With all that said, I'm pleased to announce that I have started my own little company - mare ad mare, which is latin for 'sea to sea' and part of the Canadian motto (check the cover of your new passports). Our goal will be to build a fresh new brand of clothing for Canadian (and wannabe Canadian) girls. I will be using this blog, much as I have in the past - to continue showing people around the globe (over 50 countries now!) what it's like to be a Canadian girl, tracing the footsteps of our 3 girls as we explore more of this great place we call home.
I have built a website at www.mareadmare.ca to display the shirts, provide links to the blog, where to buy and colouring pages. Take a look - let me know what you think!
We're starting the brand through 5 Tshirts, 4 of them representing our 4 seasons. We've taken elements of Canadiana and boiled them down to a fun design and a cute saying. These designs are kid approved, and have been updated through some great feedback on an earlier round of ideas on this brand. Special thanks to XUP, Jenn and others who commented - Hope you like the changes!
The line
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Spring...Finally!
After a long Canadian winter, spring can never arrive too soon! Pull on this Spring Green T and go planting girls!
Summer - Pass the Marshmallows!
Just in time for summer. Summer in Canada is the time for camping, camp fires and of course - Marshmallows! Get ready to go roast some in this summer yellow T.
Fall - Jump In!
A big pile of leaves for you here! As a Canadian summer turns to fall, the leaves change colours and then fall off the trees. Kids rake them up and play!
So go on, Jump into Fall with this Orange T.
Winter - It's not ALWAYS cold in Canada.
How many times have you had to tell someone that it's not always cold here?
Well, sometimes it is cold - but to make your point, grab this little winter blue T and let them know that it's not just snow and ice up here all the time!
Well, sometimes it is cold - but to make your point, grab this little winter blue T and let them know that it's not just snow and ice up here all the time!
A kiss - Donnez-moi un petit baiser!
'Gimme a little kiss' - says it all.
Girls, grab this little white T, and go get your kiss ;-)
Girls, grab this little white T, and go get your kiss ;-)
In stores near you
We will be looking for retail partners to sell our line across the country, but for those who don't have a retail partner nearby (or are located abroad) - I've setup an etsy shop for the moment.
If you know someone or a store in your town that might be interested - please let me know! (I'm great with kick-backs! )
First showing - Westboro, this Saturday!
This weekend - we will have a table at the Westboro Garage Sale at Dovercourt! Not the most glamerous start, but figured it would be a good opportunity to get out and get some feedback on the shirts, see what kind of success we might be able to have... I hope to have the girls there helping me out (in between dance lessons). We'll be handing out colouring books for those poor kids that had to be dragged out to the garage sale - hope to see you there!
I'm pretty excited to get this going (finally after it being in my head for almost 2 years now...). I'll be updating the blog with business notes too now - hope you don't mind, but it should be an interesting journey. Can't wait.
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Congrats and lots of luck! Looks like a great adventure, the shirts are super cute (and the girls too). :)
Great idea, and I love the shirts! Do they come in me sizes too?
Best of luck with your new venture!
Wow! Excellent. Excellent. It's so exciting to see someone being proactive with their life like this instead of moaning about how they got downsized and can't find another job. The t-shirts are perfect. How did the Westboro show go? I think this is an amazing opportunity for you to grab some of the Canadian girls clothing market. When mine was young I know I was always frustrated that all the clothes for young girls looked like knock-offs of clothes for much older girls -- to provocative for little girls. And almost all of it full of product or TV character endorsements. And so much PINK! Arghhh. Little girls should be wearing things that are comfortable to play in, yet still pretty enough to make the girls feel special. I assume you'll be branching out into other garments? A "v" necked t-shirt might be nice too if that's an option -- adds just a little touch of femininity with cap sleeves maybe a bit of shape to the shirt. I know they sell those somewhere, but I'm not sure if they're available for your purposes. The shirts you have now look great though - gorgeous colours. I don't see any prices or ordering information on your website?? I'll definitely work in a plug for your stuff on my blog some time this week (for what it's worth). Probably Thursday -- stay tuned!