Baby clothes are fun.
It’s cute and makes you smile. There’s no denying it.
 
One of the most exciting things as an expecting parent is to start looking at & buying the most adorable outfits you possibly can. Like that ladybug-inspired swimsuit or the little aviator-inspired hat! How cute are those little shoes with the bunny-ears!

But WINTER-TIME brings on a whole new challenge… Not only are you faced with the usual tasks of feeding, caring & organising (to your best attempt). You also need to make smart decisions between something that is just too adorable for words and something your little one will actually want to wear. Something that he will be happy & comfy in.  And most of all, especially during Autumn time when the seasons transition, that he is not too hot or too cold.

As a semi-new mom (Wolfgang is now almost 15 months), I have small internal panic attacks about whether I am dressing him to warm or too cold. They are minor, but they are daily and enough to  halt me to a stand-still for at least a few minutes. It must be a mom-thing. This constant uncertainty whether you are doing it right. (Like when they are really tiny, sleeping and you literally want to check whether they are still alive, every. 10. minutes. Please tell me I’m not the only one that did this)

Getting your head around a few winter-wardrobe tried & tested basics and tricks, can really help to make your life just that teensy bit easier. When those panic attacks hit, I remember the advice I got from family, friends and clients. As soon as you have these down, you can enjoy focusing on all the stylin’ outfits you’ll be putting together :

Layer. Especially if you are already on a school run, mornings are icy (this morning was 9 degrees), yet it warms up soon. Layering enables you to keep up with an active baby by adjusting the layers to her needs. Taking off a layer when she is crawling/waddling around and getting hot, and adding the layer back on as soon as she calms down and is ready for a nap/the day gets cooler or you need to go outside. So how to layer?
 
Start with a good quality first layer. 
For winter, a Wool-Polyester or Cotton-Lycra babygrow is best. This might come as a surprise to many, but 100% cotton tends to stay damp once it’s absorbed moisture so could start agitating baby’s skin as soon as she gets a bit hot and starts to perspire. Fabrics like Lycra are better insulators. At Wolf Wolf our babygrows are usually a mixture of 100% cotton fronts with Cotton-Lycra backs.  
(Another secret that might also shock you - and which makes this task a bit easier - Less and less brands are able to afford 100% cotton for their productions, so many times you will be sitting with a babygrow that has at least a 5% man-made fibre included in the knit/weave anyway)

Add a 2nd layer that is comfy and easy to move in, such as a long-sleeve T-shirt. 

Now, depending on the weather outside your 3rd layer can be:
a) A light cardigan/tracksuit top
b) Warm hoodie/cardigan
c) My personal favourite: the sleeveless hoodie. Great on it's own over the t-shirt if it's  not too cold /as an extra layer over the warm hoodie cardigan. This way, baby's arms are freed up, but his chest stays nice and protected.
 d) A full bodysuit (o the comfort!) in warm fleece/fluff/tracksuiting. These are especially ideal with smaller babies (and even better if they have a hood as well). But, keep in mind, if the suit has feet, it can be slightly cumbersome/frustrating to a                                                                                            toddler starting to walk.

4th layer: With extreme weather you might want to add the very warm fleece/puffer/raincoat.
Always keep a beanie/hood close-by and if weather has it, a nice comfy basic baby-scarf/ scarf-bib (Our baby snoods are perfect for boys and girls, find them @ https://wolfwolf.co.za/pages/store.asp?P=boys )
For the little legs: As soon as it gets really cold, remember winter-tights (for boys and girls) are a lifesaver! No socks falling off and legs are nice and toasty all day long (Find our tights in the boys and girls sections for only R45 each).

As a new parent, you might not yet have the confidence in trusting your own intuition as much as you actually can(I’m still learning to)  So as a general rule of thumb, dress your baby in the same amount of layers you are dressed in and keep another layer on a hot stand-by. So, for example, if you are dressed in a long-sleeve top with a light cardigan over, do the same for babba and keep a nice cosy hooded-jacket at the ready.
 
