The "Founder Story"

Our Journey: From the World Stage at Adidas to Your Back Seat Hi there! We are Eric Autard and Sabine Beysel, the husband-and-wife team behind One Kid. Before we ever sketched our first children’s design, our careers began in a very different arena. We both worked at adidas, where our daily lives revolved around collaborating with international athletes. Our mission back then was to develop high-performance, technical apparel—the kind of specialized gear that could shave seconds off a time or provide a competitive edge through better fit and function. For us, innovation and rigorous product testing aren’t just business terms; they are in our DNA as designers. When we started One Kid in 1999, we brought that same "performance-first" mindset to children’s clothing. For years, we were proud to see our full collections—everything from dressy suits and skirts to everyday essentials—on the shelves of "mom and pop" boutiques, in catalogs like Garnet Hill, and at major retailers like Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom. However, ten years ago, our focus shifted from the playing field to the car seat. As designers and parents, we saw a critical safety gap: the danger of bulky winter coats under car seat harnesses. We realized that the same technical expertise we used to design for world-class athletes could be applied to solving a life-saving problem for families. We knew that "puffy" coats and car seats simply didn't mix, and we set out to invent the solution. We spent time for prototyping and refining, treating every stitch of our apparel with the same intensity as a professional jersey. In 2016, after exhaustive safety tests and earning the approval of CPSTs (Child Passenger Safety Technicians) and pediatricians, we launched The Road Coat®. As the inventors of the only car seat safe coat certified to pass safety standards, we didn't stop at safety—we focused on performance. The Road Coat® is engineered with different temperature ratings to adapt to virtually any climate. We designed it to be as versatile as the families who use it—capable of handling everything from the extreme, bone-chilling cold of Alaska, the Yukon, Iceland, and Greenland, to the biting winters of New York, Canada, and across North America. Whether you are facing a deep arctic freeze or a typical snowy morning, there is a Road Coat built for that specific environment. This invention allowed us to pivot our entire brand to focus on this singular, vital mission. Today, we aren't just making jackets; we are applying decades of technical design experience to keep your children warm and, most importantly, safe. When you choose One Kid, you are choosing the original car seat safe technology, born from a passion for safety and a history of high-performance design. Thank you for trusting us to be part of your family’s journey. — Eric & Sabine