My Business Life: Gavan Costello, Baby Elegance

Gavan Costello, sales director of Baby Elegance, shares his life and business lessons.

Baby Elegance has been quietly flying the flag for Irish manufacturing and retail for over 40 years. It started with Tim Costello making baby booties, known as brogeens, by hand from his family home in Dublin.

From there he converted an old church into his first premises, hired 16 machinists and built the range out to include mattresses, bedding and clothing, supplying the likes of Roches Stores, Tesco and over 50 independents across Ireland.

Today Baby Elegance is one of the UK and Ireland’s most recognised nursery brands with over 600 products, three Dublin retail stores and exports going to the UK, USA, Europe and Asia.

Tell us about your background, what journey did you take to arrive at where you are?

It all started in the early 1980s when my dad, Tim, made his first pair of baby booties, ‘Brogeens’ for my sister Louise, at the kitchen table in Dublin. He invested in a sewing machine, sourced some local textiles, and before long had a proper little business going, supplying the likes of Roche’s Stores and smaller retail stores.

I’m Tim’s son. I came into the business in 2008 after studying Marketing at what’s now TU Dublin. I started in sales and worked my way up to dales firector in 2019. Honestly, growing up watching Dad build this from nothing was a better education than any course, and I’m proud to be carrying it forward with him and Louise.

Before joining full-time, I did summer stints in the warehouse and on trade stands from about 15 onwards – I didn’t have much choice, honestly. But looking back, that was invaluable. I knew the product, I knew the customers, and I understood what the business actually was before I ever had a job title. Coming in through sales in 2008 was the right entry point; you learn quickly what matters when you’re face-to-face with a buyer.

Why are you doing what you are doing? What need are you meeting? What’s your USP?

Having a baby is one of the most exciting and overwhelming times in any family’s life. Parents want things they can trust, that look great, and that aren’t going to cost a fortune. That’s what Baby Elegance has always been about.

We’re not a faceless global brand. We’re a family business with over 40 years behind us, and every product, whether it’s a mattress, a cot, or a pushchair, gets the same care and attention. That heritage and that personal touch are what set us apart.

We’re also putting real effort into sustainability with our Little Buds Forest initiative plants a native Irish tree for every cot or cot bed sold. We’ve planted over 50,000 trees across Ireland and the UK so far. For parents who care about the world their kids are growing up in, that matters.

How did you fund and start the business, and what are your growth plans?

There was no outside investment, no venture capital. Dad started with his own savings, a second-hand sewing machine, and sheer hard work. Every bit of growth came from reinvesting what the business earned. It’s still that way today.

We operate out of a large warehouse in west Dublin, and we use 3PL partners in the UK and Europe to service those markets efficiently. The team is over 40 people and growing.

Our main focus right now is growing alongside our retail partners – businesses like Smyths Toys, Argos, and the independent retailers who have been central to our story from the beginning.

Those relationships are the backbone of the business. Alongside that, we’ve put serious focus on our direct-to-consumer offering, our own website and e-commerce channels, which support our export markets and help us build the Baby Elegance brand directly with parents. The two things reinforce each other: a stronger brand online makes us a better partner for retailers, and a strong retail presence drives people back to our own channels.

What are your key skills and qualities that set you apart?

Relationships, without question. This industry runs on trust, with retail partners, with suppliers, with the parents who are ultimately buying our products. I’ve always believed that if you invest properly in those relationships and genuinely understand what people need, everything else follows.

The other thing I’d point to is speed. In a competitive market, the ability to turn things around quickly for a retail partner, whether that’s a product change, a range decision, or solving a problem, is a real differentiator. A lot of brands have layers of process between a customer’s need and an actual decision. We don’t.

What helps me there is that I’m across the whole business, product development, sales, and operations. I’m not a specialist in one lane. That means when something needs to move, I have the full picture, and I can make the call. For our retail partners, that’s genuinely useful. They’re not waiting on three departments to align; they’re getting an answer.