But don’t babies get colder more easily than grown-ups?
Yes, they do, but most of us have the tendency to overdress our little ones. During early-winter in European countries such as France you will see mildly dressed babies out and about until late at night. Even with their much colder winters, babies there are allowed to get a bit colder than our babies do, and they seem just fine. Again, trust your gut. You will get to know your baby and see when he’s too hot or cold. 
Dr. Kathleen Alfano Ph.D (former director of child research at Fisher-Price) has some great advice for parents:
“In general, if your baby seems reasonably calm and happy, and is sleeping comfortably inside or out, then she is probably dressed just fine. You don’t have to worry and adjust to every temperature change. Just make sure you protect babies from extreme heat or cold. You want to be protective but you want to make sure your baby’s body learns to adjust to temperature changes as well”
 
 
Do a 3 point-check
When going out, make sure the following are covered:
1. Head (this includes ears! )
2. Neck
3. Feet
If it is really cold and you feel up to the challenge, try to get some mittens on those toddler-hands as well (good luck though, I have trouble keeping a beanie on Wolfgang’s head. The only way it stays on for more than 5 mins is if it’s our Lycra wolfie beanies AND you distract him enough (the distraction being key)
 
When buying clothes, look for winter items that are easy-pieces.

• Easy-on & easy-off items, like items with full-length front openings, make dressing & nappy-changes much easier. (Especially the ones with zips…we’ll be working on these at Wolf Wolf).
• Look for items with a hood already attached. Trying to juggle a hat that constantly falls on the floor, whilst feeding, is not fun. It also makes the possibility of covering the head (or at least the ears) of a toddler slightly higher.
•  When you do choose to buy a separate hat, because it is just too cute, try one that fastens underneath the chin & properly covers baby’s ears without constraining them (We’ll have some Wolf-eared ones soon!)
• A lot more shops (including us!) are selling warm winter tights. If you haven’t yet, try them, they keep great warmth and are much more practical than normal socks that constantly fall off/get lost. They also make super-cute winter outfits paired with nappy-covers. #justsayin’
• For the 1st layer opt for a babygrow-style that fastens at the crotch instead of a t-shirt- This will avoid the bottom-layer riding up and exposing baby’s skin
• For bedtime full-length babygrow instead of seperates. You know baby’s whole body will be covered all night long. An added bonus is one with feet. And a zip (sanity-saver especially as they get older and wrigglier when dressing/changing nappies!)
• On the topic of sleeping: consider a sleeping-sack/wearable blanket, as these are great at keeping babba warm (i.e no blankets being kicked off)  but still allows him to easily move his arms and body. If possible, buy a few and keep them nearby for easy changes.  A general tip is to rather line baby’s bed with a warm winter-sheet and minimise clothing & blankets. (keep a few of these sheets nearby as well….)
• As soon as your baby starts walking, forget about the cute winter-boots you saw at the store yesterday. Invest in some more socks and soft shoes (especially the soft leather ones). Your little one is just learning to walk, so her footing is still a bit unsure. Hassle from heavy chunky boots is an unnecessary frustration for both of you. You can buy the cute boots next winter.

 
Soothed babies are the happiest babies!
When dressing baby, no cuteness of any outfit can surpass the way it needs to feel on baby’s skin. At Wolf Wolf we truly focus on using the softest fabrics that are gentle against sensitive skins. When shopping, look for garments that are especially soft on the inside, with no abrasive stitching/tags that will irritate baby’s skin. (as a side-note, as soon as you have looked at it, you can always cut off the washing instructions/tags etc. on the inside)
Then last but not least: In winter-time, after bath-time, go for rubbing baby’s skin with a nice soothing oil instead of a cream before getting dressed. Not only is it good for locking in some extra moisture, but it also locks in a bit of extra heat.
 
Summer time is fun and easy because, if you’re into it, you can literally let bub walk around naked (if you have floors, not carpets that is.....) But winter-time, takes a little more patience from both you and bub.

So our final piece advice would be to make dressing a little more fun in winter: Indulge in the fun of your little looking super cute in jackets, cardigans and warm fluffy bear suits, but remember to take your Instagram pic as soon as they’re dressed, just to make sure you get at least ONE pic with that cute hat/shoes/scarf.
 
 
 

WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE GO AND OPEN UP A SHOP IN A DIGITAL AGE?

