The rise of the mum-fluencer: how mum-merch became big business
Deep in the underbelly of maternity leave, I made many discoveries while absent-mindedly scrolling through social media. And among the miniature-pet owners (a joy) and natural pink lakes, I uncovered the world of the Instagram ‘mum-fluencers’.
A decade ago, motherhood was the Stepford face that launched a thousand cupcake businesses. Gina Ford’s precisely routined charges allowed their mothers to perfect red velvet butter icing. Everything was yummy, not slummy.
But things have changed. The new #mumlife set go on prosecco play dates. It’s earnest, ‘gentle parenting’ that’s in vogue (although copies of Ford are still quietly passed between NCT dissidents). There’s an underlying feminist philosophy, and it has birthed a whole new industry: ‘mum-merch’.
From T-shirts to tote bags, the mum slogans are everywhere. ‘Mother like no other’, ‘Love for the mama’, ‘Muthahood’… A certain attitude prevails, epitomised in mantras and mottos like ‘Lioness not princess’, ‘No rest for the with kid’ and ‘Your best is enough’. And once you notice the trend, you see it more, on Instamums with thousands of followers and on stars like Madonna in her ‘I love my kids’ top.
I thought we had reached peak slogan T-shirt, but they have had a new lease of life in these offshoots. Anyone with a smartphone and Vistaprint account can start their own line. A catchy slogan and sharp design will enable a new brand to soar through the social-media feeds. Equally, if you play the game right, the mama-verse is supportive – there is plenty of cross-promotion.
Alright For A Mum T-shirt, ￡25, Mère Soeur
It’s the latest strand of the ‘mumpreneurship’ sector, which has been booming largely because women are no longer willing to accept the terms offered by employers insistent on preserving a nine-to-five desk life. Flexible working is the holy grail, and it has dawned on a lot of parents that a sure way to achieve this is to take things into your own hands. Equally, the rise of the elite ‘mum-fluencers’ – women who have capitalised on building empathetic Instagram followings thanks to cataloguing every trying moment with their photogenic children – and their clearly visible commercial clout has launched thousands of imitators.
Mother Like No Other Strong Capable Woman T-shirt, ￡18.99, The FMLY store
Molly Gunn, ex-fashion journalist and mother of three, was one of the first people to catch on to the new mood. She started her blog, Selfish Mother, in 2013, after the birth of her first son. ‘You were meant to be perfect,’ she recalls. ‘[The blog] was the antithesis to that. We were saying, “You’ve got to look after yourself, otherwise you can’t look after your kids.”’ It quickly expanded into a microblogging platform where anyone could post. These weren’t just women venting about weaning; they were building a supportive online community.
It was at that point that Molly came up with the idea of producing a T-shirt to celebrate her new crew. She added a charitable angle after seeing horrific images from Syria, in order to show solidarity and raise money for mothers in terrible situations, and had 100 T-shirts printed with the word ‘Mother’ on them. They sold out. She and her husband – previously a music producer – now work full-time on what has become The FMLY Store – a shop in Bruton, Somerset (also online). The range covers all family members, and ￡5 from each sale goes to charity. Molly has also recently collaborated with designers Mary Katrantzou, Charlotte Olympia, Alice Temperley and Savannah Miller, with 50 per cent of the price of each item donated to Women for Women International.
‘It’s more than just a slogan T-shirt – the first time I wore a Selfish Mother jumper I felt part of a group,’ explains Gemma Metcalfe-Beckers, who went on to launch her own online brand Mutha.Hood two years ago and has built up a 60k Instagram following. Her first T-shirt read ‘Mother like no one’s judging’, while her bestselling ‘Strong girls club’ top really is a club: ‘Women see each other in the T-shirts and set up play dates and interact,’ she says.
If you’ve written off Instagram as merely a series of narcissistic selfies, then the motherhood community could make you think again. It’s doubtlessly a lucrative market: I know of a newly-wed Insta-It-girl who was advised that baby-making was her next cash cow. Since giving birth, she promotes formula milk, maternity pads and baby laundry detergent to her 600k following.
My own initial reaction to the mum-merch world was one of scepticism. Why would I define myself as only a mother by having it scrawled over my T-shirt? Jo Love, who runs lobellaloves.com – which offers a percentage of every sale to maternal mental-health charities – feels it’s precisely this assumption that the trend addresses. ‘It’s ironic, a bit of a two fingers up. You think, “I should look a certain way, but I’m a mum and I look trendy.”’
A Mother’s Place T-shirt, ￡25, Black & Beech
The ‘mum-merch’ trend is also indicative of an emerging desire to shop in a more direct, authentic way: clothes are often shown on the women who make them instead of models, so they feel like personal purchases rather than from faceless organisations that have opaque supply chains. It’s the resurgence of independent businesses. ‘Making something on your kitchen table and selling it to survive is the oldest thing you can do,’ says Molly. And of course, it’s prompted by the fact that traditional working hours don’t allow for school drop-offs and pickups. To plot your own course provides flexibility, and offers a way to reclaim a sense of self.
Mothering Like A Boss tote bag, ￡15, Mutha.Hood
‘I was getting frustrated, angry, and losing myself,’ says Yvonne Telford, 46, who spent seven years as a stay-at-home mum to her two children. She started a blog and two years ago decided to monetise her audience, investing ￡50 in producing tote bags that read ‘I am enough’. ‘Those three words saved me,’ she says. Last month, the turnover of her brand (at kemitelford.com) was ￡30,000. The collection includes skirts and dresses fashioned from traditional Nigerian prints, and the slogan on one of her T-shirts, ‘Mama is Gold’, comes from a Nigerian proverb. ‘If you’re a stay-at-home mother, if you’re working… anything to do with motherhood, you’re judged. We’re saying, “We’re doing our best, so back off,”’ Yvonne says.
Like any trend fuelled by Instagram, it comes with a veneer of perfection. Molly admits that until recently, she felt nervous about divulging her childcare arrangements. ‘I’ve got a nanny. Obviously I can’t work without one, I’m a 40-year-old businesswoman. But it’s the age-old double standard. If a man was running a company no one would question the childcare going on in the background.’
Fascination with the magic circle of Instamums is so acute that Clemmie Hooper (aka @mother_of_daughters) made headline news when she took a couple of weeks away from social media after feeling overwhelmed by negative comments she was receiving.
Tired Mums’ Club sweater, ￡20, Momma Makes
Unlike the majority, however, Carrie-Anne Roberts, 28, does not fit the slightly smug, perfect family set-up. She launched Mère Soeur three years ago after separating from the father of her six-month-old son. ‘As a young single mum, everyone was judging me, even my family,’ she says. Before becoming pregnant – at 23 – her primary work experience had been two years of night shifts in a garlic-bread factory. Having found the supportive Instamum world, she used a credit card to pay for ￡100 worth of printed tote bags with her brand name on. She is the refreshing voice of a different reality, which has understandably resonated. ‘I had nothing to lose: I was living in my mum’s spare room,’ she says.
The business has fully supported her for two years, and she’s about to launch a podcast called Alright for a Mum. ‘I get a lot of messages from young mums who want to start businesses, or leave their relationships… They can see that they don’t have to be trapped or feel ashamed.’
As a mum, loss of identity is a black hole you can fall into without any road map of how to escape. At work I knew what sartorial armour would get me through: a designer shoe here, an It bag there… But to find that confidence in the messy frontier of motherhood? I had no idea. So I can see how a slogan can make sense of this new life. And the idea of women spotting each other in their slogan tops, exchanging a smile or even grabbing a coffee? It’s cheaper than an NCT sign-up fee.
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