BLOG: OUR RAD STORY

Have you ever felt like you’re meant for more or that you weren’t living up to your fullest potential? That was me, until I finally broke through my glass ceiling in the first months of 2021. 

It all really started back in 2019, when I was pregnant with my son Paxton and wanted to have the most unique clothing for him. Throughout my pregnancy and the year following Paxton’s birth I really struggled to find clothing that was different from the status quo. I would go on hunts between the internet, big-chain stores, boutiques - you name it, and would never find just the right thing to set him apart from the crowd. 

As someone who prides herself on individuality and honest expression, it drove me absolutely bananas trying to find clothing that, I felt, matched my style, my husband's style, and our adorable little boy’s style. 

Six months following Paxton’s birth, well, the world essentially stopped turning. We were all thrust into the 2020 worldwide pandemic that required us to stay home for months on end. At the time, I was a Franchise Business Coach for a fitness franchise helping unwavering Franchisees (people who invested in the fitness brand to open their own location|gym) try to keep their businesses not only open, but profitable. 

Despite the grind of working from home, I found time to explore and learn to sew. I started making bummies, hoodies, t-shirts, and overalls for Paxton out of different fabrics that I found online. My passion for fashion grew even more over the months of the pandemic, when I would spend my days coaching and my evenings winding down by sewing something 100% original for Pax. 

That is really where my first flame for starting my own brand came from. 

I have always wanted to do something bigger than myself, to impact others, and make a difference, but I never knew what that may be until I started seeing reactions from my friends to the clothing I was making. 

That Spring, that turned into Summer, and then Fall, I realized that I didn’t have the capacity to make the clothing I wanted to, at the quality I wanted to, at a mass scale. I wanted to impact other parents like my husband and I, who wanted clothing for their children to be unique, quality-made, and who supported small business owners in the USA - just like the ones I worked with everyday for my full time job. 

In the Fall of 2020, I started thinking about the what-ifs of starting my own clothing brand, with items and styles that you can’t find anywhere else. 

I started to daydream, but also housed this immense fear of taking the risk on it, because I had worked with small business owners during a pandemic and saw the hardships they were going through. I fought for them, I laughed with them, and I cried with them - I knew owning your own business was a grind.

That is when my husband, David, told me to do it. He told me to stop being scared, to do more, and to make an impact in other people’s lives by bringing them something that can’t be bought at a large chain store. I am so fortunate to have a spouse who pushes me to be the best version of myself every single day, even if I balance that with picking up his half-consumed water bottles every day. 

The more that I thought about how David was trying to push me to be more, the more I understood what the brand would be about. 

In the first months of 2021 I had a dream, that I would start a brand called Little Rad Things and it would focus on the pillars of life that David and I believe in with all of our hearts. 

The next several weeks, after that dream, I started to plan what the mission of Little Rad Things would be, and I decided the following: 

At Little Rad Things we Live Limitlessly. We believe in not putting yourself in a box because, as people, we can do absolutely anything. We control our external output, our circumstances, and we should teach our children that they can do absolutely anything with the proper mindset. For example, if Paxton tells me he is going to be an astronaut - you’d better bet I am going to tell him, “Hell yeah you are, little man!” 

At Little Rad Things we encourage you to Be Bold. We believe life is too short to not say what you mean and mean what you say. Be outspoken, be extravagant, and show off your personality. There is no one else in the world like you, so be bold and own it. 

At Little Rad Things we Do Little Rad Things. We believe that everyday in life is a day to win, because if you are not putting in the work to win everyday, then what are you doing? There is this amazing quote I read that says “Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners.” Read that a few times, and it will really make you think! 

In the Spring of 2021, after dreaming the perfecting name and constructing the ideal pillars of what drove my passion, Little Rad Things was officially born. With David and Pax in my corner, I decided to do more with my life and build something that I aspire to mean as much to others as it does to my family.  

Little Rad Things was born from a culmination of struggling to find cool clothes for Pax, paired with a passion for believing today’s children should be taught that the world is limitless, that they can be bold and be expressive, and be a rad human all at the same time.

So, our family brings to you, Little Rad Things, a clothing brand for those who want more from their day-to-day than the status-quo. We know that we can truly do anything that we set our minds to, so why not have gear that reflects that mentality to encourage us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be? 

I can’t wait to be rad alongside you, 

Mads