Kith + Kin, the Customizable Toy Company

Coming home from a play therapy session for her children, Sarah O’Keefe was excited to try out a new idea. She had just witnessed the great response her children had had to playing pretend family with the dolls and dollhouses, and she wanted to introduce the same idea at home. While setting up their personal dollhouse, however, O’Keefe was a bit disappointed. All of the figurines that they had no longer represented their family.

“At the time, my ex was blending with his girlfriend and her two kids, so I kinda wanted to have this collection of a blended kind of family, and the grandparents and cousins and friends, because, also, my daughter wanted figurines that looked like her and her best friends at the time. … And there are no figurines that represent them in the market. And if there are diverse figurines, they’re just kinda outdated and not very pretty,” O’Keefe says.

Upon discovering this, her eyes were open. Not only did she think about her own family, but she also considered all the different children who might not find themselves or their families represented in their toys.

“I was like, this is crazy. And then it got me thinking, well, wait a second. What about all the other families out there? What about same-sex families? What about the interracial families and families that go through adoption, foster families?” O’Keefe says. “I never really looked at toys before I had kids … And, I mean, I knew there’s always been an issue with representation. … But for whatever reason in my head, I had just assumed that diverse figurines were out there, and they absolutely just weren’t.”

She instantly felt that something had to be done. Luckily, she was already familiar with what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Growing up, her mother was an entrepreneur, and when she became old enough, O’Keefe found herself headed down the same career path. In 2010, O’Keefe opened her own interior design company, which she works at during the day. Then, in 2016, she had the desire to take her skills and knowledge from her professional job into creating Kith + Kin, a company set on changing the market for children’s toys.

Immediately, her mind began racing with all the different elements and ideas that she wanted to include. Despite her experience, she had a hard time figuring out the best approach to executing her concept. She knew the outcome she ultimately wanted to achieve, and she also knew the different features and components that she had wanted to include, but she did not know how to create the technology to bring it all to life.

Taking inspiration from the avatars that users create on social media, O’Keefe decided to create an app that allows users to build customized figurines. She presented her idea to a few tech companies along with her budget, and waited, and she soon heard back. The first company to respond showed great interest in the business, but it would cost her almost twice her budget. The second company, however, offered to help support her dream free of charge.

“They said, ‘We love it. We wanna do it pro bono.’ So, I basically won the lottery, which was insane,” O’Keefe says. “So that is what officially, like, set it in motion because I wasn’t really sure if I was capable of starting a toy company, but then when someone is like, ‘No, we’re doing the technology,’ then it’s like, okay. That’s it. I’m in. I’m doing this now.”

Filled with confidence and backed by a generous tech company, O’Keefe worked to bring it all together. She had a few setbacks along the way, but her passion fueled her to continue pressing on.

“It just was one of those things that you just kind of are learning as you go, and you fail, and there’s roadblocks, and there’s money, and there’s a bunch of things that’s just, like, overwhelming, but I just I couldn’t stop because I just believe in what we’re doing so much, right, that I feel like it’s so important,” O’Keefe says. “So, I just had to keep going.”

Kith + Kin officially launched in December 2024. The name of the company was inspired by their goal to provide representation to every family and friend. Through the site, users can use the different customizable features to create not only their family, but also their community. Children and adults alike can create unique and individual figurines and pair them with different shops and buildings.

The slogan of Kith + Kin, “Different Families Same Love,” embodies the message they wish to spread to the world.

“We have a lovely, beautiful, diverse community, you know, not only here but around the world, and that should be celebrated, and everyone is deserving to have a toy that looks like them,” O’Keefe says.

Since the launch of the site, O’Keefe is looking to continue finding different ways to accommodate more and more individuals and underrepresented groups. Already, she and her team have goals of broadening their selection to reach more families. For more information or to build your own toy family, please visit the website kithandkincompany.com.