What is Mightly? Whether you are a longtime fan of our brand, or have newly discovered our line of organic and fair trade children’s clothing, you may be wondering how we choose our company’s name. The first step in picking our brand name was to consider who we are serving. While parents are the ones buying our organic cotton clothes, we wanted our brand name to speak to the kids that would actually be wearing them. Today we call them Mightly kids, but before we knew what to call them, we knew how to describe them.
Who are Mightly kids? The answer to this is best summarized by the Mightly Minifesto:
Mightly kids are courageous daydreamers.
They imagine infinity and laugh at impossible.
They delight in the wilderness and get lost in the wonderness.
They are dreamers and makers and magic-creators.
All kids are Mightly, in their own way.
All kids are Mightly, and those that are most proud to wear Mightly care deeply about people and the planet. A Mightly kid may not know what Fair Trade Certified means, but they embrace what fair trade stands for. A Mightly kid wants clothes that can comfortably accompany them on adventures. Sometimes Mightly kids want to spend time carefully crafting the perfect outfit, other times they want to get out the door as soon as possible. Mightly kids need unique, stylish pieces for those fashion centric days, and items that can easily mix and match when they are in a hurry. Since Mightly is made for all kids, finding a brand name that captures everything a Mightly kid can be was quite a challenge.
So...how did we come up with Mightly?
We wanted a powerful name that expressed the energy of childhood. Even with the abundance of possible words that are often used to describe childlike feelings, none captured everything we wanted to communicate in our brand’s name. When no existing words stood out as satisfying options, we had to think outside of the box.
What would a courageous/daydreaming/magic-creating kid do if they couldn’t think of a word to describe themselves? They would laugh at the limits of the English language and make up their own word instead! This is what we did. We came to the name Mightly by combining the words mighty (possessing impressive power), mightily (fiercely) and lively (full of life and energy) - three words that perfectly describe our fair trade clothing brand. These words evoke everything we want our brand to be, while leaving enough room for all kids fit in with their own definition of Mightly-ness.
We encourage our own kids to be imaginative and embrace their individuality. It turns out the key to creating a brand name was to follow our own advice. Kids tackle creative problem solving without hesitation. They aren’t afraid of letting their uniqueness guide their decision making. If you’re facing a creative problem that needs solving, we encourage you to think like a kid, and be your own kind of Mightly.