The people behind the brand
written by Martine Carroll
I first met Claire in December 2003 while I was working from home with 2 young children on a business I'd set up in 2000, Modern Baby, selling reusable nappies. When I realised that Claire was also working from home, also in Hertford with 2 small children, selling baby slings, I was intrigued by her business, her products and her ideas. We soon realised that although we were very different people in terms of personality, we had the same ethics, the same passionate care for the environment and a common interest in raising our children by natural - some might say alternative - parenting methods (in theory at least if not always in practice!)
Within 2 weeks I found myself knocking on Claire's door with the impulsive, instinctive proposal of joining our businesses together, to sell nappies and slings. By March of 2004 we had moved into our first ever offices, not ideal as they were on the 3rd floor of an old building in the middle of town, but exciting nonetheless. We spent a year heaving stock - and children - up 3 floors, packing up orders then lugging them all - plus children - back downstairs to the post office, to the obvious amusement of the 2nd floor occupants!
A year later we found alternative premises, still an upstairs unit but at least on an industrial estate and with far fewer stairs, which made some of the logistics easier. It was there that Claire and I probably talked far too much about the state of the world, the environment and, as our children were growing, about how we were parenting. We found inspiration and support in each other and in the many books and publications we read, and also in seeing other business with similar ethics grow, other businesses that were trying to change the world in small ways.
It was late in 2005 when we first discussed the idea of designing our own baby carrier. We - and Claire in particular - had years of experience of using and selling so many types of slings and carriers, many of which worked fantastically well but which weren't regarded as ‘mainstream' because you had to tie them around your body in some way. We wanted to make a carrier that would be easy to put on so that parents wouldn't be discouraged by its complexity, and we came up with such a simple idea, with a design that worked, that we amazed ourselves. And so the Close concept came into being.
Even so, it took another 2 long years to source the fabric, test all the components, get the design right, the sizing right and do all the other 1001 things you need to do when you begin manufacturing your own product including registering the design, getting the carrier safety tested, deciding on the name (akin to trying to name a baby!), setting up photography shoots... the list is seemingly endless. We put a huge amount of effort into sourcing everything ethically with as little environmental impact as possible down to sourcing packaging made from 80% post-consumer waste with labels printed with vegetable-based inks.
The problem, as always with a business, was funding. In 2006 we took a huge leap and sold Claire's part of the business selling slings which gave us some funding to start this all off. In the process we were lucky enough to meet Tony, a kind and knowledgeable businessman who saw our enthusiasm and was inspired to invest in us and in both the nappies and the Close baby carrier. He provided us - and still does - with loving guidance, support and calm reassurance when we panic if anything goes wrong!
He in turn introduced us to Hester whose unfailing enthusiasm and attention to detail is immeasurable in helping develop new products on the reusable nappy side of our business and getting out and meeting people. And finally our other great find of 2006 was Natalie, who is far more organised in the office than Claire or I will ever be! She provides so much help and support in so many ways we really couldn't do without her. And so the team began to grow...