The Story of Infantissima

By Trudy Hutchings

            Infantissima was born as all good ideas are – out of necessity and a mother’s ingenuity. In 2003, my daughter Allison was expecting Jack, my first grandchild. Having been out of the baby business for a number of years, I was brainstorming with my other daughter Jennifer for an upcoming baby shower gift. Jennifer suggested burp cloths she’d seen in boutique gift shops. Surprised, I laughed because what they were calling burp cloths were just old fashioned diapers with some fabric trimming. Everything old is new again!

            When I visited stores I loved the concept. And that’s when a mother’s ingenuity kicked in; I knew I could do it more creatively for a really special product - better design, fabrics and color combinations. The seed was planted right there.

As Jennifer tells the story, for the next three weeks I spoke to her more often than not from a craft or fabric store as our ideas grew into a life of their own. Armed with a great concept, we had additional inspiration to create a special gift for Allison, Jack and his daddy Ray as they would be leaving their home in Houston, Texas to start a new life in Richmond, Virginia. Our gift would be a little piece of home to remind them of strong Texas roots, friends and family.    

With no budget restrictions and a lot of love, we sewed sixteen burp cloths each with their own theme. The full fabric lining with ribbon trim would become the first design for Infantissima. We discovered that the design had limitless potential as a template for our ideas. We filled the palates with some designs for baby boys as well as all those things we knew would bring them joy each time they used them:

·          Cowboys for Allison’s memories of the rodeo

·          Notre Dame, Ray’s team

·          University of Richmond Spiders, their new alma mater

·          State of Virginia, their new home away from home

·          State of Georgia, Ray’s home state and where it all started for Ray and Allison at physical therapy school

·          Football

·          Texas flag

·          Italian flag

·          ABC’s

·          Cherries

·          Little boy ducks

Jennifer and I could hardly contain our excitement, which was no easy task as Allison lived just down the street. Our little idea grew into the night. When the day of the shower finally came we watched with anticipation as Allison opened each of three boxes, each it’s very own special surprise. Allison was stunned and we were overwhelmed with joy at being able to finally share our secret with Allison and Jack.

What had started out as an expression of our love for Allison and her new family very quickly evolved into a business venture as one of the guests at the shower exclaimed “Oh!   I want an exclusive on your burp cloths.”

The thought had never entered our minds and yet it continued to grow as Jennifer shared the product with friends and co-workers and they in turn encouraged her to take them by a local specialty baby store - our first order! Once again necessity required that we expand our ideas on the spot to create a unique set of burp cloths for girls.

As the first product evolved into our very own business, Jennifer left her job to spearhead our efforts full time. While she is now on maternity leave with her daughter Ruby, she continues in her role as consultant, confidant, consumer and personal shopper for all things Infantissima.

As a side note, it turns out that Jack was not only our first customer but also one of our best. As an Olympic-class spitter our assortment of burp cloths were washed more times than I’m sure Allison would care to remember.

Our story would not be complete without the name. While Infantissima won’t be found in any dictionary, if it were a real word, it would be Italian and probably translate as the most special, precious, little baby in the whole wide world. Now, who’s to say that Infantissima is not a real word?