What (or whom) has helped you most along the way? Who was your greatest mentor/inspiration?

It has to be Dad. Watching him build this business from a two-room operation into a global exporter while keeping the family feel that defines it has been extraordinary. He’s got an instinct for what customers want that I’ve spent 20 years trying to learn from. Working with family isn’t always easy, but when it works, there’s a level of trust and honesty you just can’t replicate.

Outside the family, I have to mention Liam Smyth, who sadly passed away a few years ago. Liam was the owner of Smyths Toys, one of the biggest toy and nursery retailers in Europe, and yet he still made time for a young lad finding his feet, turning up at their Galway offices trying to make his first big sales. That always stayed with me.

Here was someone running a massive business, with every reason to brush past you, and he took the time to engage properly and offer real encouragement. It taught me a lot about how you treat people regardless of where they are in their journey, and it’s something I’ve tried to carry with me.

What was the greatest piece of business advice you ever received?

It came from Dad: “Buy it for one, sell it for two.” He’ll laugh when he sees this in print. Margins in the nursery industry aren’t quite that generous. But the principle has always stuck with me.

What circumstances or qualities can mark the difference between success or failure in life or business?

Resilience, without a doubt. Every business hits patches where things aren’t going the way you planned – supply problems, a difficult trading period, a competitor undercutting you. The ones that come through are the ones that don’t lose their nerve and don’t lose sight of what made them good in the first place.

People matter enormously, too. You can have the best product in the world, but if you’ve got the wrong team around you, you’re going to struggle. Get the right people, give them real ownership, and get out of their way.

And honestly? A bit of luck and timing helps. We were in the right market at the right time during Ireland’s demographic boom years, but you still have to be good enough to capitalise on it when the moment comes.

What was the most challenging aspect of starting or growing the business?

Capital, without doubt. We’ve always been ambitious about where we want to take this business, but when you’re committed to growing without giving away equity, funding that growth is a constant challenge.

You’re essentially betting on yourself every time, reinvesting earnings, managing cash flow carefully, and being disciplined about where you deploy resources. There’s no safety net of outside investment to fall back on. It focuses the mind.

It’s not a complaint. That independence is something we’re proud of and protective of. But anyone who tells you bootstrapping a growing business is easy isn’t being straight with you.

How did you navigate the business through the pandemic and what lessons did you learn?

The first priority was making sure our team were safe. We moved quickly on that; most people went to home working as soon as it was possible to do so, and we made whatever changes were needed in the warehouse to protect the people who had to be on site. That came before everything else.

On the business side, getting product was the biggest challenge across the industry; supply chains were a mess for the best part of two years. We were fortunate in one important respect: we manufacture our own mattresses here in Ireland, which meant that the core part of our range stayed available when a lot of competitors were struggling to fulfil. That was a real lifeline and honestly reinforced how valuable it is to have that manufacturing capability close to home.

The lesson I took from it was about resilience, in your supply chain, in your team, and in the relationships you’ve built with retail partners over the years. The businesses that came through it best were the ones that had invested in all three long before the crisis hit.

How has digital transformation been a factor in your scaling journey?

It’s been huge. When I joined in 2008, digital was almost an afterthought for a business like ours. Now it touches everything – how we sell, how we market, how we manage stock, how we talk to customers. You can’t compete without it.

Our Instagram (@babyeleganceire) has been a big part of building the brand with a new generation of parents – over 36,000 followers now, which for an Irish family business in nursery products is something we’re proud of. Social commerce is where a lot of the action is.

On the wider question of Irish firms and digital – I think it’s getting better, but there’s still a gap, particularly among smaller businesses. The tools are there, the support from Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs is genuinely good, but a lot of SMEs aren’t making full use of them.

If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

Target new markets earlier. For a long time, we were very focused on the domestic market, and while that was the right foundation, I think we could have moved into the UK and further afield sooner than we did.

