Mała Olivia started because I was on my third baby and still had not found a carrier I actually liked.
Three babies, three carriers, three problems
With my first daughter I used a well-known structured carrier. It could not be used from birth, so there was a waiting period before I could wear her at all. Getting the back support to sit in the right place was a constant fight, and there were so many latches and attachment points that one day I realised I had missed one entirely. That is not a feeling you forget.
With my second I moved to a different brand. Better in some ways, but it fastened with a buckle across my back, between the shoulder straps — which meant I could not put it on by myself without a performance. It also needed a large cushioned insert to be used with a newborn. In a Queensland summer, strapping an extra layer of padding between you and your baby is not a practical suggestion.
I kept looking at wrap-style carriers. Babies in them look so comfortable, held close and naturally the way you would hold them in your arms. But every conversation I had about wraps came back to the same thing: learning to tie one properly is a mission, and nobody has time for a mission at 6am with a newborn.
So the carrier I wanted did not exist. It needed the close, natural hold of a wrap, the back support of a structured carrier, and none of the fiddling from either.
What we built
Wrap+ is that carrier. A padded, structured back panel to carry the weight properly. Soft, breathable wings that cross over your baby the way a wrap does. And rings instead of knots or velcro, so you can tighten and loosen the fit with your baby already in it.
The design went through more than eighteen months of testing and adjustment before we were happy with it.
My business partner is my husband
Which turned out to be the best possible product test.
He had been completely overwhelmed by the first carrier — too many straps, too many steps. He flatly refused to use the second one, because as far as he was concerned it gave him no back support at all. He is not an unusual case. In a lot of households one parent ends up doing all the carrying, not because they want to, but because the carrier is too much hassle to hand over.
What we both loved about Wrap+ is that we could swap it between us without resetting strap lengths or repositioning the back support. He found it easy to put on alone, and easy to adjust once our daughter was in it.
I wore that carrier until she was twenty months old. It went over the top of whatever I was wearing, on and off between walking, shopping and getting her into the car. That is the test that matters — not whether a carrier is comfortable for twenty minutes, but whether you are still reaching for it two years later.
How we run things
Mała Olivia is Australian owned and operated, run from a home base rather than an office or a warehouse. Our carriers are manufactured in China to strict specifications designed to meet Australian safety guidelines, and every carrier is checked before it is sent.
You will not find us in stores. Keeping everything in-house means there is no middle party taking a cut, and it means I can run this business around being a mum to my three girls. It also means when you email us, you are emailing me.
If you are weighing up whether Wrap+ is right for you, just ask. I have used three carriers across three babies and I am happy to tell you when something else would suit you better.
— Monica