About Us

Hi, I'm Melissa — Wife, Mom, and Founder of Sailing Llamas

People ask me two things constantly: why I started this business, and what on earth "Sailing Llamas" means. So let's start at the beginning.

Before kids, I ran a tight ship. Up at 0430, lights out around 2230, and everything in between packed with CrossFit, a full-time career with the Army National Guard, cooking, chasing my dogs around, and reading way too many personal development books for someone who barely had free time. I liked structure. I liked knowing exactly what came next.

Then in February 2024, our daughter arrived, and that structure didn't just bend — it completely fell apart. In the best way, but still. Somewhere between the sleep-deprived 3am feedings and being physically benched from every workout I loved, I found myself... bored. Which felt absurd. I had a newborn. How was I bored? But newborns sleep constantly, and apparently my brain does not do "constantly resting" well, so I did what any overachiever with too much time on her hands and Wi-Fi does: I started scrolling.

Baby clothes, specifically. I was sure the internet — home to literally everything — would have exactly what I was picturing in my head. Friend, it did not. Plenty of cute stuff, sure, but nothing that actually felt inspired. So, naturally, I decided the solution was to just make it myself. As one does.

Where the name actually came from

Naming this thing took forever. I wanted something that wouldn't scream "baby brand" and box me into onesies forever — I had bigger plans, even if I didn't fully know what they were yet. I tried combination after combination, and every single decent one was already taken. Classic.

The actual answer came from my daughter, completely by accident. She had this small, dark grey dangling llama toy that she was obsessed with — meanwhile a nearly identical light grey cactus toy right next to it got absolutely zero attention. Rude, but noted. Around the same time, we were doing tummy-time flashcards for eye development, and out of an entire accordion-folded set of black-and-white images, there was exactly one picture she lit up for every single time: a boat. Not the stars. Not the bubbles. The boat.

So my brain did what brains apparently do at 2am with a sleeping baby on your chest — it started smashing "llama" and "boat" together until Sailing Llamas fell out. And once it did, there was no going back. It was unique, it was memorable, and it was ours.

Fast forward to now

We welcomed our second baby in February 2025, and somewhere between that and moving our entire life from Alaska to Colorado, I finally stopped treating this as a side hobby and started treating it like an actual brand. I sharpened the focus — STEM  — instead of just "things I thought were cute that week."

We're also working toward bringing all production in-house. I exclusively print on Bella + Canvas products. I have a heat press in my bedroom. I order the DTF transfers from Ninja Transfers. Moving production home means faster shipping, more personalization, and — most importantly — actually having a say in the products carrying my name.

And now?

We brought home our third kiddo in February 2026, because apparently chaos is my love language. My goal is simple: keep growing Sailing Llamas into something real, while staying home with my kids through all of it.

Thanks for being here and for supporting a small, scrappy, occasionally sleep-deprived family business. If you ever want to say hi, ask a question, or just tell me my llama obsession makes sense now — head to our contact page, or find us on Instagram @sailingllamas.