Dirt and Noise: Children Apparel

Owner of Dirt and Noise, Melissa Adler, creates a lifestyle through her clothing.

Dirt and Noise, located at 43A Church St., in Montclair, N.J., is a kid’s clothing store, offering a curated collection of fashion forward girl’s and boy’s clothing, accessories and more from all around the globe. Everything they sell is hand picked, and of course, kid approved.

Store owner, Melissa Adler, opened up Dirt and Noise in March of 2014. Although Montclair is their only location, they have an online store, which offers everything that’s sold in house. Adler, who comes from a long background in the fashion industry, has been designing women’s clothing for over 20 years. After having two boys of her own, she made the move to the suburbs and her vision for Dirt and Noise came into play.

“I like to say that my children are the inspiration behind the whole brand. I wanted cool clothing that was functional but kind of different than anything that you’ve seen. I wanted the clothing to be a little bit more rock and roll and trendy, not your typical kids clothing,” explained Adler.

Adler is very cognizant in everything that she finds for Dirt and Noise. Most of what you see in the store, you can’t find in regular stores, with the exception of a few brands. “I really try and find unique things and I try and pull it all together, so I have all of these different brands and all of these different products and I am able to create a lifestyle, which is Dirt and Noise Kids,” said Adler.  

Dirt and Noise caters to a large range of children’s ages. They go from newborn up to size eight, but are increasing their size ranges even more, hitting size 14 for girls and size 10 for boys. “We are getting a lot of clients that are growing with us, so in the last year, our median age[s were] sizes four, five and six. Now they are becoming sizes seven, eight and nine, so we are really growing,” Adler explained.

Everything Adler sells is mostly cotton-based and good for play wear. Dirt and Noise is known for offering easy and washable clothing, because Adler caters to a busy lifestyle filled with kids that wear their clothes to the playground and school. “I am always throwing everything in the laundry and don’t have time to have my kid’s clothes get dry-cleaned,” said Adler. “It’s just not who we are, and I just feel like kids should be kids, and they’re messy. I make sure that everything is fun, wearable and washable.”

As for designers, Adler tries to get most of her stuff from the United States, but has also branched out to different areas. They have a lot of clothing from Denmark, and even brought in a line from Berlin. “I am always looking for unique things. A lot of Australian brands I feel are very interesting and fun. They have a good street sense but with a beach vibe which is kind of where Dirt and Noise is at. I lived in California for five years, so I have that L.A. style that I keep in mind and tie into everything,” said Adler.

Event wise, Adler makes sure to do a lot of kid-centric things. Coming up, she is going to be at the Westfield Spring Fling, which is a street fair that the town will be having. She is also going to do the Glenridge Art and Music festival, where she will have a little booth set up for the day. In the past, she has also done the pop-ups in Livingston.

“It’s a good way to get clients and just build the brand and spread the word. It’s really nice because we have built a little community here and I’ve become very friendly with a lot of the customers and have watched their kids grow over the years. We definitely have a lot of Montclair and Glenridge customers, and then we have the surrounding towns of Essex County like Verona, West Caldwell and Shore Hills. With the online store, we are able to bring in even more people,” said Adler.

To find out more information on Dirt and Noise, you can visit their online website at dirtandnoisekids.com, follow them on instagram @ dirtandnoise and like them on Facebook at facebook.com/DirtAndNoise.

  Children Clothing, Dirt and Noise