A conversation with Julia Billings, founder and creator behind Wildhaven Wools.
Wildhaven Wools is known in Alaska for making soft, comfortable and colorful merino wool base layers for kids. Alaskan kids are outside in all types of weather, rain, snow, freezing temps, sunshine, sometimes all in a single day! Julia Billings is the creator behind Wildhaven Wools, and a mom of two. She knows the magic of spending time playing outdoors, and the importance of having the right gear to get lost in the moment. We loved working with her to create a special "Wintershore" colorway of her kids best-selling merino wool hoodies and leggings, and also matching adult-sized hoodies, for Salmon Sisters. Learn more about the inspiration behind Julia's business and her creations, and how Alaska inspires her work.
Can you share a little background about yourself and your business? When did you get started? What inspired you to start?
I am a mother of 2 wild children, wife to a loving dedicated husband and life-long Alaskan. I spent my early childhood on a homestead in Southeast Alaska, near Wrangell, playing in the woods and on the beach. I have core memories of spending hours lost in my imagination in a mossy wooded clearing by our cabin. I was sure that fairies lived there. When I had kids, I knew I wanted them to have similar memories, that connection to nature formed only through hours of free play outside.
Wildhaven was created by combining two of my favorite things, time lost in nature and making. Making things for people has always been my love language. I started the business because I was looking for a new direction in my career. I was trained as a geologist but I was craving creativity and wanted to build something. I love to make things and solve problems, so when I found I couldn’t buy the wool base layers for my kids that I wanted, so they could spend more time outside, I decided to make them.
A few years ago, when my kids were little, I was looking for toddler-sized base layers for them to wear under their rain and snow gear. We live in rural Alaska and spend a lot of time outdoors. I wanted a hooded top and pants that were 100% wool, both for performance and sustainability. There weren’t many options out there and the brands we tried were either too itchy, too thin or didn’t fit well. Since I was already sewing a lot of their clothes, I decided I would design their wool base layers myself, ones that they would actually wear, that would also fit for longer. The first set came out unbelievably well. I shared with some friends and offered to make them a pair… that’s how the business got started.
What is special/unique about your products for those who don’t already know? Can you share a little about your process behind designing and creating them?
There are so many things that make our clothing unique, sometimes it is hard to decide what to tell people first! All our clothing is designed in our studio in Haines, Alaska. Every style is tested and tweaked until we have found the best fit and fabrics for function, sustainability and, last but not least, cuteness. Our products are truly unique in the kids clothing world because our clothes are designed to “grow” with your child. We didn’t invent this idea, it’s been around in the home-sewing world for awhile, but we refined it and applied it to kids' base layers in a way that hadn’t been done before. Perfecting the fit in our “growth-spurt proof” design has been a labor of love. Every year we make small tweaks to improve it. I truly think we have the best fitting kids base layers on the market.
When I started this business, it was really important to me that I wasn’t just making more “stuff” that would end up in the landfill. That is why one of our core values is sustainability. For Wildhaven, that means making clothing that lasts, from biodegradable materials, and using every scrap. That is why we offer free patches and repairs. That is why we’ve worked so hard to design clothes that fit longer and why we only use all-natural materials that don’t contribute to piles of polyester clothing clogging up our landfills. The only exception is our waistbands, those do have some spandex in them, otherwise they fall down. We have been looking for an all-natural elastic alternative but there just isn’t a good one on the market yet.
Our materials are unique in the clothing space as well as they are the very best out there in terms of ethical production and sustainability. All our wool is 100% merino and sourced from New Zealand. It is Responsible Wool Standard and ZQ-certified, meaning the animals and environment are well cared for and closely regulated. We make sure everything has all the certs.
We sew all our clothing in the US and that also sets us apart from most other wool brands. Our manufacturer is in LA and we work closely with them on every step. We used to make everything in the studio in Alaska but, as demand grew, that became untenable. Outsourcing our production has been a big challenge but has freed us up to do more design, come out with new products, and do collabs like this one!
Another unique aspect of our clothing, and a big point of pride for me as a designer, are our colors and patches. Most kids’ base layers come in one boring solid color without anything extra. I wanted something different, fun and playful. Since our kids go from outside to inside all day, I wanted clothing that would function well under gear but also look cute at school or while playing indoors. All our colorways are inspired by nature. For example, the Wintershore colorway for Salmon Sisters came to me while on a walk on the beach in March. The seaweed was rust red against the navy blue shore and the ocean was a luminescent green. I knew this color combination was perfect for this collab.
What is special about living in and running a business in Alaska?
I have a small studio/store on Main Street in Haines that is the Wildhaven home base. This is where I do most of the design and studio sewing, plus where I fill orders with some room for retail. It is only ~ 250 sq ft so it is pretty packed. Since the workspace is small, I try to keep it organized. There is a big table that folds out for cutting, sewing machines lined up in the back and totes of products to ship out.
I love our community in Haines. Running a business in Alaska, in a small town, is very rewarding. I get to see my designs on kids (and adults) everyday and interact directly with our customers who come in just to say hello. For a long time, I was the only employee but I have been able to hire a couple local folks this year to help me with fulfillment and marketing. I just hired them, so it’s early days, but I can already feel the relief of not having to do it all myself.
How have you tackled running a business and being a mom! What are you biggest challenges/accomplishments?
There is nothing easy about being a mom and a business owner. It is A LOT. That said, I am so honored to be able to show my kids what it looks like to start your own business doing something you love and believe in. It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there and I am really proud to model that form of bravery for them. Also, by having my own business, I am able to work different hours than the traditional 9-5. I pick them up from school everyday and take a lot of time in the summer off to be with them. When my kids were very little, it was harder. They are both in school now, and that has helped give me more time to grow the business. But family always comes first.
What was it like working on the Salmon Sisters collaboration?
I feel so honored to be able to do a Salmon Sisters collab! I grew up commercial fishing with my family and I love the values and inspiration behind the Salmon Sisters brand. I have been a big fan for years. When I started designing for the collab, I knew I wanted to use a sea green like the Alaskan ocean. For fishermen, this is a core color as it is all around you. The rest of the Salmon Sisters colorway came to me while on a winter beach walk. The rust red kelp, navy blue slate shore and the sea green ocean, were all there, connected. That is the joy of taking color inspiration from nature. Somehow she knows best.
The trickiest part about the collab were the Salmon Sisters patches. I tried a bunch of different methods to make a “patch” that looked good and wasn’t polyester or woven plastic. I wanted the patch to match Wildhaven’s sustainability values as well. I ended up ordering heat transfers and applying them directly to our 100% merino wool fabric with an applique paper backing. That creates the patch that is then ironed and sewn on the garment. All of our patches are sewn-on in our studio after the clothing is made. The patches look great and function really well. I’m proud of that effort.
Shop Salmon Sisters x Wildhaven Wools Kid's Hoodie, Kid's Leggings, and Adult Hoodie.
