Mustard Pie Clothing is a popular designer brand of baby and children’s clothing just for girls. Founded in 2008, the Mustard Pie brand is designed by Shannon Rihm and located in Chicago, Illinois. The collections are available for girls from sizes 3 months – 12 years.
The Mustard Pie story began when Shannon was expecting her first daughter. She was laid off from work and researched various ways to make a living from home. First she started a small eBay business reselling designer clothing that she found on sale at local stores. Eventually, she stumbled across designers on Etsy and eBay who made custom boutique girls clothing for the highest bidder and was amazed. She was inspired and motivated to learn how to create such clothing it herself. She always had an interest in design, so she decided to teach herself how to sew and, thus, took her first step to creating Mustard Pie Clothing. Around November 2007, she started taking sewing lessons, reading books, and buying fabrics to use in her design experiments. After many hours of practice and lots of trial and error, she started designing and creating one-of-a-kind boutique girls clothing. Soon, orders were coming from all over the world. Her business was booming and she made the important decision to start a real clothing label to keep up with the demand. That is when Mustard Pie Clothing was born.
When choosing the name for her new boutique girls clothing brand, Shannon remembered a funny story from when she was a child. At just five years old, she tried to replicate her mother’s famous Lemon Meringue Pie for Mother’s Day. She searched the cupboard and found what she could only assume was the pie’s delicious yellow filling – a big jar of mustard! She filled the pie crust to the top and innocently created an odd mustard pie. This story came to mind when Shannon was starting her brand because it reflects the vivid imagination of children, just like each clothing piece Shannon creates reflects the essence of childhood.
Mustard Pie Clothing is fresh, elegant and girly. It has layers of bold prints, fancy patterns and beautiful colors for every day or special occasions. Shannon’s designs are always made with children in mind. She would not create anything that her own little girl would not like to wear. For example, the clothes are soft cotton and tag-free for comfort. Each piece of clothing is carefully designed and the designer encourages her daughter to give opinions and suggestions before the clothing comes to life. A typical outfit comes with various choices so the customer can mix and match to create a look as unique as their child. The brand produces a limited number of garments, so many customers pre-order their favorite boutique girls clothing outfits in advance as the collection often sells out before it hits the store shelves. Mustard Pie releases new clothing collections a few times per year. Regular lines debut in fall and spring. Extended looks come out throughout the year such as in late fall and around Christmas and Easter.
Shannon encourages her customer to send photos of their daughter wearing Mustard Pie Clothing. She then chooses a few kids to model the next collection for the company. Mustard Pie also runs contests to show appreciation for the ongoing support from fans. Shannon’s business has been growing each year and in 2014 she launched a new sister brand, Jak & Peppar. This new line of boutique girls clothing is designed for “the free spirit in all of us.” In the coming years, Jak & Peppar and Mustard Pie Clothing will continue to grow and create beautiful outfits that reflect the unique and beautiful side of youth and femininity.
