Amanda Shi Werts has been designing women’s collections since she graduated from college, but she only recently got into the kids game with a line called 10 to 12 Baby Lounge.
Shi Werts, who was born into one of the first vertical cashmere factory families in China, started her cashmere collection, Be and Shi, in Los Angeles in the early Aughts. Her next line, Avita, launched in 2003 with colorful cashmere pieces that spawned a store on Third Street in 2007. In 2009 she shuttered her business and married Mark Werts, chief executive officer of American Rag Cie, and spent two years traveling to trade shows and working with the team on sourcing, production and licensing. After welcoming twins in 2012, Shi got back into design with an all black-and-white namesake collection that sold on Farfetch.
But she said, “I felt that my heart was no longer in women’s fashion. I think so much about babies and being a mom, I felt that I should put my energy into something close to my heart.” She thought about the “fourth trimester” or months 10 to 12 of a baby’s life, when they’re still swaddled in blankets. She started the 10 to 12 Baby Lounge collection with cashmere blankets bearing different animal characters and story tags, along with soft rattles, socks and wraps. There are also matching wraps for moms. Each item is packaged in a keepsake box that comes with pockets and cards for writing notes and stashing mementos.
The “Lounge” has its own shop-in-shop in American Rag, where weekend programming includes storybook hour and other kid-friendly events. The concept will also be a part of American Rag’s Dubai store, which is set to open in September.