In West Eugene, Sarah Dooley and her team at Marley’s Monsters are a family that provides handmade, eco-friendly, living essentials. Dooley is a business owner, wife, and mother who pours her heart into Marley’s Monsters.
The shop, located in near Whiteaker, is named after her daughter, opened in December of 2016. Since then, there has been a rapid growth in the range of products, distribution, staff and location. Dooley focuses on her passion for creating and finding delight in the practical uses of her products such as cloth wipes, nursing pads, napkins and even toys and toothbrushes.
In 2013 while working full time as an interior designer and running an Etsy shop, the University of Oregon Alumni was expecting her first child. While anticipating her new arrival, Dooley pulled out her old sewing machine and handmade a stuffed monster toy for her daughter. The monster was just the beginning. Dooley made everything by hand, from scratch.
“I tried everything (baby products) until I made something I really Loved,” Dooley says. “I wanted it to be reusable and sustainable.”
A year or so after the birth of her daughter Marley, Dooley left her interior design job to fully invest in her daughter and her growing business.
“I started working out of this industrial space and I just delivered the products rather than pay for shipping,” she says.
When the shop was relocated to the Whiteaker area and she hired staff to help her, the business boomed. Her husband Chad, was able to leave his job, and oversee the development of wood production. Now, in present day the business had made a global impact and Marley’s Monsters ships globally.
Dooley recalls though, that there were growing pains. “I wanted to find solutions. I wanted my products to be useful and sustainable.” When Marley’s Monsters was still distributing out of an industrial warehouse, Dooley envisioned a household brand that reduced waste and changed the way people used their household items. In other words, she wanted to provide a solution to a problem. Additionally, like many new businesses, is getting clients.
“The first few months we would have one customer a week,” she says. These days, Marley’s Monsters receives visits on a daily basis. Dooley and her team working diligently to provide innovative products, the change they wanted to see and inspire is now happening every day.
As Dooley sets an example for her community and her son Fox, she also Marley’s role model.
“I want her to know she can do anything.”
Dooley’s passion for making everything and anything began with her hope for a sustainable future, and now she is successfully creating more products with a variety of uses that are accessible and affordable for all.
Marley’s Monster
234 W 6th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401
541-505-9417
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