Akin Onal, founder and CEO of organic babywear brand MORI, shares the company’s latest developments.

 

Laura Turner: Firstly, what’s the story behind MORI?

Akin Onal: I started MORI in 2015 when I was shopping for a gift for my niece. I noticed a gap in the market for an online-first baby brand using fabric that is truly suitable for a baby’s sensitive skin and special enough to gift. I realised there was a lot left to innovate in terms of fabrics. Baby’s skin is exceptionally sensitive and they find it difficult to regulate their temperature. By overlaying innovative fabrics with minimalist Japanese aesthetics, MORI was born.

LT: Can you tell more more about MORI’s production?

AO: I come from a region of Turkey that is well known for its high-quality textiles. My close family and friends are among our trusted manufacturers. Our product team has a combined experience of over 40 years in developing babywear and childrenswear. We also involve our customers in every stage of product development. It is important to us that each MORI product eases parents’ lives. For example, our Clever Sleeping Bag was the result of months of product trials and conversations with sleep and maternity experts to ensure it creates a better sleep for baby.

The materials and fabrics we use are the results of extensive research. We travelled far and wide to sample the very best baby clothing and learn from parents and experts about what they really need. We craft our signature fabric from bamboo and organic cotton as it is ultra-soft, naturally breathable and thermoregulating. This makes it the perfect layer next to a baby’s sensitive skin. The fabric is also highly durable, meaning it stays soft wash after wash.

Now, over four years later, we have extensively expanded our range to include clothing for children up to 4 years. In the last year alone we have sold over 50,000 of our bestselling Sleepsuits and nearly 10,000 Clever Sleeping Bags to more than 35,000 loyal customers across the world.

LT: Can you tell me more about your debut standalone store?

AO: Yes, we are excited to say we have opened our first MORI store on Northcote Road in Battersea. We have been planning to open a retail store for quite a while. We have spent a considerable amount of time researching the London retail landscape to understand where our customers are. This location is widely known as London’s “Nappy Valley” and Northcote Road offers a great local atmosphere.

At MORI we have successfully been able to create a strong brand and product following through our online webstore and our presence in key wholesale accounts around the world. What we have been missing is a physical brand-owned store where we will finally be able to give customers the immersive MORI experience and connect with our local community. Our high-quality design and fabric softness are harder to translate through a screen, which has been a barrier when our main point of communication has been online.

LT: What look have you gone with for the store?

AO: The design is in collaboration with the award-winning interior design agency FormRoom. When we set out the design for the store we wanted it to be a physical representation of our product and branding aesthetics; timeless, modern, functional and gentle. Opening a physical space allows us to control the smallest details, such as the sensory elements that we aren’t able to create through our online channels.

The thinking behind the store design was very much around taking our local customers into consideration. As the location has a definitive atmosphere we wanted it to feel like home. Somewhere mothers can come in and feel comfortable to relax in the lounge area and breastfeed.

The flow of the store has consciously been designed to showcase the quality and craftsmanship of our products. It will offer expecting mothers a place where they can come in and learn about what they might need when baby arrives within an environment that does not feel overwhelming. Our customers will be able to purchase all of MORI’s bestselling products in-store alongside plush toys and some products specifically for mums from our friends at HATCH.

LT: Will you be introducing any in-store events?

AO: Yes, definitely. MORI is much more than a brand that just sells baby clothing. Community is at the heart of everything we do. MORI is a brand that supports and helps families make the journey of parenthood a little bit easier. We have previously hosted some great customer events, inviting mums to meet and connect with each other and get advice from our specialists. With this retail space we have a home where we can do this more regularly.

LT: Are there plans for any more stores?

AO: The long-term plan is to definitely open more physical stores. We can’t say much at this stage, but the opening of the Northcote Road store is just a small preview of what’s to come.

 

 

LT: Can you tell me more about your collaboration with The Gruffalo?

