Cleveland’s youngest entrepreneur puts down his book, the collected Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan, the lion on the cover, can wait. David Holdridge, 10, has business to discuss.
Holdridge finished fourth grade today, and he’s about to join his grandfather on a well-earned fishing vacation. But first, he’s chatting about his work as chief happiness officer of Happy Blankie, the Parma Heights-based creator of children’s blankets in the shapes of cartoon animal faces. Launched in May, Happy Blankie sold 750 blankets in its first month.
The concept came to Holdridge in a eureka moment inspired by his sisters, Anna and Sarah, now 7 and 6.
“When they were littler, their two favorite things were stuffed animals and baby blankies,” he says. “So I thought, Why not create something that combines them both?”
Emily Holdridge, David’s mother and business partner, wanted to encourage her son’s big thinking. Inspired by California-based TOMS Shoes, she added charity to the mission. For every blanket the company sells, it donates another. “One to love, one to give,” reads their slogan. Ronald McDonald houses in Akron and New York, an orphanage in Uganda, an outreach ministry in Canton and a church in Thailand are all getting blankets to soothe the hearts of sick or lonely kids. Some of the charities are affiliated with the Holdridges’ church, Cornerstone Chapel in Medina, where David’s father, Zach, is assistant pastor.
Four animals, co-designed by David, Emily and a former animator for Nickelodeon, make up the product line so far: Giggle the Pig, Stomp the Frog, Chase the Dog and Tumble the Bear. (No lions, yet.) The ultra-soft blankets, which sell for $29 to $99, range from newborn-sized to 48 by 56 inches. The company’s website shows kids wearing the blankets, lying on them, cuddling with them.
Happy Blankie is poised for growth. Factories in Los Angeles, the Dominican Republic and China are shipping another 6,000 blankets. By year’s end, the product line will expand.
“For the trade show that we are going to, we’re having a peace sign, a heart, and a sun,” David says — peace, love and happiness blankets for kids in their tweens. “For the endangered line, we have the panda, the tiger, the elephant, the hippo, and the chimpanzee,” he says, hitting a sales pitch groove.
He might as well. David, along with his parents and some entrepreneur friends, is a part-owner of Happy Blankie. If it turns a profit, he hopes it’ll help pay for college.
“He is very involved,” Emily says. “Every day we go over what we did in the office, what’s up and coming. He lives and breathes [it] — he’s excited about it.”