The last 15 years have shown us that to really grow and build a sustainable business, you need to be in multiple markets – it spreads your risk and it forces you to raise your game. When you’re only competing at home, you can get comfortable. Going international sharpens you up quickly.

The other thing I’d say is get your systems and processes in place before you think you need them. When you’re growing fast, it’s tempting to keep running on instinct, but eventually the business outgrows that and you end up retrofitting structure under pressure. Build the foundations earlier than feels necessary.

Who inspires you in business today?

Within our industry, I have to say Smyths Toys. What that family has built in a relatively short space of time is extraordinary – from an Irish retailer into one of the dominant toy and nursery businesses across Europe.

It’s a brilliant example of what’s possible when you back yourself, think big, and execute well. As an Irish family business ourselves, it’s hard not to find that inspiring.

What advice do you give new hires, and how do you nurture talent?
First thing I say to anyone who joins is: learn the product. Really learn it. Know why our mattress is better, know what goes into a Baby Elegance cot, and know why parents choose us. If you believe in what you’re selling, it comes across – and in this business, it makes all the difference.

Beyond that, I try to give people real ownership quickly. Nobody does their best work when they’re being second-guessed at every turn. You hire good people, you tell them what good looks like, and then you let them get on with it.

We try to promote from within wherever we can. People who’ve grown with the business understand the culture – and in a family company, culture really is everything.

What business books do you read or would you recommend?

I’ll be honest, I’m more of a podcast person than a books person. The one I keep coming back to is How I Built This with Guy Raz. Hearing founders talk openly about how they actually built their businesses, the setbacks, the near misses, the moments where it could have gone either way, is both genuinely useful and oddly reassuring. It’s a good reminder that even the most successful businesses had plenty of moments where it wasn’t obvious they were going to make it.

What technologies and tools do you use personally to keep you on track?

Getting the right tools in place has been a big part of how we’ve grown the business in recent years. Brightpearl has been transformative for us on the operations side – inventory, orders, reporting, all in one place.

Shopify powers our direct-to-consumer channel and has been central to building out our e-commerce presence. For day-to-day communication and collaboration, the team runs on Microsoft Teams.

More recently, AI has become a genuine part of how I work – Claude and ChatGPT in particular. What started as curiosity has become a real productivity tool, whether that’s research, working through a business problem, or drafting content. It’s moving fast, and I think businesses that figure out how to use it properly will have a real advantage over those that don’t.

What social media platforms do you prefer and why?

Instagram is our most important one by a distance. Nursery products are inherently visual – a beautiful cot in a well-dressed nursery sells itself. Instagram is perfect for that, and it’s where the parents we’re talking to are spending their time.

Facebook is still important, particularly for a slightly older parent demographic and for community engagement. And LinkedIn I use personally – it’s where I do most of my professional networking and stay across what’s happening in the wider industry.

What are your thoughts on where technology is heading and how it will apply to your business?

AI is the big one, and I don’t think we’re anywhere near understanding the full impact it’s going to have. For a business like ours, the applications are everywhere – better understanding of what customers want, smarter inventory management, faster product development. We’re already using it and seeing real benefit, but I think we’re still in the early chapters of what’s possible.

Sustainability technology is the other area I’m watching closely. Consumer expectations and regulatory pressure around genuine environmental credentials are only going in one direction. Our Little Buds Forest initiative – planting a native Irish tree for every cot or cot bed sold – was an important commitment for us, but it’s a starting point rather than a finish line.

And then there’s the continued shift in how people shop. The line between online and in-store is blurring, and customers expect a seamless experience across both. Making sure our website and our physical presence feel like one joined-up brand rather than two separate things is something we’re actively working on and will continue to invest in.

If you had one piece of advice for your 21-year-old self, what would it be?

Have more confidence in what you’re doing. I came into the business fairly young, and while a lot of my friends were in college and living it up, I used to wonder whether I should be doing the same.

It took time to realise that the path I was on, learning the business from the ground up, building real skills and real relationships, was worth backing.

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