First of all, let me share the actual address of the shop (I’ve been known to get all lyrical about the shop, and then no one actually knows where it is):
 
Wolf Wolf Shop
Cnr of 4th Avenue & 5th Street
Linden
Johannesburg
 
For those of you who know Joburg, we are on the quieter side of 4th Avenue, if you drive FROM The Whippet TOWARDS Cresta, we’ll be on your right side. We have a big red & white umbrella outside so you are able to easily spot us.
 
Formalities out of the way, I’m sure you are still wondering, WHY on earth would we go through all the effort and costs of setting up a brick-n-mortar store in an age where everything (including baby products) are going online?
 
The thing is, Wolf Wolf is not just baby clothing.  It’s not just another babygrow or t-shirt you are going to buy for your or someone else’s baby.
 
Yes, we do design, make and sell baby clothing. We try to design, make and sell the best baby clothing we can bring you, going to a lot of effort to test out our patterns, try and find the right mixes of fabrics & colours & prints. Clothing is our main business and trust me, we LOVE doing it.  We are emotionally invested in every design we do. But is it the reason we are in business?
 
No.
 
Wolf Wolf is a brand. It is an experience.
 
In our hearts beats a dream of creating an entire world for your little ones (and the everlasting-child within you). A world where they can join Wolf and Wolf on every adventure they go on, experiencing new places and making new friends.
 
We are not completely there yet, but we’ll let you in on the direction we are moving: we want to create characters that your children can fall in love with, relate to and want to be friends with. We want to take your children on imaginary trips to places and events where, without knowing it, they learn about these places and also a little about teamwork, problem-solving, friendship, emotions and self-development. 
 
Then, we want to make these characters alive by turning them into toys, putting them on our clothing (no, it will never be cheesy, it’ll always be designed with you and our brand aesthetic in mind. Some call us hipster, I’d just prefer you know that our aim is that we’ll never look like you could’ve just bought us in any other store)But wait, I’m getting off track....
We are dreaming of colouring books , room décor, accessories...our list gets longer and longer every time we talk about it.
 
 
If fate will have it, we’ll even be able to bring our characters to life...
 
 
And THAT is why our world cannot be contained only to a digital space.
 
Because we are aimed at children, our world still needs to be tangible.
 
We want children to walk into our store, feel the atmosphere we created for that season’s story, come into our Wolves’ world and spend time there growing their imaginations.
 
It has to be heard, felt, met. 

For Summer 17/18, our story is all about Wolf and Wolf’s travel to Mexico where they meet a donkey named Franciska.
 
That means our store  & shop windows are decorated with a Mexican theme, there’s donkeys (small and inflatable, but they are there), when you enter you are transported into a Mexican fiesta with Mexican music in the background and children can come and hug & say hello to our Wolf standees.
 
We are but at the cusp of what we want to bring children with our themes. At the moment our store is small and we are only at the beginning of adding products, bringing across our theme in a curated way. Our plans include snow for winter, creating a true Wolf & Wolf world by turning our store into what we imagine their home will be like (hello in-store tree-house),bringing in even more relatable versions of our characters and ,of course more, adding much more variety in the products customers can buy to take their experience home.
 
We believe in creating a space that is alive with imagination and also learning .  To do that, we incorporate at least one special themed morning with each story. For our Winter story “Wolf Wolf goes to Paris”, we had a French morning where children (and parents) could come and taste real french treats (compliments of Linden-based French restaurant  A la Bouffe), each child received a French beret & best of all , we had a little French lesson learning basic French words and phrases. To add to our luck, it was a rainy winter’s morning, giving it a true Paris-winter feel.....!
 
We plan to do more of these more often, creating a space where kids can meet up (for free) and learn something new and fun. (Parents are treated to champagne, so it’s a serious win-win for everybody....)
 
We hope to relate as much as we can onto our digital platforms in order for you and your children not ONLY to be able to experience our stories in-store. But, we would sure love it if you come and visit!

To see more of our activities at and our our store interior, follow our Instagram and/or Facebook page Wolf Wolf Kids (or just follow the nifty social media links at the bottom of the page)
 
 

New news articles to be loaded soon! 

Watch this space!