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Seventeen years ago, in 2008, Kelly Meyer Douglas and Brian Douglas found themselves considering the same problem as many other cool, stylish parents. Why does having a baby mean giving up your aesthetic identity in favor of basic baby toys and licensed baby-ish diaper bags?
The couple, living in New York City, just had their second kid, and they couldn’t find products that worked well and looked good.
“They just weren’t finding products that had all the functions that they were looking for, but also that sense of fashion as well,” explains Emma Kirincich, Itzy Ritzy’s social media manager. “They felt like they were sacrificing their personal style and losing their own identities.”
So they founded Itzy Ritzy. The spider logo is a nod to the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” nursery rhyme (which Kelly sang to her baby). The name also conveys serving littles, “Itzy,” while still being well-made and premium, “Ritzy”—because there’s no reason a diaper bag can’t look like it belongs in a fashion spread.
Today, it’s one of the leading brands in the juvenile product space. But here’s what’s interesting: They got there by ignoring most conventional wholesale wisdom in favor of a platform-first approach. Their strategy is centered around them actively sending retailers to Faire—even existing accounts.
One platform to rule them all
Itzy Ritzy tried the traditional route for getting its products onto shelves—sales reps. Yet always wanting to be at the forefront of tech and changing consumer trends, Itzy Ritzy moved on to a platform-first approach. Faire has become its conduit for building relationships with retailers.
“I love having control over our brand,” says Taylor Gordon, its sales manager who spends 90% of her day on Faire. “I know the conversations being had with the retailers, I know the marketing that’s going out, and Faire streamlined that all together for us.”
For brands worried about losing the personal touch, Taylor has a different perspective: You’re not losing it, you’re owning it. “We get to make sure everything’s on-brand, whether it’s just a small DM outreach or a big marketing play.”
In Itzy Ritzy’s experience, the advantage of a platform-based approach is the control it puts back in your hands. You’re the captain of your own ship—tweaking messaging in real-time based on customer feedback and maintaining that scrappy, entrepreneurial spirit that got you started in the first place. It’s about having the agility to test, learn, and adapt on your own timeline.
Now Itzy Ritzy doesn’t just passively use Faire—it actively funnels retailers there, including established accounts. With Faire Direct, Itzy Ritzy can share its unique Faire shop link with retailers, enabling them to shop with the brand while benefiting from Faire’s platform perks like 60-day payment terms and free returns on first orders. Faire Direct makes it easy for brands to drive more sales and build relationships with retailers directly.
The result? Better customer service, cleaner data, and the kind of control that makes scaling manageable. “We actually send that link to nearly 100% of our independent retailers— we proactively direct them towards Faire,” says Taylor.
“It’s a big selling tactic, especially when converting new customers. Our marketplace becomes a catalog.”
And if a customer doesn’t have an account, they can invite them to sign up via their direct link and offer a Faire-funded referral promotion of 50% off their first order and one year of free shipping on their brand. That means Itzy Ritzy uses Faire’s incentives as its own conversion tool.
“It’s streamlined a lot when it comes to our internal processes, so we are grateful for Faire,” says Taylor.
Building a community that sells itself
In a crowded influencer environment, the folks at Itzy Ritzy have built something even more powerful: an organic community so engaged it’s become an extension of the brand itself. They have an Insiders’ group, a private group on Facebook of over 22,000, where they can nurture their authentic relationships with their customers. Emma says, “We think of it as our Itzy Ritzy best friends. We always get so excited when our community knows everything about our products. They spot every little Easter egg we put down.”
This fun community strategically informs their product development and boosts customer satisfaction. Remember, this is the brand born from Kelly and Brian’s frustration with products that didn’t match their lifestyle and also a loneliness Kelly felt as a new mom in Manhattan. That core mission to address real parents’ real needs still drives everything.
The crown jewel is their weekly Coffee Chat—an Instagram Live show that started by accident. “We used to do Lives whenever we would have a product launch,” Emma explains. “And there were a couple weeks where a launch got moved, and we decided, ‘Oh, we’ll just go live anyways.’ ”
Now it’s a mom date. “Our parents know that it’s going to come every Wednesday morning, they know it might be product-focused, have giveaways, and talk about life and trending TV,” Taylor adds.
Emma puts it in perspective: “Entering into parenthood can be this unknown, and for some people it can be a lonely time. So we really tried to craft this third space for people where they can go anytime on their phones and join a community that’s inclusive and supportive.”
This creates customers who don’t just buy products—they evangelize a brand mission.
What enterprise brands should take from this strategy
Ready to take notes? In addition to Faire Direct, here are other tools that have proven clutch for Itzy Ritzy when it comes to staying close to its beloved fans.
- Sending emails that actually predict revenue
Taylor figured out that each email campaign she sends through Faire generates a consistent average amount of sales. When she needs to hit sales targets within a certain time frame, she has the information she needs to strategize her email sends.
“I know I can generate an average of X dollars just from getting this campaign into inboxes.”
Faire’s Campaigns tool lets her drag actual product listings into the email. When retailers receive it, they can buy directly from the email. They don’t have to leave their inbox or log into another platform. It’s instant gratification and makes their busy lives and the demands that come from being a retailer easier while securing instant sales for Itzy Ritzy.
- Taking advantage of Faire Markets
Want to know how pros work virtual trade shows? Start promoting before everyone else.
“Being there early has been a very huge part of our Faire Markets success,” Taylor explains. She starts teasing products and building buzz weeks before, knowing that “sales will slow a little bit leading up to that” as retailers wait for promos.
Her strategy for retailers? “Build your cart now, then just come back and check out at Market.” While competitors flood inboxes during Market week, Itzy Ritzy has already locked in its sales.
- Using search results to get seen at the right time
While everyone else is trying to figure out SEO strategy on Google, Taylor’s playing a different game entirely—inside Faire itself. She stays on top of trends and makes sure to include keywords in product descriptions and listings. She also leans into Promoted Listings to make sure the right products get seen by the right retailers who are looking to buy.
“We do take advantage of the Promoted Listings to help with that visibility,” Taylor explains.
The bottom line for big brands
Control isn’t about having boots on the ground everywhere. It’s about having systems that scale your vision without diluting it.
By going platform-first, Itzy Ritzy gained real-time visibility into every conversation. By building a community of over 1 million users across social, it created a marketing force no agency could replicate. By treating Faire not as a marketplace but as its central nervous system for independent wholesalers, it turned Faire into a repeatable revenue engine.
