How Eczema-Friendly Kids’ Clothing Brand Bellabu Bear Landed in Nordstrom and Other High-End Retailers

Why it matters:

• Approximately 9.6 million U.S. children under the age of 18 have atopic dermatitis, the most common type of eczema, and one-third have moderate to severe disease, according to the National Eczema Association.
• Verified Market Research says the global market for baby pajamas and sleepwear is growing and projects it will reach $58.4 billion by 2030.
• Bellabu Bear’s business model leans into those dual market demands, offering children’s bamboo nightwear designed for sensitive, eczema-prone skin.

Tamara Kaakani knows that retail buyers are always on the lookout to fill “white space” on their shelves with products that they don’t sell already. So when Kaakani, the founder of Bellabu Bear, a manufacturer of organic bamboo clothing nightwear for children, approached Nordstrom to carry the product on their shelves, she knew Bellabu would be competing against other bamboo-based products.

But she was not fazed, she told CO—.

“When we get to send [retailers] a sample, and they can feel and see our product, it really does stand out from what currently exists in the market,” Kaakani said.

That “look and feel” of Bellabu and the brand’s all-in commitment to sustainability—using organic bamboo for the clothing, mailers, and hang tags—were strong selling points, enough to convince Nordstrom. Momentum snowballed after Nordstrom said yes. From a small startup launched in 2019, today Bellabu Bear is sold at large retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s as well.

Getting big retailers to commit to stocking her brand’s products was not easy but it helped that Kaakani is an experienced retail buyer herself. Born in Florida, Kaakani moved to Lebanon for her junior year of high school, after visiting the country with her Lebanese father when she was a teenager. It would be 13 years before she moved back to the United States.

Kaakani worked as a buyer for a large department store in Lebanon, an experience which helped her realize that simply having a quality product was not enough to convince the big hitters. “You need to properly explain your value proposition because if you don’t, then buyers might not be able to tell the difference between your product and the rest,” she said.

A homegrown passion: converting frustration into a product that solves an unmet consumer need

For Bellabu Bear, that value proposition can best be described as clothing that combines skin-friendly organic bamboo with functionality such as convertible footies and zippers that make the products more useful and easier to wear.

The brand was born as Kaakani’s solution to her frustration with children’s sleepwear. Kaakani remembers daily tussles with the snaps on her baby, Bella’s, pajama bottoms. If the sleepwear was footed, Bella would overheat. If the clothing didn’t have any feet, the toddler would freeze when she padded around on cold floors.

These functionality challenges were bad enough. Then came a nasty skin breakout when Bella was 15 months old. It was eczema. In trying to find a solution, Kaakani realized that an old set of bamboo-based pajamas was the only one that would not irritate her baby’s sensitive skin.

Kaakani was on a mission.

She researched bamboo extensively and learned that it was soft and hypoallergenic and had good moisture-wicking properties. In addition, the material grows like grass so it’s an easily renewable and sustainable resource, factors that are important for Kaakani. “I always wanted to make sure that the products we’re giving our children are free of chemicals and better for their skin and also for the environment,” she said.

In addition, Kaakani wanted to ensure the pajamas would have convertible feet, so caregivers could decide to use them — or not. Kaakani wanted zippers so parents wouldn’t have to deal with late-night fumbles with snaps.

Bellabu Bear was off to the races with Kaakani’s husband Talal joining the self-funded startup as co-founder and CMO. “We bootstrapped and relied on our own savings and while this might have slowed growth initially, I believe it allowed us to cultivate a business model that was built on organic and sustainable growth,” Kaakani said.

Bellabu Bear passes Oeko-Tex certification, an established standard for textile safety that’s designed to ensure safe chemical use. The company sources bamboo from a trusted bamboo distributor and the zippers pass all safety tests and are free of harmful substances, Kaakani added.

[Read more: How Three Startups Scored Millions in Funding]

Lessons in adaptation: A pivot from brick-and-mortar to online sales during the pandemic

Bellabu Bear had to surmount early challenges.

At first, Kaakani was stubborn about committing to U.S. manufacturing but realized the carbon footprint and costs of shipping bamboo fabric from China, the primary source, were steep. Local manufacturing also involved a slew of steps — from preparing fabric to dyeing and printing it, to adding on tags and heat transfers (a technique in manufacturing when a consistent heat is needed to produce goods) — which were cumbersome and expensive. When Kaakani found a sustainable closed-loop manufacturing facility in China where all steps could be executed under one roof, and which had experience producing high-quality goods for U.S. clients, she was sold.

Early on, Kaakani relied on door-to-door boutique sales for initial momentum. Armed with a set of purchase orders, she was ready to distribute manufactured pajamas when the pandemic hit. When retailers were struggling, it felt unseemly to call and ask if they would honor their contracts, Kaakani says. She instead decided to switch to direct-to-consumer sales online.

It was good timing because families were locked down at home and pajama sales grew a whopping 143% in the one month between March and April 2020 alone.

[Read more: How Slow Fashion Is Creating Opportunities for Startups and Legacy Brands Alike]

Embracing technology: ‘We spent romantic Friday nights watching YouTube tutorials for Facebook ads’

Since its 2019 launch, Bellabu Bear has chalked up 2800% growth. It now has a staff of 12.

Kaakani credits success to being able to adapt and adopt new business tools. She and her husband figured out how to use Facebook ads to target the right audiences. “We would spend romantic Friday nights watching YouTube tutorials,” she laughed. The spend involved a lot of close monitoring to see which ads worked and which ones didn’t.

The brand has since embraced social media. An admittedly shy person, Kaakani, as the primary face of the brand, has promoted the startup on video for TikTok and Facebook Reels. “Even though it’s uncomfortable to put yourself out there, there are just so many tools that are being provided to us that we can use to help grow our business,” she said. “See what’s working right now and just go out there and try it.”

‘By integrating AI into our workflow, we're able to boost efficiency, improve user engagement, and stay at the forefront of innovation in the industry’

Kaakani follows her own advice. One of the business tools Bellabu Bear leans on: artificial intelligence. “From automating customer service interactions to optimizing SEO text in our ad campaigns, AI plays a pivotal role in streamlining processes and delivering a seamless experience to our customers,” Kaakani said. The startup also uses AI to assist with basic edits in Photoshop. “By integrating AI into our workflow, we're able to boost efficiency, improve user engagement, and stay at the forefront of innovation in the industry,” she added.

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