Meet Alyssa and Mini Mioche...
Mini mioche started just over 5 years ago after I had my daughter Emerson and had a really hard time finding great basics in neutral colours. I wanted soft, simple layering pieces in colours like black, heather grey and white and couldn’t really find them anywhere. My background is in fashion (I have owned a Toronto based wholesale fashion agency for over 10 years which sells adult mens and ladies clothing brands), so I decided to try to design and manufacture my own line. At the beginning the line consisted of 8 core basic styles offered in up to ten colours in infant sizes only. We then started to expand the collection as we had demand for bigger sizes and more ‘fashion basics’. We now offer 11 core basic styles year-round, as well as a collection of seasonal fashion styles in sizes newborn to 6 years.
When the brand first launched, we concentrated our efforts only on the wholesale market. Within a year we had enough demand to start selling through our own online store. About 2 and a half years later we opened our first retail flagship store in downtown Toronto and a week ago we opened our second retail store (also in Toronto).
The word ‘mioche’ means ‘little one’ or ‘tot’, ‘brat’ in Parisian French (it’s kind of a slang word for little one). When I was pregnant with my daughter, my husband and I referred to her as ‘mini’ the entire time she was in utero. When she came out she was ‘mini’ (5 lbs, 4 ounces full term!) so we kept calling her mini for quite a while. Hence the name. She is now 5 and a half and a giant (she has pretty much outgrown the brand)!
I suppose my daughter was my main inspiration for the brand. As I mentioned before, I just wanted to dress her the way I dress (mostly jeans and tees) and couldn’t find cool, simple basics on the market. I figured I couldn’t be the only one looking for these items. Emi was also a big barfer for the first 2 years(!!) of her life so I pretty much had to put a bib on her all of the time to prevent her clothing from getting destroyed. I couldn’t find cool, simple looking bibs anywhere either. Everything had prints or cheesy sayings or graphics on them. So she was definitely the inspiration for our ‘bliss bib’ (still a best seller to this day). 
From the get-go I knew that if I was going to manufacture clothing, I wanted it to be organic or eco-friendly and made in Canada. I wanted the business to leave as little carbon footprint as possible. I really believe in local manufacturing and supporting your local retailer as much as possible. One of the things we say in the ‘mini mioche way’ is ‘made for kids, not by kids’.
>>A big thank you to Alyssa for sharing the story of Mini Mioche.
Mini Mioche Website
Mini Mioche Blog [we especially love seeing the window display changes!]
Mini Mioche Twitter
A few of our favorite store picks // Converse Espadrille Slip, Earth Short Sleeve Onesie, Pants Romper, Twisted Tunic.
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