Gunner and Kristen Lamb designed their animal-print shirts to appeal to young children.
(Robert Spencer for the Boston Globe)
MARBLEHEAD - Like a lot of mothers, Kristen Lamb wrestles with her son Will every morning trying to get him dressed.
The 4-year-old doesn't like his duds from L.L. Bean and Gap. Out of desperation sometimes, said Lamb, "I have to sit on him."
What Will does like are animals. So four months ago, Lamb and her husband, Gunner, printed some T-shirts with animal designs.
Now Will won't take the shirts off and his playmates' parents are asking for their own shirts. And so the Tiny Critter T-shirt company was born.
"We always wanted to have our own business but we couldn't figure out what to do," said Gunner, a real estate developer. "Since the real estate market is slugging along, we decided to bring the T-shirt idea up to the next level."
Toting a bag of samples, Gunner convinced a handful of North Shore stores to carry the shirts, including Scupper's in Marblehead, The Last Resort in Rockport, and Fun Among Us in Ipswich. Shirts can also be ordered through tinycritter.com
Kathy Cuddyer, owner of Stone Leaf in Gloucester, was drawn to the nautical theme. Many of her customers' husbands are fishermen. "There's a close relationship to the ocean here. . . . So the shirts are really appropriate for me."
The $24 long-sleeved cotton T-shirts come in six colors, including red, navy, pink, and yellow. The designs, sketched by Marblehead artist Leanne Kessel Smith, resemble folk art. The options are a lizard, turtle, lobster, fish, dragonfly, seahorse, and moose. The company also sells onesies with the same designs for $24. In the spring, the Lambs will introduce short-sleeved shirts.
As Tiny Critter grows, Will remains an influence. "We did a crab but Will said it was too scary," said Kristen. The preschooler is ready to stretch beyond the sea. His design ideas? "A hippo and an elephant," he said.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
