Hot Flash: Where the wild things are - Wild Little Comfies

Cassandra Sawyer saw a need and decided to create a comfortable, yet stylish apparel line for infants. Launching her first collection of Wild Little Comfies on July 14, the photographer-turned-infant-clothing-designer sold out of the threads in less than a week. With an Instagram following of more than 3,600, a sold-out line, and the raddest clothes we’ve ever seen, BT got to know more about Sawyer and her Wild Little Comfies.

What is the story behind creating Wild Little Comfies?
Well it started because of a collection of things, but all centered around my photography business, Cassie Leah Photography.

Having a newborn studio that is entirely organic friendly, I am always looking for unique and subtle ways to add some interest to my images, without distracting from the newness of the babies. I had seen these little natural pants that a newborn photographer in Portland had used and I was inspired. I couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I decided to make these little pants to use as accessories for the newborns.

Without knowing a thing about designing or making clothes, I started looking behind the scenes of what goes into making an item, figured out a pattern, found my materials, borrowed a friends sewing machine and made a pant to offer to my clients — that started the mindset that I could make baby clothes.

Meanwhile, one of my longtime clients had moved to Texas and was really into baby fashion. She was constantly tagging boutiques and brands that her toddler was wearing and that got me looking into this world of baby fashion. I had already made my first pants for the studio and that just further kick started this idea of designing apparel for babies. I wanted to create a brand that’s comfortable enough to sleep in and play in, while still looking “super fly” — adult clothes for tiny humans.

What steps did you take to make this dream a reality?
I started developing the concept about a year ago and in March I decided to just go for it. I knew the style that I wanted to create, so I began with my logo so I could go ahead and start the branding. It’s really important to remain true to the brand and to remain consistent — to speak to the market and not confuse anyone in the process, as well as to turn some people off. I’m not making something everyone will love; to me that means it’s not specialized enough.

Then I started looking into different fabric supplies, focusing on the importance of finding a fabric that was organic and eco-friendly, which I found — a 100% organic cotton, bamboo knit and hemp fabric.

The sketching came next. All of the designs I created are very simple and complement everything about the company about the company, from the logo, the marketing fonts, the types of photos and colors — simplicity is key to consistency.

Eventually, I narrowed it down to five collections, which I will be releasing one at a time. The clothing style I have designed is really what I thought the market was missing and is intended to pair well with the super rad brands that I was inspired by. Instead of competing with these brands, I could use them to cross promote once my brand launched.

How did you come up with the name Wild Little Comfies?
When I first started developing the concept, I called the brand “Comfies.” I call my favorite clothes comfies, my pajamas are comfies, anything that is super comfortable and you can lounge around in all day are comfies. A little into the process I changed the name to “Comfies by Cassie,” but further into the development of the brand I decided on Wild Little Comfies. All babies have a wild spirit in them, so part of the name came from that, too.

How are you using Instagram as the marketing platform for your brand?
I knew I had to build up a good following to have people interested before even launching my brand. I started collecting different brands and ordering clothes that would pair well with mine. I was extremely selective with brands with whom I would complement and not compete with. I began releasing images and the clothing and accessories I accumulated for the shoot itself and tagged every brand I used, to give the companies a shout out and to promote them as well. In return, these companies began sharing my images to their followers.

The community I’ve found on Instagram are so supportive of one another. It’s less about competition and more about coming together and increasing the value of the industry as a whole — success comes from celebrating others success.

I had basically partnered with these companies that had thousands and thousands of followers by using their great pieces to complement mine, while at the same time promoting them, to ultimately get my brand out there to the market we all appeal to.

It’s been two weeks since my launch and I have almost 4,000 followers — 4,000 people directly exposed to my brand.

What lessons have you learned along the way?
I’ve learned to just go for it and not worry too much about the “how” and just take every step at a time and know that success is coming. The universe is like a mirror — it reflects right back at you what you put out there.

Follow @WildLittleComfies on Instagram and visit wildlittlecomfies.storeenvy.com to shop organic threads for your spirited little.