Mumma & Cubs was born when life gently pointed me in this direction. I was searching to find more of myself while still in the trenches of motherhood! I was holding onto a passion for creativity that had been put on hold in an attempt to find routine in chaos, and I so longed for children’s clothing that truly reflected what I was looking for — great quality, thoughtful options, and space for individuality in our twin world.

 

Motherhood, Mumma & Cubs and Me.

I’ll make no secret of it – after I became a mother, as time ticked on, I was at a loss as to who I was at my core. Once I stripped away everything that motherhood had given me, I wasn't sure what was left anymore. So much had changed, including my priorities, and I’d lost a sense of who I was outside of being a mum. I didn’t have my career, I wasn’t using my degree and I wasn’t at a stage yet where I felt I could go out and about, so I turned to what I had dabbled in before; sewing.

I’d first taken sewing seriously whilst studying textiles in design technology. My proudest moment was creating a snow white costume complete with the iconic renaissance inspired slashed puff sleeves – yes I still have it in my wardrobe! Fast forward to the start of the pandemic and I made PPE bags for nurses I knew and then a little later came the news I was expecting twins!

First steps into clothing.

With nesting hormones raging, a to-do list as long as my arm before the babies arrived and minimal experience working with stretch fabric I did what every sensible person does; I set to work making my babies’ first leggings. They were... awful. My two never actually wore them, but, it taught me a valuable lesson; do your research and increase your skill set first!

So I did, and I started to make small items and little bits for my boys - but it wasn’t until the boys got a little older that I decided to expand and create the brand which offered what it was I was looking for.

Clothing as unique as your little ones are.

Being a twin mum definitely shaped my desire to create Mumma & Cubs. A theme that comes up time and time again in the multiples community is whether to dress your little ones the same. I’m sure I over thought it, but I was conflicted. I loved the look of matching outfits (plus it felt easier) but I also wanted them to be individuals and not be referred to only as “the twins”. What I wanted was to find things that were the same but in different colours, or had slight differences to them.

If you’ve walked through a “boys” section lately it’s mainly either bland, or dinosaurs and tractors. Whilst I do love a dino and farm print myself, there wasn’t much variety - so I ended up buying just double of everything. What I wanted was to be able to pick up two tops that were clearly matching but had a little bit of individuality in there too.

This also got me thinking about having the same prints but in different products – that would be perfect for twins and siblings alike. They get to wear the same design but in a product they are more comfortable in or more age appropriate. Or even just the same dinosaur design but in two different colours – so they had something they could easily see was “theirs” without looking at the name on the labels.

I also wanted to make clothing that are the ones pulled out of drawers or slid off of hangers because they feel special; clothing that holds memories and makes for adorable photos in the every day - but that lasts long enough to be passed on or handed down.

What’s in a name?

I’m sure you are thinking it's straight forward – I’m a mum and I’ve got little ones. Well, yes BUT there is a little bit more to it and it’s what I think of as my "mumma bear" instinct.

I’ve never been one for conflict or confrontation in general – I’d rather sit and eat a stone cold meal than send it back to the kitchen, but once I had the boys; something changed in me. I felt a strength in me to stand up for them, stand up for my gut instinct and stand up for what I knew was right. This all culminated in one very memorable allergy related hospital visit – I won’t go into detail but safe to say that trying to split up a worried mother from one of her exclusively breastfed babies and whilst also only having one changing bag fired something up inside me. (And I don’t say that as a flex, we did try a bottle so we could combi feed and they would not take it – who knew!? Certainly not me!)

It struck me whilst I was thinking of a brand name that "Mumma & Cubs" was perfect – it had that natural instinct feel that you get with parenthood, it symbolised something that had awakened in me when I became a mother, and if you spent 5 minutes in the company of my wonderful children you would be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled into the Yukon and were now watching two bear cubs wrestling!

 

 

So here we are – My Family, Me & Mumma & Cubs. I’m so glad you’ve found us!

Hayley xx