Annie the Brave

About a year ago, Peighton asked for a dress with scientists on it. She was in Kindergarten and had decided that when she grows up she wants to be a “fashion scientist.” This didn’t surprise me a bit because if you know Peighton you know she loves two things: “being fancy” and all things science. It wasn’t long before I realized that this simple request from my daughter wasn’t going to be an easy find. We checked all the usual suspects only to find a few t-shirt options but definitely no dresses. I fell back on my DIY roots and decided I could make one if I found the right fabric so we started to hunt for that, also to no avail.

I had stumbled into a problem that really bothered me. Why weren’t there any dresses for girls that were depicting their interests in science? It wasn’t because they didn’t have an interest. They did! All the little girls I know love science, bugs, and space just as much as the boys. One day I had a discussion with a friend who’s daughter loves sharks. We both were troubled by the fact that if our daughters wanted clothes that reflected their interests the only way we’d get them is if we purchased them from the boys’ section and they definitely wouldn’t be getting a dress.

Why don’t they make dresses for girls with sharks and astronauts and bugs and cars? This question kept nagging me. If my daughter loved butterflies as much as she loved science we’d be fine. With daunting statistics about girls’ interests in science and engineering dwindling by the time they reach the workforce, the correlation was obvious. Bottom line: we’re a society that tells girls that science isn’t for you.

I know that girls love science and I also know that girls love to twirl in a dress. The only solution I could come up with to fix this problem was to create a dress of our own (very ironic for my six-year-old fashion scientist hopeful). So last year, I quietly started this little clothing company called Annie the Brave without telling anyone other than Matt, my mom and a handful of close friends.

Annie the Brave is a girls’ clothing brand that creates clothes meant to encourage girls to engage their interests in STEM.

I turned the struggle of finding a STEM-inspired dress into a game changing passion for creating science and exploration themed clothing for girls. After nearly 10 months of conceptualizing, designing, and sizing our dresses we are nearly ready to introduce them to the world and I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning.

Receiving the samples was an incredible feeling. Finally holding a dress that began as a dream for daughter, then morphed into a “wouldn’t it be nice if we could make a dress with scientists on it?” was magical. The girls’ slipped their dresses on immediately and just like that, the dress that Peighton had asked for almost a year prior was now a twirly blur.

As we approach our launch on April 15th, I am filled with excitement (and anxiety)! It’s actually happening. Part of the Annie the Brave mission is to encourage a culture of bravery in girls. For me, it’s not just about giving girls the opportunity to wear clothes that reflect their interests, it’s about engaging their confidence to actually DO anything. We want girls to keep going, keep pushing, and doing whatever it is that their hearts pushing them towards, even when society says don’t.

We finishing up the last details for our Kickstarter and I’m so thrilled to be sharing this passion project with the world. I won’t be sharing a ton about Annie the Brave over here so if you are interested in keeping up with our new adventure please follow me on Instagram @anniethebraveco, or over on the website!

If you have any questions or comments about Annie the Brave or our Kickstarter launch – leave them in the comments below!