We’re all familiar with the struggle of maintaining a tidy, calming home environment amidst the chaos of everyday life. For parents, this either involves lengthy chore charts or hours of cleaning up lego trails and Barbie shoes. Many of us find that even when you get around to putting everything away, your carefully crafted aesthetic is overrun by towers of plastic storage bins or cluttered shelves.
As the parents of two young, adventurous boys, Amy and Matt Field knew this struggle well. They began building their business, Chloe and Cotton, to create a product that would organize the chaos of parenting, without sacrificing a clean, modern interior design. Chloe and Cotton offers a line of classy, high quality woven baskets that look beautiful and stand strong. You can take a look at the beautiful designs on Instagram, or at chloeandcotton.com.
We sat down with Matt to talk about what it was like to build the family business, and how he keeps their futures protected.
What Inspired you to create Chloe and Cotton?
Our business was formed as a result of a desire to do a little more; be a bit more productive; waste a little less time. Our lives were already fairly busy with two kids and some other employment, but the beauty of the internet has been easy access to freelancers who have deep skills and several software programs that automate a lot of the order entry and shipping processes.
We like to have an organized home to help create a more calm atmosphere – let’s be real, two boys means Nerf-gun battles, fort building, and treasure hunts. Oh, and we cannot forget the Lego explosions that seem to happen on a daily basis. We found ourselves constantly searching for storage items that would also look nice in our home.
Chloe and Cotton was made to provide baskets that checked all the boxes. They are baskets perfect for storing everything from linens to pillows or all those special things that the little ones call their treasures. Chloe and Cotton baskets are beautiful, soft and sturdy baskets that stand up to the wild adventures of kids, and with the added bonus of looking charming and not scratching your floor or cabinets.
How does the business work, and where can we find your products?
We design our own products, find great production partners, import the products and then sell in a variety of e-commerce channels. We currently sell on our own website, on Amazon – including Amazon UK, Etsy, and Walmart.
We are always working on getting our name and products out into the market. It is a long and challenging tasks to grow in search relevance and build product reviews and credibility, especially on marketplaces such as Amazon.
What’s the best part about owning your own business?
The sky’s the limit, right? To me that is the great part of owning my own business. I heard someone say that often the goal of an employer is to get a deal on an employee – great work productivity at an affordable price. In owning your own business the goal is to be as successful as possible. I love seeing the growth of the business and Amazon is amazing with the scale that we can tap into.
We also LOVE seeing positive feedback and reviews about the products we have created. It is fun to think about future designs that we may produce.
How has Bunker helped Chloe and Cotton succeed?
In short, peace of mind. Building a business requires a lot of time, energy and money. I imagine some Amazon sellers see it as an unnecessary cost, but I was surprised by how affordable it really it. It is a small price to pay to protect the investment we have made and to protect our business. Bunker has specialities in working with Amazon sellers; the process was all online and easy.
What has been the most difficult part of your journey?
For us, the most difficult part was the learning curve- and I’m afraid that we will have a lot more to learn. Sourcing the product, patents and trademarks, importing goods, tariff changes, marketplace rules, tax requirements including EU VAT, etc. – there is a lot to know.
We have stubbed our toes already a few times and made a small handful of costly mistakes. Really, that has been the cost of education for us and has made us stronger in having learned from those mistakes.
Building your business on Amazon? Bunker can help you keep it protected, with the pre-built Amazon Sellers’ policy. Get a quote in just a few clicks!
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