Disposable and inexpensive, ‘Mighty Clean Baby’ products are Carmel Valley parents’ brainchild - Del Mar Times

2022-07-15 20:09:10 By : Mr. Vic lin

Two Carmel Valley parents are finding success with the Mighty Clean Baby line of baby care products they created: disposable bibs, placemats and changing pads that are designed for parents always on the go with kids in tow.

Husband-and-wife team Brett Chodorow and Limor Rabie launched the line in January 2014, with the hope of selling products that are equally helpful and cost-effective.

“As a parent, I feel like you’re always doing everything with one hand,” Rabie said. “The goal is to make life with little ones easier.”

Rabie is an attorney who graduated from Yale University and Columbia Law School. Her career was focused on intellectual property: for nine years she worked as a patent lawyer for a Carmel Valley firm.

Chodorow earned his degree from Harvard and spent time on Wall Street before entering product development. His family had a consumer packaged goods company in Carmel Valley — his father invented a very successful dental flosser. When the business was acquired, he worked there for a number of years and in 2009 founded his own firm, Power Forward Ventures.

The couple’s oldest child, Ben, was born in 2007, and he served as the inspiration for the next chapter of their business lives. As new parents, they were constantly bombarded with products for their child. They found many items were too “luxury”; still others were way too expensive for things that were basic needs. And Rabie was annoyed that everything had to be stamped with characters from television shows or movies.

“Is it really necessary to have your 2-year-old constantly associated with princesses or characters from ‘Frozen’?” asked Rabie.

They wanted to buy the essentials they needed without “breaking the bank” and without having to purchase yet another item with a licensed image on it.

Each contributing business expertise and armed with the experience of being parents, they set out to create a high-quality, reasonably priced product that they could develop and introduce to the market.

“We didn’t want to sell a product we wouldn’t use. It had to pass the smell test as a parent,” Rabie said.

Their products existed in the marketplace, but they were finding better ways of making them. Chodorow used his experience in product development to find the best manufacturers for their items. The challenge was finding a company that was the highest quality in terms of labor standards, customer service and a nontoxic environment.

“This became the bulk of what we were doing, and the business took on a life of its own,” Rabie said.

The line started with disposable bibs and placemats. They have since added three more products to the mix: disposable changing pads, toilet seat covers and diaper bags.

Their best seller is the bibs.

“Simply put, they just work,” Chodorow said. “It’s a really good product and I think they’ve saved a lot of shirts.”

The baby bibs are designed with adhesive tabs that ensure they stay in place, and they come with a “crumb catcher” pocket to protect against spills and mess.

All products are designed for an on-the-go lifestyle in slim, re-sealable packages.

Online reviews are positive and parents are grateful they don’t have to carry around a dirty bib — Mighty Clean Baby is something they can stash in the diaper bag and go.

The products are not branded and come in simple designs of white handprints on bold primary colors. They are also more environmentally friendly than others, BPA-free and biodegradable.

As a fun bonus, their two youngest children, Joshua and Lila, are the models on the packaging.

“It really has been amazing what we’ve accomplished in a small time,” Rabie said, noting they are having conversations with retailers now about a product that didn’t exist a year ago.

For now, their products are available only on e-commerce sites like amazon.com, diapers.com and zulilly.com, but Chodorow said they are working on building relationships with retail stores.

“We hope to change in a big way in 2015. We have high hopes for this year for our products to be in stores,” Chodorow said.

Get the Del Mar Times in your inbox

Top stories from Carmel Valley, Del Mar and Solana Beach every Friday for free.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Del Mar Times.

At a time when local news is more important than ever, support from our readers is essential. If you are able to, please support us today.

Choose any amount, cancel any time

Privacy Policy Terms of Service Sign Up For Our Newsletter