Business Finds Success With Clothing Fit for a Royal Baby

Lauren Levy rushed to bring Magnificent Baby's "An Heir Is Born" clothing line to market. Find out how her hustle is paying off.

learn more about Shiwani Srivastava

By Shiwani Srivastava

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Royal baby fever is spreading fast.

As Kate Middleton's July due date approaches, the sidewalks outside the London hospital where she'll be delivering are inundated with reporters. Meanwhile, U.K. retailers are stocking up on memorabilia including commemorative spoons, tea towels and tableware.

Given the influx of royal-themed weddings in the U.S. in 2011, the royal baby has the potential to mean big business in America, too. So it's no surprise that some savvy business owners are tapping into the heir-to-the-throne mania on both sides of the pond.

We catch up with one small-business owner, whose royal baby-inspired clothing line launches in major retail stores this week.

Who: Lauren Levy, 33, president and co-founder of New York-based Magnificent Baby, an online infant clothing company known for its easy-to-use magnetic fasteners. The five-year-old company has annual revenues of more than $1 million.

What: An Heir Is Born, a collection of royal baby-inspired blankets, bibs, caps, footies and gowns featuring patterns of crowns, golden rattles and royal carriages -- all in the red, white and blue colors of the British flag. Prices range from $12.50-$34.95.

Related: Vintage Clothing Business Thrives in a Mad Men World

Why: "I'm obsessed with the royals," says Levy. "I was one of the people who got up in the middle of the night to watch the wedding. When Will and Kate announced they were pregnant, I was also expecting. I was on the lookout for royal-baby products for my kid, and I figured other people would be, too."

How: After learning of the royal pregnancy in December, Levy sprang into action to have a collection ready for a major trade show in January. "I worked closely with our designer in Europe to come up with designs for the collection that would play well in America," Levy says. They pulled it together in just four days.

Magnificent Baby made it a limited edition of 10,000 units "because we didn't want to carry too much inventory," Levy says, "and now the collection is almost sold out on our website." It also sold An Heir Is Born wholesale to major retailers, where customers can still purchase the line.

Where: The collection hits Neiman Marcus, Buy Buy Baby, Destination Maternity, Diapers.com and Amazon.com on July 10.

Result: Since the royal-baby line was featured on NBC's Today show in June, Levy says Magnificent Baby has been getting orders non-stop -- "all day, every day" -- for all its products. "At tradeshows, I've had so many other layette companies come up to me and say, 'We wanted to do that, but couldn't figure out how to do it so quickly.' I'm happy we were able to do it in such a short amount of time and capitalize on the fact that bigger companies couldn't."

Related: How the 'Etsy Economy' Is Changing the Way We Shop

Shiwani Srivastava

Shiwani Srivastava is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. She has covered the intersections between small business, technology and culture for MSN and the Huffington Post.

Related Topics

Editor's Pick

The Dark Side of Pay Transparency — And What to Do If You Find Out You're Being Underpaid
Thinking of a Career Change? Here Are 4 Steps You Can Take to Get There.
A Founder Who Bootstrapped Her Jewelry Business With Just $1,000 Now Sees 7-Figure Revenue Because She Knew Something About Her Customers Nobody Else Did
Everything You Need to Know About Franchise Law
Business News

A Mississippi News Anchor Is Under Fire for Quoting Snoop Dogg

WLBT's Barbara Bassett used the rapper's "fo shizzle" phrase during a live broadcast, causing the station to let her go.

Business Ideas

55 Small Business Ideas To Start Right Now

To start one of these home-based businesses, you don't need a lot of funding -- just energy, passion and the drive to succeed.

Marketing

Streaming TV Is the Future of Advertising — Without Breaking the Bank

Today's consumers expect personal, impactful ads. There's an advertising method that can get you there for half the price, making it the next frontier in digital advertising.

Growing a Business

Scaling Made Easy: How to Scale Your Business like a Fortune 500 Company

Once you have the night-vision skills of Fortune 500 restaurants, scaling becomes effortless. Here are 3 ways to scale, hidden in plain sight.