The feature that changes it all....Founder and designer Harriet gives insight into how the idea of the growalong grew!

I wanted to spend a bit of time going over the specific features that make the Growalong the unique garment it is, and the journey we went through to get it just right. So, what I want you to do is close your eyes and picture a babygrow; I can guarantee that 98% of people picture a garment with poppers and zippers down the middle. Well, this is what pits us against all the rest, the distinctive Growalong waist feature. When measuring (by hand!) all our copious babygrows what became apparent was the only measurement that drastically changed between sizes was in fact the leg length. Why did we need to do a full wardrobe transition every 3 months when the only measurement that really needed adjustment was the in the leg? The solution being if we could just extend the leg length then a baby garment could last 3-4 months longer. So that’s exactly what we did, we extended by adding length in the waist; simple!

It took real time to refine this design feature, we meticulously poured over sizing, grading and popper position to get this just right and allow for that longevity in the garment. Although it took time and patience, we felt this was imperative to the success of the grow – we needed it to be perfect to provide the solution to the fast fashion nature of baby clothing. At last, we are confident that when you invest in a Growalong you are guaranteed double the length (or longer) compared to the standard one-piece grow. Of course there are several other important features in the garment; the pleated back of the foot and folding sleeves, all of which are designed to allow for safe growth of your baby. We’ll get into these other features in future blogs, however at this point we really wanted to sing about the innovative waist feature!

We went onto add the waist flap to cover the exposed poppers when the grow is in its longest setting. This was a late addition to the grow, but a really important one. It all stemmed back to remembering those days of cradling your little one to sleep or those long milky dreamy feeds – such lovely memories. The last thing I wanted was for parents to have poppers pressing into their arms disturbing those precious moments. Although we knew this would add cost to manufacturing, we always wanted to keep the parent and baby at the heart of our decision making so it was a no brainer for us. Following incorporating the waist flap, we also found incidentally that the garment looked more complete. Its addition created the look of a two-piece outfit which could absolutely be worn out and about as a baby playsuit, not just a traditional babygrow.  

So there you have it – a quick overview of the Growalong’s main feature. It seems simple but it took us such a long time to refine and get right. Now back to that first exercise - close your eyes and picture a babygrow; hard to go back to that one-piece now isn’t it! It can be so difficult to challenge the status quo, but go on, shake it up and give something new a try! Invest in a Growalong and give them the world…