Since Moriah decided that our 2019 Swimwear/Clothing collaboration was reason enough to warrant a blog post, I thought it’d be advantageous to do the same. When I met Moriah in 2009, she was 9 years old. Her older sister was a 6th grader in the youth group that we were leading and Moriah was this cute little girl in glasses who always asked if she could hold my baby. She was a free spirited, creative, talkative tween who was precocious as she was smart. You know those kids who are really good at talking to adults, act a little older than their age, and manage to endear themselves to anyone in their radius – yep, that was Moriah.
As I got to know her and spent 6 years watching her grow up and mature during the time that we lived in North Carolina, she slowly changed from a little kid to a young woman who I respected and knew would conquer the world! It was on a coffee date one morning at the local coffee haunt that we talked about her starting a sewing business (at 14 years old!) and about how I wanted to transition my clothing line to focus more on swimwear. We were just brainstorming and dreamscaping, but it was a seed planted, unbeknownst to both of us.
This is the second year that Moriah and I have done a summer collaboration and in the last 6 years of so, both Seababy and Naisish have gone from little instagramed based home businesses to two clothing brands that are shipping hundreds of items every year (still entirely handmade by the two of us) to addresses around the world (or across the world if you’re a flat earther….).
Our collaboration this year features a long sleeved girls suit and boys trunks from Naisish and a coral linen overall and chambray tank from Seababy. Each of these pieces are lovingly handsewn in our in-home studios in Oregon and North Carolina. Working with Moriah (who is now an almost-20 year old) is one of my favorite parts of running this small business. Between our daily random FaceTime calls, last minute plane tickets (always on her end…..hello travel-prohibative mom life), and grand ideas to see Naisish and Seababy take it to the next level, I have a feeling that you’ll be seeing more of our collaborative efforts to come!!
To everyone out there that has supported Naisish or Seababy – MAHALO!!! The S/S19 collab will launch on May 3rd, so get ready!!