TLDR: I am a young wife and mother with a product idea, a unique baby burp cloth product unlike what is available on the market, that has been in the making for years. I am seeking advice on how to actually get my physical baby product made ethically, ideally in Australia. Sewing the products myself on a small scale would not be very lucrative. I don’t know who to engage with to start and I am using my current part-time admin work income to fund this, while my husband pays for our household expenses. Does this require investors or government grants or can you start on a smaller scale? Please forgive me for my naivety. I am allowing myself to dream without limitations, but I want to have a plan. Any guidance is invaluable to me!
After having my baby, I noticed that the products I was using weren’t functional and I would end up covered in baby vomit every day. I came up with some iterations and started sewing my designs, needing a creative outlet after studying design at university. From here, friends started asking me about what it was that I was using and requested to buy some of the cloths for their pregnant family and friends. I won’t go into details as the product is very unique, yet simple to replicate.I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset, despite wanting to stay at home with my child. So I started to research product design and marketing, and opened my first Etsy shop, knowing I had absolutely no time to actually market or manufacture back then. But it was a fun creative outlet and friends and friends of friends kept asking for more and loved the branding I designed. One person in particular, a mother of an entrepreneur, insisted she buy a few of them before she flew back home and explained that my product was really different and so innovative yet simple, that it could ‘go really far’. I had a flutter of excitement after years of imposter syndrome and with much iteration since then, I am now ready to bring my idea to fruition.
Any advice on who to consult to actually make and market this product (manufactures, legal requirements for baby products, marketing and registering, barcodes etc) would be absolutely invaluable to me. I have researched so much but feel overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. I can’t have this idea just waiting around, it will help a lot of parents.
Thank you for reading this far.
How technically difficult is it to make? Or, is it mostly just time consuming?
There’s no right answer about where to manufacture textile products as they’re generally more simple to prototype (no engineering investment etc) and good quality can come from all over the world. If by ethical you mean paying people fair wages and having certifiable materials, then there will also be options globally. Australia would be one of the most expensive places to do it, though if there is enough profit margin it could add to the marketing of the product. Chinese mothers love buying Australian milk powder for their children.
I’ve found that in China the manufacturers can be more responsive to getting prototypes/testing done and the huge range of factories from big to small mean flexibility in order quantities + more material options nearby.
Is it possible for you to make a small quantity of them while you test if there’s much profitable market outside of friends-of-friends? Overselling your capacity so that you’re totally swamped with work would be a huge sign that there’s a business from people who don’t have any connection to you, and lowers your risk. This sort of data would also make more serious manufacturers want to work with you. The hardest part will be finding customers and selling profitably at any scale - the production can absolutely be solved and is the perfect problem to have!
Another way to find manufacturers that are probably more serious is searching through the exhibitor lists of trade shows in your industry. Sites like 10times list all the global shows and usually their exhibitors as well. To be at any decent sized event costs them a significant amount so it vets them in a way