Two Generations, One Dream: The Real Story Behind Little Zi

By Angie  |  Founder, Little Zi

Let me start where it really begins.

It was 2018. I was working in banking, and "working" is a generous word for what I was doing. I was grinding. Eight in the morning to midnight -- sometimes three a.m. on a good night. I had moved to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, not because I wanted to live there, but because it was closer to the office. That single fact tells you everything about where my head was.

Growing up as an immigrant, my career was my north star. I had fought for it, built it, protected it. But around this same time, I had also met the man I would marry -- the first person I ever looked at and thought: I want to build a family with him. And I remember staring at my calendar, staring at my life, thinking: I have absolutely no idea how these two things exist together.

I was beyond exhausted. I was also, quietly, falling apart. That year, I was diagnosed with severe depression and severe anxiety. I wasn't sleeping. I wasn't eating real meals. I was surviving -- not living.

And then my mom called.

My mother, Zizzi, is a gown and wedding dress designer by trade. She had her own fashion house back in Peru in the 1990s -- before our family immigrated first to Japan, and then, when I was fifteen, to the United States. For decades, life had pulled her away from designing. But in 2018, she was ready to create again.

I assumed she'd want to go back to bridal. Evening gowns, couture -- her world.

Instead she said: "I want to design baby clothing."

I paused. We had no babies in our family. Nobody had children. We were all just careers and ambitions and long hours. I asked her why.

I didn't fully understand it yet. But something in me said: I want in.

We became a team. She would design. I would figure out everything else.

I couldn't tell anyone at work. So I spent my weekends researching -- trade shows, manufacturers, materials. This wasn't a business yet. It was more like a dream we were throwing at the wall to see what stuck.

While I handled the strategy side, my mom dove deep into materials research. She discovered something extraordinary: a wild cotton that grows in its own natural color. No dyes. No chemicals. Just the fiber as nature made it. We call it artisanal organic cotton. She also chose Pima cotton for any piece that needed color -- one of the silkiest, most breathable fibers that exists. Those two materials became the foundation of everything Little Zi would ever make.

And then something happened that stopped me completely.

As my mom was designing our first collection, she was completely absorbed. Meticulous about every color, every print, every tiny detail. One day she looked up and told me calmly: "This collection is going to be named after my first granddaughter. Her name will be Sophia."

I stared at her. "Mama. You don't have grandchildren. What are you talking about?"

She just smiled. "I know. But I will."

I don't know how she knew. But she knew.

When Sophia was born, she developed rashes on her arms. Reactions to the synthetic fabrics in the baby clothes we had at home -- the normal, pretty, off-the-shelf kind that most parents buy without a second thought.

My mom looked at me and said: "You have a thousand Little Zi samples. Let her wear them."

We switched her to our pure cotton pieces. The rashes cleared.

I hadn't fully understood what we were building until that moment. I had thought Little Zi was a business. A passion project. A way out of burnout. But it was more than all of that. It was a real solution to something that happens to far more babies than anyone realizes -- babies whose parents don't know why their skin keeps reacting, because nobody tells them the fabric could be the reason.

I had both my daughters in 2020 and 2023 -- during and after COVID. No baby showers. And I remember fantasizing, genuinely fantasizing, about receiving a beautiful gift basket: curated pieces from a brand I could trust, presented with love, arriving like someone had really thought about me and my baby.

So that's what we built.

And there's one more thing I want you to know about Little Zi. The women who cut the fabric, crochet the necklines, and sew each piece together -- they are working women. Many of them are mothers, contributing to their families and communities. This supply chain, from my mother's sketchbook to the hands of the women who bring each garment to life, is something I am deeply proud of. It starts with love and it stays that way all the way to your door.

This blog is where I'll share everything -- the honest parts, the hard parts, and the beautiful parts of building something from scratch while raising two daughters under five. If you've ever questioned a fabric label, felt overwhelmed as a new parent, or just wanted to find a brand you could actually trust -- I think you'll feel at home here.

Follow along. Subscribe. And if something in this story resonated, I'd genuinely love to hear yours in the comments below.

Welcome to Little Zi. I'm so glad you're here. 💛

-- Angie

Co-Founder, Little Zi

littlezi.com