By Hannah Yakobi

Photography courtesy of Ali McEwen

Ali McEwen (Baby On Board Apparel) may have only been on the fashion scene for two years, but she is a true example of a very successful fashion career that has taken her as far as Los Angeles. Her clothing targets “mommies and mommies-to-be,” with a focus on style and comfort. In this special feature, she tells us all about Barbie dolls, stitching and schmoozing with Hollywood celebrities.

Ali McEwen.

What was your earliest fashion experience? I never watched TV as a child; instead, I was way more interested in dressing up my Barbie dolls. My Mom sews for pleasure, so she would make me Barbie outfits and I would mix and match their clothes, help pick fabric for their dresses and have Barbie fashion shows.

What do you like best about fashion? The fact that I can combine creativity with a business sense.

McEwen with Nicole Sullivan.

How and why did you become a fashion designer? I officially started when I found out that my sister was pregnant. Immediately, I wanted to get her a T-shirt to celebrate her pregnancy and I wanted a T-shirt that wasn’t tacky. But I couldn’t find anything. So I started to seriously think about it.

Around the same time, two things happened: I went to visit one of my best friends in New York and saw an ultrasound picture of my soon-to-be nephew. So there we were, shopping in Brooklyn, and we went into a store that sold T-shirts with screen prints of dead rockstars and dead movie stars. So I started thinking of screen prints and said to my friend, “Wouldn’t it be cool to put an ultrasound picture of a baby on a T-shirt?”

And that’s how it all started.

I did 50 shirts, and did about 25 surveys in self-addressed envelopes, asking people what kind of maternity product they would be interested in. This all happened during Christmas 2008.

By February 2009, I had a bunch of these surveys back and in April I officially launched my company. The ultrasound T-shirt is now one of my bestsellers.

A model wears the Ultrasound T-shirt.

How do you find out what’s hot in the market and what exactly the expectant mothers are looking for? I go to consumer shows. This year I did about five of them. People love to share their opinion – they often give me advice on what I should do, what they love and hate about maternity shows and what they’d like to see in maternity clothing.

I also pay attention to what the mainstream fashion is doing and I have a pretty decent list of friends who are expecting mothers, so that helps too.

Plus, I’m very engaged in social media and I ask people what they want to see all the time.

What is your fashion background? I studied merchandising and marketing at the International Academy of Design and Technology.

After that I worked for a promotional company, which focused a lot on design, cut-and-sew, fabrics and promotional campaigns. That was where I made a lot of contacts in the industry.

How are your designs created? I create the style, work with a pattern maker, source out cut-and-sew and outsource my own fabrics.

What is your biggest achievement to date? The growth I’ve gone through since I started my own business. If you look at my work back when I started – I wanted to have lots of colour in my designs. But then I realized that women who are pregnant generally don’t buy colour, instead, they prefer neutral tones. So now I focus on monochromatic colours: black, white and grey. Instead of colour, I offer comfort, seasonless fashion that works with any wardrobe, functionality and affordability. You only have a client for nine months, so you have to have very practical items.