WEST LOOP — A digital marketer working in the West Loop has created a new onesie aimed at babies birthed from unions created via Tinder.
The comical onesies, sold at TinderBaby.com, feature the phrase "My parents swiped right" — a nod to the mobile dating app's "swiping" selection process.
Apparel co-creator Ronny Sage said Wednesday that "generation Tinder" babies are now a thing. Tinder, a location-based dating application that facilitates communication between "mutually interested users," launched in October 2012.
Tinder users swipe right when an appealing profile appears in the app. If the profile that pops up doesn't strike their fancy, they swipe left, eliminating the person from their potential pool of matches.
"One of my close friends told us that their friend is having a baby with someone they met on Tinder. I was like, 'No f-ing way,'" Sage said. "From that moment, we imagined the onesie. ... I looked up the [domain name] and I couldn't believe the website was still available."
The 28-year-old Sage, who lives in Streeterville and is director of digital strategy at Idea Booth in the West Loop, is engaged to be married in August. He met his fiancee Lisa Culen three years ago, just before Tinder took over the dating scene.
While Sage's blooming love meant he avoided the Tinder dating hustle altogether, he said plenty of his friends regularly use the app. While the matches often lead to flings and hookups, the mobile dating app sometimes facilitates meaningful Millennial connections, too, he said.
Sage, who also owns his own company Niche Interactive Media, launched the onesies with help from business partner Scott Zindell about a week ago. So far, they've sold one onesie, but hope the orders will pour in as word spreads.
"It's a great gag gift even if you're 20-somethings who didn't meet on Twitter," he said. "They're a great fit with the pop culture of what's happening today."
For sale for $19.99, the white onesies, which are not affiliated with Tinder, are available in sizes for newborns to 24 months.
Sage said that other apparel focused at a Millennial audience, including baby bibs with cute taglines, are now in the works, too.
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