• photo by Josh Madson

Mother of Invention Amber Sabathia’s new CCandy clothing line gives kids some more colorful wardrobe options

     If you’re a parent, and I have four children myself, you understand how frustrating it can be to get them clothing that they will not only enjoy, but can wear a few times before they either grow out of it or wear it out.
     Our kids love their daddy, CC, and love wearing the clothes that support his favorite teams. But in many instances, when you walk into a team store, you are faced with two clothing options for kids: blue for the boys and pink for the girls.
     Since necessity is the mother of invention, this mom sought out a way to fill that need for parents who wanted to get sporty, fun clothes for kids who would enjoy wearing it and get good use out of the clothing. This month, I’m proud that the first items from my new clothing line, CCandy, will become available in many team stores and on MLB.com.
     For over a year, I’ve been working with some great people to come up with the designs, the color schemes and the catalogue of items in the line. There have been a lot of challenges along the way. We needed to find a distributor that had a license to use Major League logos. They also needed to see our vision that a little girl might be way more enthusiastic about a shirt that’s lime green and matches her sneakers than the standard issue pink.
     Launching a clothing line is a road that can be filled with many potholes. Licensing is it’s own world, with it’s own rules. You’ll come up with something you feel in your heart will sell well and others will disagree. It was more work than I ever imagined it would be to get from concept to seeing product rolling off the production line this month. It’s been a great education in the world of business.
     I know that most people, when they get involved in designing a fashion line, the first thing they think about is what would look best on themselves.  Well in a way, I designed this line for myself, even though the clothes are for children. They’re for my children, who mean the world to me.
     So the next time we go to watch daddy pitch, and we walk by the team store, I can’t wait to see one of the CCandy shirts in the window, and hear them say, “That’s mommy’s shirt!”  To see my child or your child put on the clothing and smile, then it will all have been worth it.