Our Story

 

 

 

The product was created one night, late in 2016, from a kitchen table surrounded by family and food. Dee was sitting amongst the noise of dinner, sketch book in one hand and wine in the other! After years of exhibiting her other business at expos, the one thing that stood out was that parents were looking for a “really cool teething toy, something different”. There were other cheap plastic teethers on the market, but where was the cool, quirky stand out product? It didn’t exist! So determined to bring something to life to offer, the sketching continued late into the night (so did the wine drinking!) and by the next morning The Mibblers in their very first poorly hand-sketched glory were “born”.

In 2017 the products hit shelves across Australia and fell into the hands of babes across the world. And they LOVED them. It was official – they were a hit! The little Australian teething toy was making waves across the globe to rave reviews. From Down Under all the way across the pond to the big US of A! The Mibblers were making headlines and friends and one thing was for sure, people were loving The Mibblers!

 From humble beginnings, we had a warehouse, but no furniture yet! Two young babies in tow, but the lack of chairs wasn't going to slow us down.

In late 2017, Dee decided that if The Mibblers were going to continue to grow successfully and develop the brand and the product range and be able to meet the demand, she needed a business partner. So in December of 2017 an amazingly talented business partner was found and Lisa Galea became a Managing Partner for The Mibblers. #ohyeah

In 2018 Lisa and Dee found their little teething toy tribe growing rapidly across the globe. Lisa even found time to grow another little human and give birth to another beautiful baby boy. Now with 4 little ones now in tow between them, the girls had no plans on slowing down. From new beginnings, to plotting and planning the next moves, the girls had lots of creative ideas flowing and all the right ingredients. The second Mibbler was created - a little girl, with eyelashes and bows to boot.

The Mibblers were being recognised quickly across the world as a stand out baby product that was original in its design, concept and creation. With more than 15 awards under their belt the girls prepared to zoom into 2018 with their sights set on growing their little brand even BIGGER!

Shortly after their launch, The Mibblers were nominated for their very first award with MyChild Magazine Excellence Awards for Favourite Teething Toy. The public showed their support for the rookie teething toy and we placed 3rd, receiving the Bronze medallionThe Mibblers were the only Australian brand to place AND we were less than 6 months old. So The Mibblers were here to stay! The Mibblers went on to receive another 12 Awards in the next 12 months, being recognised for outstanding product design, quality, innovation and global growth.

OH SNAP!

In 2018 while the girls were working really hard behind the scenes, The Mibblers had sold out in Australia and continued to scale globally. In July, Dee’s daughter Bonnie was given a natural rubber soother/dummy as part of a 1st birthday present and within 3 days of using it, broke out in the mother of all rashes! OUCH! And right before her 1st Birthday party. #nofilterisgoingtohelphere

On the first visit to the doctor, he brushed it off as merely a "teething rash" and told us that most babies have teething rashes and that it should go away, gave us a prescription and wished us all the best. Two days later, Bonnie's rash had gotten so much worse (yes still using the natural rubber soother because who knew??) so off to a specialist doctor we went. After changes in food/washing powder/ exposure were discussed, I mentioned the only thing different, "could it be her soother that I give her to settle?" BINGO!

Bonnie had a reaction and the suspect? LATEX! And while the rash lasted only a couple of weeks, helped by ditching the soother and some better cream, Lisa and Dee made a HUGE decision – STOP PRODUCTION! 

Houston, we have a problem. Natural Rubber contains latex and if this could happen to Bonnie, then it could happen to ANY baby. But WORSE!

On doing more research into latex and talking with specialists we discovered that latex can also cause anaphylaxis (a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction) HOLY MOLY! We were aware that our natural rubber Mibblers contained latex, we had the warning on our packaging, but never thought much more about it. The biggest teething toy in the world is a natural rubber product containing latex, so we just didn't know. Until we did.

There had to be an alternative? The girls decided to redevelop The Mibblers and use silicone instead of Natural Rubber, so EVERY baby could enjoy the fun of The Mibblers, without the risk of ever having to react. So in 2019 The Mibblers went into redevelopment to create the technology for a 3D printed silicone teething toy, hollow with a squeaker – a WORLD FIRST! 

The Mission was to create a truly 100% safe alternative. A full redevelopment of The Mibblers has taken place over the last 14 months, allowing the girls to develop world first technology which would catapult The Mibblers back into the market place to fierce demand for distribution. Officially NO LATEX HERE! 

The Mibblers are back and we are so ready to show the world what we've worked so hard to create.

Thank you for your continued support.

Lisa + Dee