Made in Hamilton: The Mabel’s Labels Story
A frustrating parenting problem, a vision to solve it, and some tenacity helped a quartet of moms create an enduring brand. Read on for co-founder Julie Cole's six business lessons learned.
Over 23 years ago, my sister and two friends, all of us former students at the University of Waterloo, sat down together and wrote a business plan. We were young moms with a good idea, a lot of ambition, and a desire to leave the traditional workforce to chase an entrepreneurial dream. What followed became one of Hamilton’s most beloved homegrown success stories.
The four of us, Julie Ellis, Cynthia Esp, Tricia Mumby, and myself, were frustrated by something every parent knows too well: kids’ belongings have a mysterious habit of vanishing. Water bottles, lunchboxes, jackets, shoes. They leave the house and simply never come back. At the time, the best solution most parents had was scribbling a name on masking tape. We knew we could do better.
The idea was a simple one: create personalized, durable labels that parents could put on their children’s belongings so they wouldn’t get lost. We started with a single product. Our first marketing effort was buying stamps, writing letters to everyone we knew, and asking them to visit our website and buy our labels. As moms, we understood our customer because we were our customer.
Born in a basement on Florence Street
People tend to romanticize entrepreneurship, envisioning a life of flexibility, riches, book deals, and international speaking engagements. The reality, especially in those early days, was somewhat different. Mabel’s Labels was born in my sister’s basement on Florence Street right here in Hamilton. We worked a few nights a week making labels, packaging them up, and getting orders out the door.
I remember being pregnant with the fourth of my eventual six children, working until 2 a.m. in that basement, then getting up with my young kids at 6 a.m. to take on my parenting duties. It meant emailing during naptime, doing business plans during play dates, and a distinct lack of holidays, money, and “me time.” The basement was so hot we’d leave the back door open for a breeze, which had the side effect of neighbourhood cats wandering in off the alley. Someone always had to be assigned cat-chasing duty.
Our first website was designed by friends from university. We didn’t have any money, so their payment was a foosball table they’d been eyeing. We bootstrapped our business, so were scrappy in every sense of the word.
Hamilton grows with us
The response we got from launching our simple, necessary product was extraordinary. What started as a niche idea quickly became a loved brand and the sales began rolling in. Online parenting communities took notice. Gizmo, iParenting, and PTPA Media all named Mabel’s Labels a best product, and our profile grew fast.
Realizing we needed to hire team members, the hot basement with its feline visitors no longer felt adequate. Rather than taking the leap into a commercial location, we came up with a very practical solution: we suggested my sister buy a bigger house with a bigger basement. And she did. Our move to Aberdeen Street gave us the room to grow. And grow we did. We lasted just two years there before outgrowing it entirely.
That’s when we found our permanent home: our headquarters on Chatham Street, just off the 403, where we remain today in our newly renovated 20,000 square-foot production facility and office. The building had previously been a well-known hat factory, and for the first few years the occasional elderly woman would wander in looking to buy a hat. There’s also the matter of the ghost. Our production team insists the old hat factory has one, and that it makes appearances during overnight shifts in our busy back-to-school label-making season.
From one label to a full family brand
What began as a single dishwasher- and microwave-safe label has grown into a full suite of products for families. Today, Mabel’s Labels offers every kind of label a parent could want: clothing labels, shoe labels, allergy alerts, and countless combo packs designed for daycare, school, summer camp, and all the extracurriculars in between. With our business being e-commerce, we’re proud to still manufacture right here in Hamilton, providing jobs and being involved in the community.
Our collaborations with content creators, community-building efforts, partnerships with other family brands, and the development of a fundraising program have all been part of a very deliberate growth strategy. Over the years, celebrity moms, including Jennifer Garner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Victoria Beckham, Hilary Duff, and Katherine Schwarzenegger have become fans of the brand. There was a recent sighting of our labels on an episode of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island. We have been featured on The Today Show, CNN, HLN, The View, Rachael Ray, Forbes, and Babylist, and named one of USA Today’s Most Trusted Parent Brands.
