Our Story

Hey there! My name is Natalie Helser. I'm 18 years old and the founder, owner, designer and sole employee of Fox & Smocks. 

I've spent most of my life on my family's small organic farm in Montana, where I help tend the land with our Brabant draft horses. If I'm not romping around outside, you can find me with my head in the clouds--writing, sketching, voraciously reading a novel, or attempting some other creative endeavor. But it's most likely that you'll find me sewing. I've loved sewing for as long as I can remember--and the memories themselves seem to be stitched together on one long string just like the projects I so love to make. First I began hand-stitching doll clothes and Breyer Horse blankets, then hemming cloth napkins on my little pink Singer. Then I had received a new sewing machine for Christmas, and suddenly I was creating stuffed animals and scrap fabric creatures straight from my imagination. I began selling them at the local farmer's market, and it became finite that I was absolutely hooked on sewing--and starting businesses. 

 

Fast forward a few years, and the Smock was born. To be honest, I don't even remember how it came to be. I think I was just sketching out a pattern and trying it out and suddenly there was this new type of--shirt? Blouse? It didn't seem to fit into any category I could think of. So the Smock was born, and it began a new era of fervent inspiration for me. I made dozens of Smocks and Smock-inspired pieces, and began drafting my own clothing patterns. I wore my Smocks for farming and formal events, on airplanes and to school--the Smock was just perfect for literally anything. I even wore my favorite Smock for my senior pictures.

Then, about a year ago, I began designing clothes and Smocks for one of my dearest friends--a ten year old girl whom I had known since moving to Montana. It sparked perhaps the greatest inspiration I had had yet--What if I sewed clothes for children professionally? The job opportunities in a very rural town in Montana are, as one might imagine, profoundly slim. This was the perfect solution--I needed a job to help make money for traveling and college, why not hire myself? Design my own business doing something I dearly dearly love?
And so, Fox & Smocks was born. A business with the hope of providing children with quality clothes for fun and play without being over-the-top-expensive.

 

And here you are now! Supporting a small business run by an 18 year-old farmer in rural Montana. So I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for supporting this little dream called Fox & Smocks.