Baby clothes on the Go-Go

Words Mary Kirk-Anderson
Originally published in The Christchurch Press

A sleepless daughter put Amie Nilsson into the kids' clothing market.

Parents worldwide are appreciating the fruits of Amie Nilsson's search, three years ago, for a way to help her new daughter sleep through the night.

Nilsson, who grew up in North Canterbury's Greta Valley, and now lives in Auckland, is the force behind the Go Go Bag™, a natural fibre sleeping bag for babies that seems to have yummy mummies everywhere extolling its virtues in helping babies settle and sleep. It was recognised last week by the prestigious iF International Design Awards in the leisure and lifestyle section.

The first Go Go Bag was made for Nilsson's daughter, Lily, who had started waking cold in the night when she kicked off her covers. Nilsson, who at the time had a small graphic-design business, designed and made the cotton bag herself after a polyester filled sleeping bag brought her daughter out in a heat rash and she couldn't find any commercial product that was made of entirely breathable, natural fibres.

She then found that the bag was also a good way to keep her baby settled even in potentially unsettling situations, such as having to get her out of bed and into a carseat when she dropped her husband off at the ferry in the mornings.

"She would just settle herself in her bag and go to sleep, so it meant I could be quite portable and mobile," says Nilsson.

"By the time she was three months old, I had been out and about with it (the bag) a lot and people showed a lot of interest in it. There just wasn't any thing else around like it." Then she cottoned on to merino fabric, did a small production run, set up a website, and "before I knew it, I was in business".

She called her business Merino Kids, and soon expanded into a complimentary merino clothing range for babies and toddlers, using New Zealand merino wool woven in Italy.

Last week she launched a new children's label, Pure Cotton Kids, with clothing and Go Go Bags in cotton. They have fine details and a clean look.

Nilsson says business grew 450 per cent last year, with online customers from all over the world, particularly Australia and Britain, making up the bulk of sales. The products are also available in some New Zealand stores.

The market for stylish baby and children's clothing seems to be ever growing and lucrative, but Nilsson says natural fabrics are the key to the success of her products.

"Something that grates with me about the baby market is that there are so many products out there that are not natural. They look pretty and maybe feel good, but there is often nothing natural about them. I guess it worries me that people are putting their babies into these fibres that aren't great for them.

"My products look beautiful, but for me it was about being able to offer a natural product."

Little Lily, now 3 1/2 years old, has been a model for Merino Kids, with brother George, two, and sister Scarlett, three months, also handy to have at a photoshoot.

"They're great models," says Nilsson. "And I can see first hand how a product works and how I can develop it. It's a full time operation for me now, but that's OK," says Nilsson. "People are used to me cruising into meeting holding a baby."