“She was sleeping in training pants and the one I pulled out of the package was Cinderella,” Jones Gibson said. “It just didn’t resonate with me because we had been working with her on embracing who she is. And I wanted something that looked like her.”
She contacted various mom groups on social media and did some market research on other training pants — leading to Jones Gibson creating Big Ups, shea butter-infused underwear decorated with characters of color and words of affirmation.
Jones Gibson’s company, Happy Hues, launched the product earlier this year with online sales only.
“I just thought, ‘What a great opportunity to introduce community and differences and getting them to appreciate differences of one another at a basic age,’” she said.
Jones Gibson said she was also motivated to create the product after reading a study that discovered a baby’s brain can notice race-based differences, with toddlers able to internalize racial bias at two to four years old.
“I was just like, ‘Wow,’” she told WTOP. “I think what happens is, when we all only see one image, it becomes very difficult to appreciate or understand that something different exists — and, that it’s OK and a good thing.”
The mom entrepreneur said early sales are strong. Her training pants have attracted parents from all backgrounds, Jones Gibson said.
“It wasn’t just Black moms, it was brown moms and other kids who have the fortune of being centered that would benefit from seeing someone who looked like them, too,” she said. “Whether that was a lighter complexion child or a child with red hair. I just thought, what a great opportunity.”
Jones Gibson said her online sales are strong. She has plans to launch in stores soon and expand the company’s characters of color that encourage strong potty-training skills with creative positive affirmations.
Her underwear gives parents a chance to teach important life lessons that go beyond the toddler years, she said.
“We’re working on a content series with our Happy Hues Crew characters to provide ongoing content to parents,” she said. “Our affirmations are ‘I am brave. I am brilliant. I am kind.’ Reinforcing those messages beyond the packaging is significantly important in our eyes.”
