As part of a new partnership, Bobbie, the organic infant formula company, and Elvie, the breast pump company, are setting out to transform the retail experience for contemporary parents by normalizing combo feeding. The collaboration between these two brands aims to shift the tone of infant feeding debates by accommodating real-life parental experiences and supporting all feeding choices.
A significant 70% of formula-feeding parents in the U.S. are combo feeding their babies, i.e., using a mix of breast milk and formula. Yet, the retail shopping experience for infant feeding products has often appeared binary—either breast-feeding or formula-feeding, with little or no integration of the two. Bobbie and Elvie, through their partnership, intend to correct this oversight by developing a combined physical and digital retail space that caters to all feeding journeys. The one-stop shop endcap and digital storefront integrate formula and breast pump products, underlining the fact that these two resources often work in tandem for new parents.
Bobbie and Elvie have been altering the way parents feed their babies for years. Bobbie offers a novel, organic, EU-inspired formula in the US, while Elvie provides a hands-free, cordless breast pump for mothers to use discreetly and conveniently. The combo-feeding displays, which started rolling out in Target stores nationwide in late May, will be available until October 2023.
Laura Modi, CEO and Co-Founder of Bobbie shares: “You can’t change the formula industry without changing the formula aisle. I know this to my core – it was in the formula aisle where I first had the idea for Bobbie – as an overwhelmed, confused new mother. So it’s a beautiful, full circle moment to be partnering with Elvie to create the feeding aisle of the future; the one I wished I had been standing in when I found myself struggling to exclusively breastfeed just five days after my daughter was born.”
Kerry Holleran Bailey, US General Manager of Elvie, adds: “We are thrilled to be joining forces with Bobbie to revolutionize the feeding aisle as we know it. The majority of modern parents today are combo feeding and finally that’s being reflected in the retail experience. By bringing our mom-founded and led brands together, we’re going where no formula and breast pump companies have gone before – and we’re committed to continuing to shaking the stigma around combo-feeding to empower parents to make the feeding decisions that work best for them – full stop.”
