鈥淪he was sleeping in training pants and the one I pulled out of the package was Cinderella,鈥� Jones Gibson said. 鈥淚t just didn鈥檛 resonate with me because we had been working with her on embracing who she is. And I wanted something that looked like her.鈥�
She contacted various mom groups on social media and did some market research on other training pants 鈥� leading to Jones Gibson , shea butter-infused underwear decorated with characters of color and words of affirmation.
Jones Gibson’s company, , launched the product earlier this year with online sales only.
鈥淚 just thought, ‘What a great opportunity to introduce community and differences and getting them to appreciate differences of one another at a basic age,’鈥� she said.
Jones Gibson said she was also motivated to create the product after reading a study that discovered a baby鈥檚 brain can notice race-based differences, with toddlers able to internalize racial bias at two to four years old.
鈥淚 was just like, 鈥榃ow,鈥欌�� she told 草莓传媒. 鈥淚 think what happens is, when we all only see one image, it becomes very difficult to appreciate or understand that something different exists 鈥� and, that it鈥檚 OK and a good thing.鈥�
The mom entrepreneur said early sales are strong. Her training pants have attracted parents from all backgrounds, Jones Gibson said.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 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,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hether that was a lighter complexion child or a child with red hair. I just thought, what a great opportunity.鈥�
Jones Gibson said her online sales are strong. She has plans to launch in stores soon and expand the company鈥檚 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.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working on a content series with our Happy Hues Crew characters to provide ongoing content to parents,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ur affirmations are 鈥業 am brave. I am brilliant. I am kind.鈥� Reinforcing those messages beyond the packaging is significantly important in our eyes.鈥�
