Meet ‘Bunny & Bear Designs’

Back in 2013, Bethanie was watching an episode of Kirstie’s Homemade home, where they demonstrated the freestyle machine embroidery technique – which is essentially drawing using a sewing machine. With a background in design and a passion for patterned fabric she started to experiment and soon after launched a range of colourful children’s t-shirts featuring embroidered animals – selling her designs on Etsy, local markets and independent shops. A year later Bethanie took a break from the business to focus on raising her children.

We have worked together in University administration in Oxford for a number of years and became firm friends when our children were born. We have found that we have similar approaches to parenthood believing that kids should be kids and treated as individuals. It was through the experience of becoming a parent that we realised the true potential of Bunny and Bear Designs. It’s not until you actively compare and examine the clothes available to both boys and girls on the high street that you realise how disappointingly segregated, stereotypical and old-fashioned they are.

Longing to be more creative in our day to day lives and baffled by the frequency of gender stereotyping in children’s clothing, in 2020, we decided to re-launch Bunny and Bear Designs. We wanted to challenge these gender stereotypes in an amusing and non-confrontational way by launching our own fun and colourful childrenswear brand, that we (and our kids) can be proud of.

We feel passionate that kidswear not only needs to be hard-wearing and comfortable, but also needs to be fun and not suggest any societal expectations (either by colour or design).
We want to nurture a strong sense of self and allow children to take pride in expressing who they are through their clothing. Let kids be kids and clothing be clothing