AO: ‘The Gruffalo by MORI’ collaboration has been a year in the making – we were thrilled when Magic Light Pictures reached out to us about collaborating for the character’s 20th anniversary. The Gruffalo is one of the world’s best-loved monsters and is such a memorable part of family storytime, making this the perfect partnership for MORI. As a brand that dedicates itself to helping to improve a family’s sleep, we believe that storytime is an essential part of a child’s bedtime routine and helps to strengthen bonds between families.

The design team took our MORI signature style and bestselling shapes to create a keepsake collection featuring the much-loved characters, designing four unique prints across sleepwear and daywear. This will be our biggest collection launched to date and has truly been a collaborate labour of love.

LT: Do you have any more collaborations lined up?

AO: Working with Magic Light on ‘The Gruffalo by MORI’ collaboration has been such a great experience. We are eagerly anticipating our customers’ reactions to the collection. In terms of future collaborations, it’s important that we work with brands that share a similar ethos to MORI. Following ‘The Gruffalo by MORI’ collection we are now exploring the other wonderful stories from Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

LT: What is your strategy for wholesale?

AO: At the moment wholesale contributes 10% to 15% our business. Outside of our strong online presence, MORI products are stocked at 215 locations globally, with 110 of those stockists across the UK and North America. We are also pleased to announce that MORI will now also be available at London’s historic department store, Liberty’s.

We have recently started to work with some partners to help us leverage the awareness for the MORI brand in key territories outside of the UK. Our partners are AB Showrooms in the US and International Kindermoden represent us in the DACH region.

In wholesale, we have also recognised that our accounts have been looking for more of our bestsellers. With this in mind, we launched our first wholesale exclusive collection this September. We have already had great feedback from buyers who saw the range at Playtime New York, so this will no doubt be the first of many exclusive collections.

LT: Are you showing MORI at any upcoming trade shows?

AO: We plan to showcase MORI at Pitti Bimbo in Florence in January and at Playtime New York in February.

LT: Are there any other new additions planned for the collection?

AO: As MORI grows, so do our collections and our category ranges. As a brand that is known for being an expert in sleep, we are continuing to expand our sleep category. We are also growing our day apparel for babies and toddlers whilst introducing new product category launches for the nursery. For the remainder of 2019, we are launching over 10 new collections. These include ‘The Gruffalo by MORI’, a festive Christmas collection and also our organic knitwear collection.

LT: Where do you stand on sustainable fashion?

AO: As a founder of an apparel business I recognise that I have a responsibility to the environment, our customers, my team and my family. To make some strides in improving our impact on the environment we consider sustainability throughout production. We also recognise that we need to talk to our customers about sustainability. We need to keep the conversation around sustainability going so that it becomes a natural practice for future generations.

I started the business with the conscious mindset of respecting nature and producing our products using sustainable resources and organic materials that are trusted. We carefully select who we work with and foster the relationships within our supply chain. We work with trusted factories in Turkey. This is key to reinforcing our sustainability message and ensuring fair and safe working conditions.

Just to give an example, we recently had the managing director of our factory visit our office and we spoke about the new site they have been building. The factory where MORI’s products will be produced has been built using sustainable, recycled materials. Its power will come from solar panels and a new water system that recycles rainwater for the whole factory. This is a great sustainability approach for our production. However, we know that there is still a long way to go.

LT: What’s next for MORI?

AO: We recently secured over £4 million with our Series A funding, meaning our opportunities for growth are exponential. With this investment we will now continue our growth in the UK; further expand into international markets with a special focus on North America; open more branded storefronts; and grow our internal team at MORI HQ.

We have big plans to grow our unique direct-to-consumer subscription membership programme called ‘The Sleep Club,’ which is already disrupting a very crowded traditional market in the UK. The team is working on investing further in technology to scale the service to a wider audience while allowing more flexibility to its members. We are also eagerly awaiting the introduction of Sleep Club to our US customers in 2020.

 

Click here for further information on MORI.