(From left, Tracy Martinez and Carol George)
Story and photos by Jen Boyer
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

While walking around Green Lake last April, two stay-at-home moms had an idea that would send their lives in a new direction. What if they took those adorable hand-sewn felt hair clips one of the moms makes for her daughter and marketed them to the world?

What started as a “what if” turned into a whole new brand of fun, functional and eco-friendly kids accessories in just six months – Little Doodahs.

West Seattle resident Tracy Martinez and Queen Anne resident Carol George met years ago through their husbands, who were college buddies. When they had their children, they each decided to leave their 9 to 5 jobs and stay home full time.

Before becoming a mom and choosing to leave the workforce, George was an assistant controller for Buy.com. Martinez worked in digital marketing at the Seattle Times (WSB patner), and has a business degree and interior-design training.

When George saw Martinez’s handiwork, her financial and e-commerce instincts tingled. “My daughter Haley kept commenting on Sophie’s cute hair clips and I asked Tracy where she found them,” George recalls. “When she told me she made them, I knew she had something special.”

What’s more, both moms had been thinking about ways to start some kind of work-from-home project that would bring in cash but allow them to be home with their kids. George ideally wanted to use her e-commerce and retail background. Martinez wanted more than anything to have a creative outlet.

“The thing was, there are a lot of hair clips out there, so we needed to brainstorm on other ideas that we could bring to market,” Martinez explained. “We designed these adorable hair bands and shoe clips, kind of like hair clips but you put them on your shoes, made from laminated cotton and tulle, in addition to the hair clips. I also love vintage hand-braided charm bracelets so we added that to the product line.”

With those products, the moms came up with the name Tullie Girl (after the tulle used in many of the products) and the tagline “playful and eco-friendly accessories and apparel for girls.” However, during their product-testing phase, basically where they let their kids wear the items, they discovered their boys kept taking the products and putting them on.

“The premise of our company is we’re moms who are making and selling fun, educational, and age-appropriate things we want to give our kids,” Martinez said. “We realized we had an opportunity to come up with things the boys could enjoy too.”

Martinez and George thought of Jibbitz, the popular decorative attachments to Crocs. “What if we made those for laced shoes, bring back the fun of wearing laces to a generation of kids who aren’t learning to tie their shoes because they have Velcro?” George said. Shoe Sliders were born.

Coming up with ideas and creating hand-made items was one thing, but mass production, and the shoe sliders specifically, posed a whole new problem.

The two researched continuously, networking with friends and colleagues to learn the ins and outs of manufacturing and importing.

Through a friend who worked for a manufacturing firm, they made connections with a Chinese manufacturer who helped them develop and manufacture their shoe sliders, made of flexible soft plastic in China. Additionally, they worked with the trading company to have logoed Tullie Girl rivets produced for the hair bands and shoe clips.

Wanting to support the local economy as much as possible, they found a Woodinville firm, Le & Ly Sewing Contractor, to sew the handmade items – hair bands, shoe clips and hair clips. Martinez cuts out and delivers the individual pieces for assembly.

Then, with products ready for market, the now business partners decided to take the business one step further and create a website to sell their Tullie Girl products, the shoe sliders, and other hand-picked products that matched the Tullie Girl philosophy. The moms came up with Little Doodahs and officially launched with a website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed in October.

“Our main goal is, we’re moms like our customers,” Martinez said. “We know how hard it is to find educational, fun and unique products for our kids. We went out and found products that are just that to sell on our site. When people buy something from Little Doodahs, they know they’re getting something two moms of preschoolers bought for their own kids.”

With their kids in preschool part time, the partners stay busy keeping the company moving. Martinez designs, cuts pieces for the sewing contractor, and handles the marketing. George handles the books, hand-ships every sale within hours of receipt (all sales currently include free shipping), and hits the streets talking to store owners about stocking the products.

To date, Little Doodahs offers the Tullie Girl line, Shoe Sliders, knit animal hats, hand-sewn felt stuffed animals, bracelets, purses, and art supplies and aprons.

“The stuffed animals promote imaginative play, the art supplies promote creativity, the accessories are for fun self-expression,” Martinez explains. “Fun things to enjoy childhood.”

Customer response has been strong despite the economy, George says. As the partner with the financial background, she’s done projections and forecasts and sees the company hitting them already. In fact, as she spoke with WSB at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), a curious onlooker approached and bought a set of shoe clips right there, saying she was excited about the uniqueness of the product.

“We’re in a handful of small stores in University Village, Queen Anne and Downtown and our business plan is to keep growing the boutique store sales as well as get into the large stores, anywhere they sell shoes,” George said.

In the meantime, Martinez is growing the product line. The original five show sliders will expand to 15 in the new year, and t-shirts, tunic dresses and drawstring pants made of bamboo will join the Tullie Girl product line.

The mom partners are also considering exhibiting at the Worldwide Shoe and Accessory Expo in Las Vegas next year, which will give the partners the opportunity to get their products in front of large chain stores. (P.S. They’re having a holiday sale Friday-Monday – consider it the online version of “shopping local”!)