DALLAS — Miroslava Duma and Nasiba Adilova celebrated their new e-commerce business, Thetot.com, last weekend in Dallas with a private dinner and an eco-friendly festival.
Designed as a luxury source for healthy, sustainable products for middle- and upper-income moms and kids, Thetot.com debuted in January with celebrity mom profiles plus expert advice. It added e-commerce in May.
“It’s for women who want to give their kids the best in terms of safety and innovation, but they don’t have time to learn and study and read every review so they trust somebody else to do that work for them,” Adilova explained. “We figured let’s create an ecosystem for mothers who are like us and want a more elevated, luxury shopping experience. It’s all about eco-friendly, safe, clean and innovative options.”
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Thetot.com offers 350 products including stylish silicone baby bibs, bath linens, booties, bottle warmers, car seats, nursery furnishings and shampoo. That number should rise to 500 by June 30 and 1,000 by yearend, explained Kathy Kipriotis, chief executive officer. She declined to project sales but said revenues are expected to grow 25 percent every month.
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“We test every product ourselves and decide whether we will use it,” Adilova noted. “Instead of 100 strollers, we have five.”
Long term, she and Duma want to build The Tot into a brand and a trusted voice with a recognized seal of approval, she noted.
The three-year goal is to introduce The Tot maternity, skin care and children’s clothing. In addition, they plan to open brick-and-mortar showrooms that offer family activities. The company is based in downtown Dallas and expects to open its first location here.
“We hope to be the destination for mothers, kids and mothers-to-be for everything they need for a happy, healthy and sustainable future,” Duma noted. “We hope it to be international.”
The Ukrainian born, Russian resident certainly has experience with that. Her digital media empire, Buro 24/7, spans 11 nations including Mexico, which launched June 13.
Profiles of celebrity moms such as Jenna Bush help The Tot draw 3,000 visitors a day on average, Kipriotis explained. In the future, it will feature product picks by celebrities such as Rachel Zoe.
“Since we launched the store, they [visitors] are looking at seven pages each, which is a really high engagement level,” Kipriotis said.
Kipriotis, an Australian equity partner who is relocating to Dallas, will continue to advise Duma’s Buro 24/7 empire on international expansion. Before joining The Tot last year, Kipriotis served as digital director for News Corp.’s Australian luxury titles, including vogue.com.au and gq.com.au.
Prabal Gurung, Mary Katrantzou and Nicholas Kirkwood will each be doing an exclusive product for The Tot. They attended both the Saturday carnival at Goar Park and the Friday dinner hosted by Nancy Chritton Rogers at the Joule hotel.
“I’ve known them for a while, and I love what they’re doing,” Gurung said.
“I’ve never done baby shoes, but I’ll do it for them,” Kirkwood said. “Maybe a sneaker mash-up — I’m not going to do a high heel.”
“I did a nappy bag with all the features they wanted,” Katrantzou said.
“With Nasiba, you can never say ‘no,’” Kirkwood added. “It’s like, ‘Yes, what else?’”