While the Gwyneth Paltrow touch may not exactly hold the powers of the Oprah touch, getting a mention in GOOP — Paltrow’s lifestyle-advice newsletter focused on achieving La Belle Vie — ain’t bad. So when Toronto mitten designer Anna-Maria Mountfort was recently mentioned in it, she took it as rather good news.
For parents frustrated with a child’s inexplicable knack for losing mittens, Mountfort’s creation, mimiTENS (a wordplay on the French translation for mittens: mes mitaines), may be just the helping hand they need. To see what all the fuss is about, we went directly to the source: Mountfourt herself.
Why do you think kids are so prone to losing their mittens?
Willfully flinging off and losing are two different things. I like to think that the willfully flinging off is the real problem that mimiTENS manages. Toddlers who are experiencing their first few winters don’t understand the cause and effect situations caused by this particular season. For instance, don’t lick metal, your tongue will stick. Don’t fling your mittens off, your hands will get cold, and mommy can’t drink her coffee if you are freaking out. The kids are innocent, really. MimiTENS believes that the children are innocent…
How did you come up with the idea for mimiTENS?
I was changing my daughter’s diaper and needed a quick way to distract her and make her stop rolling around all over the place. So I took her socks off her feet and put them on her hands. She tried to shake them off and couldn’t. That moment stuck in my mind as I experienced my first winter with a little kid who flung her mittens off and then howled with discomfort from frozen hands. That is the honest truth!
What makes your mittens stay on little hands?
They have a long, sock-like tube that goes all the way up to the elbow. The tube has a double-welt, elastic-ish band at the top that further ensures it is snug but flexible. Another aspect of mimiTENS that contributes to their stay-on power are the fabrics that I use and the nice embroidered designs. Parents are always telling me that their kids like wearing mimiTENS.
mimiTENS were recently endorsed by GOOP. Any word on whether your creation is keeping the hands of Apple and Moses (Gwyneth’s children) warm?
Admittedly, I have not heard anything lately. But I hope that when they do wear them, Gwyneth tells Apple and Moses that their mittens come from Toronto — a winter wonderland where you can buy mangosteens and pupusas all year round.
The Mitten by Jan Brett: a heart-warming tale about some forest animals that make a home out of wayward mittens, or an immoral story endorsing children to be careless with a pair of mittens made with care by Grandma?
Well, Jan Brett books are so clear in their messages. The Gingerbread Baby is about how running away from home is no way to trick your parents into getting what you want because they are busy in the kitchen and won’t notice that you are gone anyway. The Sweater is about how you can accidentally become a fashion-sensation but eventually, everyone will copy your originality/ideas and you will slunk off to listen to The Smiths, alone. So The Mitten must have a similarly intense message, but I don’t want to mislead readers without having read this important part of the children’s book canon. Suffice to say, that anything that Grandma knits is a treasure.