Founders Story

From Surviving a Near-Fatal Crash to Creating a Brand About Comfort, Resilience and Joy

My name is Robby, and the story behind Jumsie starts long before the brand itself existed. Everyone has a story and this is mine. I often laugh as I always think of the movie “The Vow” as I feel like that movie was written about my life so I just wanted to share who I am and what led me to creating a pyjama business. 

Growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, I didn’t get the magic wand sprung on me at all. My early years were a time where I was made fun of a lot at school for having glasses due to squint eyes, big ears,  braces, and severe acne, no boys liked me and it severely affected me during my early years. I had to have corrective eye surgery at a very young age and corrective ear surgery and I can recall wearing an eye patch around prior to that for months so I walked around looking like a pirate. It was really rough. 

But then It all really began when I was sixteen years old.

On 3 July 2010, I was involved in a horrific car accident as a passenger. The car crashed into a church wall at high speed. (180km so I’m told) When the ambulance arrived, the driver had run away from the scene. He saw the ambulance come, ran back and told the ambos that the driver had run away. 

When the paramedics found me, I wasn’t breathing.

Technically, I was considered dead on arrival.

Doctors worked on me in intensive care for around sixteen hours trying to bring me back. Eventually they did but I ended up in a coma. 

I was in that coma for a long time.

When I finally woke up, my life had completely changed. I can recall the hospital sounds, the tubes and lots of people around me. It’s very vague though. 

I didn’t know who my family was.

I didn’t know how to read or write.

I couldn’t walk.

I couldn’t talk. 

It was like waking up into a completely unfamiliar world.

My memories were gone.

I vaguely remember nurses and hospital rooms. I remember my sister trying to teach me how to play a simple card game called Snap, but I couldn’t really understand it at the time. I remember being wheeled into a hospital dining room, surrounded by people who seemed to know me, but who I didn’t’ recognise. 

I had suffered a brain haemorrhage and stroke, a punctured lung, a lacerated spleen, a broken collarbone and extensive bruising to my face and body. The left side of my brain was permanently damaged.

But the physical injuries were only part of it.

I had to relearn almost everything.

Walking.

Reading.

Writing.

Speaking.

Understanding the world around me.

It was a long road back.

Learning Life All Over Again

After leaving hospital, I returned to school, but nothing felt the same.

Forming connections with friends was difficult. My memory was fragile and I struggled with confidence and anxiety.

One of the things that helped me rebuild some confidence was a sport called drum majorettes — baton twirling.

I threw myself into it completely.

At first I was terrified even throwing the baton in the air and I would run away, afraid I wouldn’t catch it. But I practised over and over again until I could.

The biggest challenge was remembering the routines. My memory made that extremely difficult.

I remember trying out for a leadership position in the team and feeling completely devastated when I didn’t get it. I had practised so hard, but when it came time to perform, I simply couldn’t remember the routine. I didn’t want to tell anybody either as i was ashamed of the fact that I couldn’t remember anything. 

Those moments were heartbreaking, but they also taught me something important: persistence.

Even when things didn’t come easily, I kept trying.

I finished school on terrible grades, just skimming through. What made it worse was my school had like 100 year pass rate or something ridiculous and I was convinced that I was going to break that. I studied all I could for exams and I think my mum had spoken to the teachers to please help me pass or get through it or something like that, but apparently I passed Grade 12 on my very own, ‘Just’ passed…. But I passed. 

Leaving South Africa

When I turned eighteen, I decided to take a leap and move to London, where my sister was living at the time.

I worked live-in bar jobs, living above the bars where I worked. I travelled, partied and experienced life in ways that many young people do in their early twenties. 

But looking back, my brain was still healing from the trauma, and that lifestyle probably wasn’t the healthiest path for me. 

Like many people in their twenties, I made mistakes and learned some hard lessons along the way.

Eventually, my journey led me to Australia, where I built my life today.

Always Creating

Creativity has always been a big part of who I am.

Over the years I explored many different creative paths. I studied makeup artistry, specialising in makeup and hair. I created artwork and explored different business ideas.

I’ve always been someone who wants to build things.

At one point I even created a clothing brand called Limitless Clothing Crew. The brand actually became quite successful during COVID, with many people buying the jackets and hoodies we produced.

But during that time I developed what many parents will understand as “cabin fever” — being stuck at home with young children while running a business from the house. I felt a strong need to return to the workforce and reconnect with the outside world.

So I sold the business.

It was the right decision at the time, but sometimes I do look back and wonder what might have happened if I had continued building it. Even now, people occasionally reach out asking if they can still buy pieces from that brand.

Motherhood and Mental Health

My life changed again when I became a mum.

I had two children in two years.

Motherhood brought incredible love into my life, but it also came with huge challenges. During my pregnancy with my daughter, I suffered from hyperemesis, which meant I was constantly in and out of hospital due to severe sickness.

After she was born, I experienced postnatal depression, which was an extremely difficult time for both me and my family.

It’s important to mention that because of the brain injury I sustained when I was sixteen, I still live with permanent brain damage. The trauma affected the left side of my brain, and I continue to experience challenges with memory, anxiety, depression and self-doubt.

At the time as well I had my 2 kids, had just returned to work, and I had breast implants at the time and found out I had breast implant illness and additionally one of my implants had ruptured, so I was rushed into surgery to have a double removal including my breast tissue which I didn’t know about at the time so I woke up with absolutely nothing and just bandages around me. I was devastated. There was complication during surgery and I had to end up having everything removed. That took a massive hit on my self confidence. I could no longer breast feed my daughter and I was incredibly lost after that. 

Life has not always been easy.

But one thing that has always remained constant is my determination to keep trying.

 

Trying and Trying Again

For many years I have worked full-time while also trying to build businesses on the side.

My dream has always been to create something that allows me to design my own life — something that gives me the flexibility to build a future for my family while doing something meaningful and creative.

That dream eventually led me to create Jumsie.

Why I created Jumsie

Jumsie was born from a simple idea.

I built it for 2 and a half years. Had one supplier at first who completely scammed me and all my samples were wrong and in the wrong fabric, and it was a hot mess but I kept going. I found an AMAZING supplier who shared my vision and worked with me to make it happen. 

After a long day — whether you’re working, parenting, or simply navigating life — there is something incredibly comforting about changing into something soft, cosy and relaxing.

I wanted to create something that people genuinely look forward to putting on at the end of the day. 

Not just sleepwear.

Not just a onesie.

But a piece of clothing that feels like a small moment of comfort and joy.

Jumsies are made from bamboo fabric, which is incredibly soft, breathable and thermoregulating. That means it helps keep you comfortable whether you’re warm or cool — something especially appreciated by people experiencing hormonal changes such as menopause.

But beyond the fabric itself, the vision for Jumsie is bigger.

I want Jumsie to become a brand people associate with comfort, relaxation and feeling good at home.

A place where you can find sleepwear, loungewear and cosy essentials — from bamboo pieces to weighted blankets and accessories — all designed to help you unwind and feel good.

Building Something That Lasts

I don’t believe Jumsie is just another small brand that will appear and disappear overnight. I am in this for the long haul. I have lived in the product, my kids have and my reviews so far show that people are realising that I have designed. It took me a long time to perfect it and I’ve finally got it there. 

I truly believe this is something that can grow into a lasting company.

Not because the journey has been easy — but because every experience in my life has taught me resilience.

When you’ve had to rebuild your life from the beginning, you learn that progress rarely happens overnight.

But with persistence, patience and belief, incredible things can grow over time.

Jumsie is just the beginning.

And I’m excited to see where this journey leads.

— Robby