Today we’d like to introduce you to Emmy and Brad Grimes.
Emmy and Brad Grimes met in 2011 and were soon married in 2012. Emmy soon was pregnant with their first child while living in Seattle as Brad was working for a Toy Distributor. Miserable with the rain and homesick, they jointly made the decisions to move back to Dallas Texas 3 weeks prior to the delivery of their son. Although no job, no cars, and a new baby about to be delivered, they made a leap of fate and boarded a plane masking the pregnancy to be able to fly home. Upon delivery of their child, one of Brad’s factories he had worked with developing previous brands happened to be in Dallas visiting a retailer from China and asked to have dinner.
While at dinner, they asked what was next on the horizon and the conceptualization started in developing an environmentally, sustainable, toy brand, that allows for personalization and gives back to focus on our environment. Brad Grimes has had significant years working in product development and sourcing from Fortune 500 companies to Private Equity launching Global Brands. Emmy Grimes has had previous experience working in Sales and Marketing with notable companies such as Neiman Marcus and the launch of Madewell.
Together they started the development of ONCE Kids, Organic, Natural, Charitable, Eco-friendly. A wooden toy brand that had a modern design, but focused on the sustainability in product and production of raw materials. A brand where each category had a form of personalization to allow kids to make something no one has. Using sustainable materials in FSC certified wood and felt spun from recycled plastic bottles to achieve a new medium for wooden toys. Once Kids also offers the ability of personalization. The resulting line of craft kits and wooden building blocks, action figures and vehicles meld timeless beauty, solid craftsmanship and innovation for an Art+Play experience that will inspire and delight a new generation of kids and parents alike.
Once Kids launched their products in Holiday 2015, with their Wanderlust world set promoted in Neiman Marcus’s famous Holiday Book. Their continued placement with Museums, such as The Met, Perez, PAM, MOMA, Contemporary Museum Art Mass and specialty stores has proven an amazing response to our products. ONCE Kids plans to now set their own production in North Dallas by the end of 2018 becoming a true iconic American Made Brand and deliver their new Branded statement, “American made toys that kids make their own”. ONCE Kids gives back 1% of their sales to the Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas Alliance to focus of the cleanup of plastic from our Oceans.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The current toy construction category is over $9 Billion-dollars protected to grow to $12 Billion-dollars by 2020 which is made up of 99% plastic. The current plastic construction sets are all made from ABS plastic. ABS Plastic is made from petrochemicals, oil and gas derivatives, and are non-biodegradable. The largest construction brand, Lego, produces over 60 Billion elements per year that will never leave the Earth.
When Lego first gained visibility of our product in Target Stores planogram in 2015, soon after they created a PR Release to invest $150 Million-dollars to move away from oil and gas and make a more environmentally friendly block by 2030. Lego then filed an opposition to ONCE Kids trademark, Eco-bricks, with some invalid claims concerned with the impact in our sole rights to this name and their future brick. Notable press surfaced further communicated a domino affect with companies such as Lego moving towards bioplastic to force additional companies that compete in the same space to include Mattel, who owns Mega Blocks, and Hasbro, who owns Kreo.
Additional press coverages discussed the impact of these toy giants that make up over half of the Toy Category $15 Billion-dollars to move towards bioplastics will domino additional companies exploring in CPG such as Samsung and Coke. The challenges ONCE Kids has overcome in influences with raw material suppliers, competitors, legal adversities, has been Pelican Brief worthy but the impact our company can make by pushing forward can directly aid to the future of our planet and oceans.
Once Kids LLC – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
ONCE Kids is a Kids CPG brand. We focus on environmentally friendly toys that are sustainably produced and allow for a form of personalization. We have develop a category called Eco-bricks, wooden blocks that are compatible with Lego, that allow for personalization with crayons, paint, markers, or stain. ONCE Kids is relocating manufacturing of their toys to the Dallas region by 2018. We will be opening a creative space by 2019 consisting of a showroom, educational center on the role plastic plays in our oceans, and a creative space to allow kids to view the construction of our wooden toys and color and create some of their own.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
-Holiday Book Placement in Neiman Marcus 2015.
-Nationally syndicated on The Today Show 2016.
-Nationally syndicated on Fox and Friends 2016.
-Nationally syndicated on The View 2017.
-Earth Day X Sponsor 2018 Kid Zone
-Walmart exclusive launch American Folklore lines Holiday 2018
Pricing:
- Eco-bricks sets range from $15.00 -$70.00
- Wanderlust Sets $30.00
- Playhard Heroes $15.00
Contact Info:
- Address: 25 Highland Park Village STE 100-235 Dallas, TX 75205
- Website: www.once-kids.com
- Phone: 214-402-4412
- Email: emmy@once-kids.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oncekidsplay/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oncekidsplay/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OnceKidsPlay
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/oncekidsplay/
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