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FeedOh Baby! Booms
Mary Lauer’s basement business grows up
By Megan Kaplan
Photo by Eric Moore
Unlike Martha, however, the 44-year-old prefers to stay out of the limelight. “If I could go to a party with a lot of interesting people or be at home with my kids, I would choose my kids every time,” she says. At home with the kids is where Lauer’s business began. In 1990, after the birth of her twin boys, Alex and Tyler, she had trouble finding them stylish, comfortable clothing that didn’t irritate their sensitive skin. “They needed 100-percent cotton everything, so I started making their outfits myself,” she says. “And people wanted them.” On weekends, Lauer and her husband, Tom, began hauling her hand-painted and hand-dyed cotton designs, along with the twins and a porta-crib, to art fairs throughout the metro area.
In 1994, the leasing manager at the Mall of America offered Lauer the opportunity to open a retail concept store. The store, which she named Cuddle Duds, remained open until 1998.
In the meantime, Lauer opened Oh Baby! at the Galleria in 1996, and soon became the darling of fashion-forward moms, with its high-end lines (Petit Bateau, Pampolina, and Baby Beau & Belle) mixed in with Lauer’s coveted snap-downs, two-piece outfits, and bedding sets. “Fifty percent of what we sell I design from scratch, right here in Minnesota,” she says. Her team of sewers works in their home shops, and much of the furniture is manufactured by local woodworkers and finished in her 5,000-square-foot Edina warehouse.
photo provided by Maura Daniel
Lighting Couture
Lauer considers every detail when choosing and manufacturing products; for instance, her sheets are sanded down to break the top fibers, making them softer on a baby’s face. How does she know to do this? “I don’t know, I just do,” she says. “It’s very Martha-like.”
Craving an easy commute to work from her family’s cottage home on Lake Minnetonka, Lauer opened Oh Baby! On the Lake in 2001. “I like to water ski to work,” she says. And she’s serious. If you happen to see a blond woman out on the lake leaving a wake in her path at 6 a.m., it just might be Mary Lauer, making her way to another action-packed day at the office.
Pop Quiz
Design philosophy:“I’d much rather have great bones than frosting on bad bones.”
Dream job:
Master Gardener
CD you’re listening to:
Soundtrack from Rent, and Have a Nice Day by Jon Bon Jovi
favorite appetizer:
Homemade salsa from my heirloom tomatoes
Favorite Color:
Pink
Megan Kaplan is a Minneapolis freelance writer.
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