Balancing business and family
When my eldest son was diagnosed with autism at age three, I knew something had to change. Although a lawyer by profession, I understood the weight of that diagnosis and what it would require of me: consistent advocacy, coordinating therapy programs, and countless appointments. I hoped entrepreneurship would give me the flexibility to show up for him the way he needed, while still honouring my own professional ambitions. It wasn't a tidy solution. Building a business alongside raising a big family, with a child with complex needs, meant sleepless nights, caffeine-fuelled days, and a particular kind of worry that never fully goes away. But it also meant an enormous amount of joy.
Today, my kids range in age from 17 to 26. Most are in university, one is finishing high school, and my son — the little boy whose diagnosis set so much in motion — graduated from the University of Guelph and just completed a two-year professional program at Humber College. The business and my kids grew up together, and honestly, they've made me equally proud. What I hope they took from watching it all unfold is this: a mom can be present and loving, and passionate about her work. Both things are true at once. From the very beginning, my dream was to build something that didn't ask me to leave my life at the door, and that's exactly what happened.
Proud to call Hamilton home
Hamilton has been with us every step of the way. We were honoured to receive early coverage from local media, and I have been a regular face on CH Morning Live. We were recipients of two Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Awards, among the first accolades we ever received, and ones that remain special to us. The support from our Hamilton networks, fellow entrepreneurs, and community has been foundational to everything we’ve built.
Giving back is also a core value we’ve never lost sight of. We support charitable organizations across Canada and the United States, and our fundraising program has helped thousands of schools, daycares, camps, and sports organizations raise money in their communities. Hamilton has given us so much and it matters deeply to us that we give back.
The national recognition has come, too. We have won the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship twice, along with the SavvyMom Mom Entrepreneur of the Year award and Chatelaine’s W100 Top Female Entrepreneurs distinction. But none of that changes the fact that this company was built by four moms in a Hamilton basement, and Hamilton is still where our heart is.
Working yourself out of a job
Through the years, the business has grown and our children have grown alongside it. I often reflect on the parallels between parenthood and entrepreneurship. Both are constantly changing. Both require you to develop new skills at every stage. And in both cases, if you do your job right, you gradually work yourself out of one. As your kids and your business become more independent, the goal was never to be needed forever. It was to build something strong enough to thrive on its own.
Twenty-three years on, Mabel’s Labels is still growing, still innovating, and still making labels right here in Hamilton. We started with stamps and handwritten letters asking our friends to take a chance on us, to where we are today. Not bad for four moms and a foosball table.
Julie Cole’s six lessons learned
Culture starts with you. Starting a business gives you the rare chance to build a work culture you genuinely love. Let your values lead. Hire great people. And don't let the business swallow your life whole.
Noes are free, always ask. There's no harm in asking. Be cheeky, be scrappy. Pick people's brains, request favours, ask the question that feels too bold. The worst answer is a no, and those cost you nothing.
Find your people. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely road. Network, join a peer group, find a mentor or coach. Surround yourself with people who remind you that the voice saying you'll fail is lying.
Manage your expectations and those of others. Don’t romanticize entrepreneurship. It’s not all book deals, awards, and wealth. The reality looks like long hours, deferred luxuries, and very little "me time." Know what you're signing up for.
You are more than your business. Don't lose sight of your family, friends, and the things that light you up outside of work. If you ever step away from the business, you'll need to know who you still are.
If you rest, you rust. Keep moving, mentally and physically. Learn, innovate, keep up. Discomfort isn't a warning sign; it's the signal that you're in the place where growth happens.
Julie Cole is a recovered lawyer, mom of six and co-founder and senior director of Mabel's Labels. Julie is an award-winning entrepreneur, best-selling and award-winning author and media personality. Having appeared on NBC's The Today Show, CNN, HLN's Raising America, Breakfast Television, The Marilyn Denis Show, CP24, and CityLine, among many others. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, Today's Parent, The Globe and Mail, Profit Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, and numerous websites.
