you the awesome Princess Awesome community?

The last thing she did that made you laugh:

Her older brother was upset and throwing a tantrum. She turned, looked very seriously at us, and passed gas very loudly. Tantrum over. Her brother laughed so hard. We all did. [I laughed so hard when I read this I woke my husband up]

Friends, meet awesome customer Alyssa and her daughter, Elodie.

Alyssa and Elodie, may we present to you the awesome Princess Awesome community?

A favorite story about her:

Elodie has a big imagination. We love to hear her elaborate stories about a place called "Elodieland". Elodieland has its own language where "no" means "yes" and where kids don't have to take baths. Elodieland has a lot of traffic so it is hard to get around in a car so she sometimes has to use an airplane or a rocket. It is so fun to listen to her version of an alternate universe where she is in charge.

We love to get to know our amazing customers from all across the country (and the world!), and we thought you might like to get to meet them, too.

We asked Bekkah to tell all of us a little more about her awesome daughter. Here’s what she said:

Last week, I accidentally washed all of her play dresses at once. I got quite the talking to: "Mommy, I'm [a] big girl.  I go potty all by myself.  [I] Need Princess dress so [I] don't need you. Get dress.  Get dress, please. Get dress, please, RIGHT NOOOOOWWWWW!"  

Minnie Mouse, as those of who (are forced to) watch The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse all know, runs a successful fashion accessories shop.  My daughter recently came home from a Target run with the Sweetie Pie Minnie Mouse doll, based loosely on the character from the show.  It’s happy-looking, its bow lights up (which my daughter thinks is fascinating), and it’s easy for my daughter to dress (it comes with shoes, apron, handbag, and two skirts).

It also talks and sings, mainly about making cupcakes, bows, and things that are sparkly, cute, or sweet. All well and good - those are things that drive Minnie’s successful cupcake/fashion accessory business.

But in my head, I’m hearing Minnie say what’s going on behind the scenes as she administers her shop...

Over the past few months, we’ve been thinking a lot about how to move Princess Awesome forward. One of the big decisions we needed to make was whether to pursue wholesale accounts - getting our dresses to hang in small boutiques and department stores.

This was not an easy decision. There are definite benefits to selling wholesale: built-in marketing from a store that clients know and love, exposure to new customers, selling in bulk (which means larger production runs and therefore lower production costs), and the je ne sais quois of knowing that our products are out there hanging in awesome stores all around the country.

But after serious thought and consideration - as well as the clear feedback we received from our recent customer survey - we’ve decided that maintaining a direct-to-consumer business model is the right choice for Princess Awesome. Here’s why.

by Maisie, age 11

Up the stairs-
feeling the platform rock.
Ropes quivering,
clips clinking.
One foot gently in front of
the other.
Swaying in the breeze,
I walk across the rope.
Feel the ropes sway.
Stop.

by Caroline Gates-Lupton, age 18

Silent snow is falling down
Hushing as it meets the ground
Brown eyes track and watch it go
Beside the girl, a candle glows

Then pull away to trim the tree
With tinsel bought when she was three
String the popcorn, hang the lights!
This tree will be a lovely sight

Little known fact: planning a successful crowdfunding campaign is like planning a wedding. It’s a huge amount of work beforehand, a lot of happiness and stress while it’s happening, and at its conclusion, you end up with a commitment and a responsibility to make good on promises you proclaimed publicly. Plus, if you’re like me, you’ll end up with a partner whom you start to call your “business wife.”

So if you want to plan a successful campaign, think about planning a terrific wedding. This analogy will help dispel some myths that can sink your campaign from day one.