One of the things I’m really interested in doing is designing fabric, especially stuff for kids clothes. Have you been in a baby store recently? There’s a sea of blues, dinosaurs, trucks, and wild animals on one side contrasted with another sea of pinks, purples, flowers, butterflies, poodles, and “sassy” leopard printed kittens on the other side. If you want something that’s not gender coded to nauseating extremes, you can find some faux rocker boutique online that will sell you black onesies with pithy counter-culture sentiments printed on them. Not your bag? Well, you can find one of those eco-friendly baby companies that uses organic cotton and has a slew of bright modern patterns, many without clear gender constructs. Oh, but you’re going to pay $28 for a onesie, and forget about the sleeper.
I hope the mainstream market will someday (sooner than later) catch up to the indie scene and start making stuff that doesn’t make me want to A: puke, B: make all of my own clothes because I do not have time for that. It takes me months to actually finish a baby blanket and the total project time on that is probably under an hour. The odds of me sewing my kids’ clothes before Pixie’s in full time school are pretty low. Which is a shame, because I think she needs something with frolicking pit bulls instead of a vapid princess or shiny text on her pants. Also: Mainstream market? Stop sexing up clothes for preschoolers. What is wrong with you people?
