How Akin Onal built MORI around everyday baby essentials

MORI began with founder Akin Onal looking for better everyday baby clothing and not finding it. On the brand’s our story page, he says he started the company in 2015 after shopping for a gift for his niece and spotting a gap for an online-first baby brand using fabric gentle enough for sensitive skin and special enough to gift. He became an uncle in 2014 and wanted high-quality baby gifts at an accessible price. The first collection launched in Spring 2015.

The gap he saw was practical. Babies spend much of their day in those everyday layers, so he wanted a higher standard than what was on offer. Unable to find the quality he sought, he set about making it, drawing on his family’s textile heritage and carefully sourced materials for a signature fabric. He has described the product aim as giving parents clothing essentials they trusted were soft and safe, because babies spend most of their time in those basics.

That product start sits under a wider aim. Onal’s motivation, as discussed with Forbes magazine, extends beyond a single product line: “I’m motivated by building things that last - products, brands, and businesses - and by creating meaningful impact for families and children.”

He stayed close to product development and sourcing, leaning on trusted Turkish manufacturers and the textile know-how of a region he grew up in. Close family and friends became partners and trusted manufacturers as MORI got going. He wanted the signature organic-cotton and bamboo blend developed with processes aimed at cutting chemical use and making pieces durable enough to pass between newborns, so garments could be worn, washed and handed on.

Lasting success, in his words, means you need to “be a maker and creator, not a follower.” He talks about carving a niche clearly, then scaling, and keeping the business on strategic priorities rather than only the urgent but unimportant. Culture sits beside that. “Even the best people won’t perform if the culture is not right.” A founder’s job, he says, is to set the tone and stay authentic, creating trust and a safe place for the team to thrive.

That same attention shows up in how MORI describes supplier and materials controls. Suppliers must sign a Code of Conduct before production begins and undergo routine audits. Onal frames the commercial aim as working with trusted partners to offer customers only the best baby and parent-related products. Product materials say chemical and hazardous-materials testing is outsourced and complies with UK safety standards, with fabrics and trims certified. The company says its 100% organic products are GOTS certified and that the signature bamboo and organic-cotton fabric is OCS certified for those specified materials.

What he built is a UK babywear business centred on sleep and everyday essentials. Signature pieces such as the Clever Zip sleepsuit and Clever Sleeping Bag use a blend typically described as bamboo-derived viscose with organic cotton. A monthly Sleep Club membership on babymori.com delivers sleepwear on a recurring basis and currently ships only within the UK. The company also sells online and through UK wholesale and stores, and has pursued US growth since a 2019 Series A led by Guinness Asset Management. Baby Mori Limited’s audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025 show turnover of about $21.2 million and pretax profit of about $750,000, converted from sterling figures in the filing.

Growth has followed concrete choices. Onal leaned on Turkish textile capability already in the family’s orbit, with partner factories in Izmir and Denizli and organic cotton sourced in Turkey. Capital and governance widened under his tenure as CEO. The 2019 Series A brought institutional backers including 500 Startups alongside Guinness. Companies House later shows Hugo Vaux and Dan Ziv joining the board in April 2019 and Justin Stead in June 2024. On the digital side, Cape Town software firm Bitcube has supplied Sleep Club and related ecommerce systems almost since launch.

In 2025 the catalogue widened through two deals. In April, Baby Mori bought Kidly assets after that childrenswear business went into administration, including the Kidly Label brand and website. In September, MORI acquired the Storksak and Babymel changing-bag brands. The purchases pull preschool apparel and bags around the sleepwear core.

Sourcing still runs through Turkey. MORI works with textile suppliers in Izmir for its softest sleepwear and daywear, and with partners in Denizli for muslins, towels and nursery pieces, with a Head of Product who has long working ties to those sleep and daywear partners since launch. Organic cotton for the line comes from Turkey, while bamboo for the signature blend is grown in China. The brand also reaches shoppers in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Mauritius and Algeria through Next Direct’s international listings of MORI sleepsuits.

From a niece gift he could not find on the shelf to a product-led London babywear brand with a wider catalogue and a team built around it, the path is entrepreneurial rather than accidental: spot the gap, make the fabric, set the culture, then scale the decisions that keep the business moving.

Sources: babymori.com our story; Retail Gazette, 6 Mar 2017; Just Entrepreneurs, 2020; babymori.com makers; MORI fabrics; MORI US testing FAQ; Clever Sleeping Bag product page (UK safety-testing note); Bitcube; Drapers Kidly; Drapers Storksak/Babymel; Next Direct country listings for MORI sleepsuits; Companies House Baby Mori Limited 09142230.

- AB24 · Johannesburg