Our Mission

We believe quality and community go hand in hand. Our mission is to not only create durable and stylish clothing for children, but also to empower mothers in our Alaskan town by providing them with meaningful job opportunities.

We believe that by supporting our brand, our customers are investing in high-quality clohting for their children and investing in the strength and resilience of Alaskan mothers.

About the brand

Briar&Boone Handmade was founded in 2018 at the kitchen table. After I (Shelby), had two children and spent some time as a stay at home mom, I needed more! I found a lot of joy in sewing for my own kids, so naturally a handmade business was born. 

Our product offering grew from just bibs to a wide arrangemant of clothing within the first year. During our second year in business the Oden family started another business, Little Alaskan Store, which was the catalyst to hire our first contract seamstress. In 2021 the business moved from the kitchen table to a workshop in the Spur&Main Building in Kenai, Alaska. 

Today we operate with industrial cutting and sewing equipment, two employees and one contract seamstress, and our fabric is custom printed by a manufacturing partner in India. Our goal for 2023 is to expand into wholesale and ultimately we would like to find a retail partner in every state.

About the family

My name is Shelby. I founded the brand and used to do EVERYTHING. Thank goodness I have help now! I am married to the sweetest man, Mike. He is my biggest supporter and the real reason I have been able to get this far with this business. Together we have two children, Briar and Boone, the brand`s namesake. Briar has been my longest product tester and model. I am always picking prints and designing dresses with her in mind. Boone is the inspiration for all of our boy items, because I want to dress him too!