The One Thing Moms Overlook That Can Make or Break Their Kidswear Brand

There’s one overlooked step most new kidswear founders skip, and it causes headaches later. You can have beautiful designs, the perfect name, and even solid branding—but if you miss this piece, your business will struggle to connect with parents in a lasting way.

The step so many founders rush past is building a clear Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA) and mapping the brand to their needs. Your ICA is not just a vague idea of “moms who like kids clothes.” It’s a detailed understanding of who you’re designing for, what motivates them, and what problems your brand can solve for them. Without it, you’re designing blind.

So why is this step skipped so often? Excitement takes over. New founders are eager to design their first collection, and in that creative rush they underestimate the importance of really knowing their customer. Many assume they already know who their customer is—after all, they might be moms themselves. But there’s a big difference between assuming and actually mapping your brand to a specific customer’s lifestyle, needs, and values.

Skipping this foundational step comes at a cost. Without a clear ICA, design choices are often off the mark, marketing feels inconsistent, and customer engagement stays low. Even worse, valuable time and resources get wasted on products that don’t sell. The result is frustration and the feeling that the brand isn’t working, when really, the problem lies in the missing foundation.

The good news is that building your ICA doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Start small by sketching out a simple customer persona: Who is this parent? What do they value most in kidswear? What frustrates them about the current options? Study their buying habits, listen to their concerns, and map out their pain points. The more specific you get, the more clearly you can design and market clothes they’ll actually want to buy.

I'm working on Part 2 of the Kidswear Brand Foundation Series and it's all about market research, kidswear niches, finding your ideal customer, your design aesthetics, and more! Make sure you don't miss the launch and be the first to get notified!