beba bean Collection Keeps Moms and Dads Dry

Lisa Malcic’s seven-year-old son may have some explaining to do when, down the road, his friends discover he was both the inspiration behind, and model for, the revolutionary Pee-pee Teepee.

“My poor son, he’ll have to have Pee-pee Teepee therapy,” joked Malcic, who created the amusing spout guard about seven years ago in response to the diaper-changing dilemma encountered by many parents of newborn boys. Every time Malcic and her husband took off their son’s diaper, he immediately peed on them before they could get the next one on.

The comical diaper dance was new to the Malcic’s — they hadn’t encountered anything like it with their then-two-year-old daughter — and it sent them scouring the stores for something to stop the flow. They came up empty, but Malcic’s husband, an inventor by nature, suggested something cone-shaped might do the trick.

beba bean Beautiful Bamboo Basics

BABIES CHOSE ME

For as long as she can remember, Malcic has loved everything about fashion. Her mother once owned a clothing boutique in northern California and she often accompanied her on buying trips.

But when it came to choosing a career, the fashion industry seemed untouchable.

Instead, Malcic found herself working at the Emily Carr Institute. She loved the creative environment but didn’t find her role in the admissions department as rewarding as she’d hoped. And being surrounded by students, Malcic felt the pull to go back to school.

In 1999 she started in the fashion design program at Blanche Macdonald Centre. It taught her all the fundamentals of designing, cutting and sewing a garment, but she didn’t set out to start a line of highly sought-after baby clothes.

beba bean Pee-pee Teepees

In fact, Malcic was planning to be a swimwear designer until that first infamous cone, sewn with bits of flannel, that proved to be a hit with her fellow new parents. “I feel like baby picked me, I didn’t pick baby,” she said.

A few months after she’d created the teepee a friend suggested she set up a booth at the Vancouver gift show. Eighteen stores picked up the product.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is crazy,’” Malcic recalled. “Now we’re in 2,500 stores.”

NICHE MARKET

Pretty soon Malcic was creating an evolving line of adorable products with the baby shower market in mind.

Malcic and her husband, who co-owns Beba Bean (“beba” is a nod to his Croatian heritage and “bean” refers to the shape of the baby in the womb) focused on the Canadian market for about 18 months, taking the product line to gift shows in Toronto, Alberta and here in Vancouver. About five years ago they broke into the U.S. market through shows in Atlanta, Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco.

Now the couple divides their time between their Port Coquitlam home and the office, a warehouse/design space also in PoCo, and the shows.

“He’ll do some and I’ll do some, but going to the shows is important because that’s when we get feedback from the retailers about what’s working and what’s not.”

But Beba Bean is clearly on the right track.

The products are represented by 120 sales reps, selling them to shops throughout Europe and North America — including the trendy Kitson and La La Ling boutiques in Los Angeles. About a year ago Malcic scored one of her biggest goals when the line landed in the upscale Barney’s New York.

THE CELEBRITY VOTE

Perhaps one of the keys to Beba’s success has been the endorsement of scores of A-list celebrities who are photographed with their little ones in Malcic’s designs.

It’s been featured in Us Magazine, Pregnancy, InStyle, Child, Life & Style, Star and more. Celebs like Matthew McConaughey, model Niki Taylor and designer Sarah Richardson have sent in rave reviews, and a particularly high point for Malcic was seeing Sarah Jessica Parker’s twins swaddled in Beba Bean’s signature herringbone blanket.

In an episode of Brothers and Sisters, actor Calista Flockhart turns around while changing her baby with the charming cone in hand and said, straight into the camera, “It’s a Pee-pee Teepee.”

“It couldn’t get any better than that,” Malcic said of the free advertising. “Getting into a lot of the magazines has been amazing, and we’ve never gone after it.”

That’s likely because the Beba Bean products speak for themselves.

Malcic’s fondness for clean lines comes through in the stylish knitwear — it’s cute, but not cutesy, classic and simply sophisticated.

Her philosophy is first and foremost about safety and functionality. The clothing has to be easy to get on and off quickly and durable enough to withstand several washings.

Future plans are to keep creating new items for the newborn to 18 months market — Malcic recently introduced soft knit toys, like a teddy bear and rattle — and to continue landing Beba Bean in more boutiques.

“I just want to keep giving parents products that they love,” she said.

By Sarah Payne - The Tri-City News