Apple Park proves that parents don’t have to choose between beauty and sustainability when it comes to their kids’ clothes and toys.
The tagline for organic apparel and toy brand Apple Park is “Organic from the heart.” And according to sales director Cristy Howe and Mariella Towey, who leads operations and marketing, the company walks the walk. “Our mission is to give moms peace of mind that when they are buying our products, they don’t have to research anything — we’re organic from the inside out,” Towey offers.
The company was founded by Angie Ting in 2009, when as a new mom, she couldn’t find good-looking, accessible organic toys. Ting and her husband, Ivan, have a background in the industry — their family heads up a prominent toy company in Hong Kong. Truly organic from the heart, Apple Park continues to be a passion for Ting, who has remained committed to fully organic construction, even against cost-cutting alternatives.
Ting has set the company in good hands: an all-female team of moms who describe the company culture as unequivocally supportive. For 2025, the brand has its sights set on breaking through the apparel market and taking Apple Park to new heights. Towey and Howe sat down with Earnshaw’s Kids to tell us how they plan to do just that.
What are your roles at Apple Park?
Cristy Howe: I had been consulting with the brand for a while and joined as the full-time sales director in September. The brand has been around since 2009, so most of our retailers already know who we are, but they know us as a toy brand first. Apple Park started as a toy brand, and in the 15-plus years since, it has dabbled in apparel and coordinating pieces for children to wear along with their toy. I wanted to get them on the right apparel calendar. Our line has expanded, and we’re in a bunch of new showrooms. We’re on the right calendar and ready to go.
Mariella Towey: I’ve been with the company 9 years. We’re all women, all moms. Our bottom line is always organic, always sustainable goods. Given that we’re a small company, I’ve worn a lot of hats — Cristy and I do everything. My official title is sales operations and marketing director, but we all have our hands in a bit of everything.
How would you describe the company ethos?
MT: We’re the only company that offers organic cotton and sustainable material on the inside, instead of just the outside of a product. I love this company, and the mission is so great. It’s to give moms peace of mind that everything is organic from the inside out.
CH: The clean carbon footprint piece has been thought all the way through; it’s not just organic cotton. We are led by that in everything we do and touch, and go the extra mile when it comes to that.
MT: We’re not greenwashing; we really try to walk the walk as much as possible.
You mentioned the changing calendar. What does your current calendar look like?
CH: Previously, we were able to design things as they were inspired, buy the inventory, and then make the product. With apparel, that’s not the same. We had to do three seasons at the exact same time, and now we’re designed through Spring ’26.
What will continue to change is, in the future, toys will be designed at the same time as the apparel prints so that they are aligned. Now, we’re in a transition period, so we pick prints that align with toys. Going forward, we’ll be three seasons ahead and pre-booking with retailers.
That said, we still want to scoop up that monthly toy outreach, opposed to the apparel pre-booking where you take the order and then can rest until it ships. It’s essentially two businesses in one. So it’s a challenge, but also a plus. In retailers’ minds, we can be a one-stop shop. You can easily have an Apple Park section and keep it stocked.
Who is your target consumer?
MT: From the beginning, we were known for gifts, so we put a lot of emphasis on packaging so that people could go into a gift shop and say, “This present is done.” That consumer was your best friend, your grandma. Now, it’s still them, along with the aesthetic mom.
CH: She’s busy, and she wants to be able to buy stuff for her kids, Christmas shop, buy for her friends’ kids’ birthday parties, and she wants to shop without worrying or spending time investigating if a product is good or up to her friends’ standards. She’s conscious of social issues.
How do retailers communicate your brand story?
CH: The women who head up our design department are also award-winning wine label designers, so they’re all about great packaging. In my opinion, we have some of the best packaging in the industry. It’s attractive and beautiful, and made from recycled materials. Some even have little black-and-white illustrations so that kids can color. Right now, that’s our best opportunity to convey the brand story.
We’re also working with building out signage for stores, and we have a longtime fixture program if stores buy a certain amount of product. There’s more to work with in that arena, but we lead with packaging.
What is your distribution strategy?
CH: We’re almost entirely boutiques at this moment, and we do a little bit of international business, in Australia, for example. Partnering with boutiques is the perfect alignment — other small businesses that project caring and warmth. It’s where we want to be.
Tell me about the FW25 collection.
CH: We’ve added a couple of dresses for girls for fall. We’re leaning into one of our books that we’ve written and published that is called Lives in the Woods, so the collection has a nighttime, woodland vibe. Our clothes are a bamboo/organic cotton 70/30 blend. It makes our clothes cozier and offers integrity to be worn as daywear.
What’s next for the brand?
CH: We want to continue our mission to be the whole package. We want to focus on branding in stores and becoming a full lifestyle offering.
MT: Because we started with gifts, that’s what we knew. We did gift shows, were in gift showrooms. Since we started developing apparel in 2005, the clothes have gotten cuter, better, and we’ve honed our point of view. Now we want it to have more exposure.
CH: We’ve been doing toys for a really long time and have been dabbling in the kind of coordinating apparel that does well for us, so we’ll continue to give mom that opportunity. We have a great doll series, for example, and we offer doll clothes so kids can match their dolls. We’re expanding so that the people who appreciate Apple Park can really live their lives in it.
Leave a Comment: