Gabrielle Union-Wade, Dwyane Wade, and their youngest daughter, Kaavia James Union-Wade, have teamed up with children’s clothing brand Janie and Jack for their newest campaign. Unveiling a collection of multicolored spring wear, the Wades are bringing their love, and style, to the new generation.
The apparel, which launched on February 2, was inspired by Kaavia and was designed with the help of her parents. Featuring dresses, shirts, shorts, rompers, ponchos, two-piece sets, swimming gear, a hoodie, sandals, socks, the clothing is prime for kids who are all about exploring joy.
“The Wades have been such incredible supporters of Janie and Jack over the years, allowing us to be a part of so many special family moments,” said Vanessa McClure, Designer, Janie and Jack. “With this partnership, we hope to celebrate friendship and style through an imagined world by Kaavia James. With that in mind, together we have created this joyful collection.”
We spoke with Dwyane Wade about the partnership, what daddy-daughter time with Kaavia looks like, and being a girl dad. Read the conversation below.
ESSENCE: Can you share a bit about the Wade family’s partnership with Janie and Jack?
Dwyane Wade (DW): I think this is one of those partnerships for us that just became as organic as they can. Janie and Jack [does] a great job in the kids category and Kaavia, she looks good in them. She wears it a lot. We just got an opportunity from there to start a conversation with Janie and Jack, as we were a big fan.
We wanted to kind of bring Kaavia, and girls that look like Kaavia, to the masses. We just want tell stories. So Janie and Jack was a partnership that we were able to tell our story with.
The Wade family.
ESSENCE: What do you love most about being a girl dad?
DW: It’s just something when your daughter look up at you with those big eyes, man. When you have a girl, you have to immediately, you have to be soft. You know what I mean? And not from anything other than, she just makes you want to be soft, just by the way she hugs you or look at you, or even how a girl says, “Dad.” I’ve heard about it from a lot of people, that it changes you and it changes your life, but yes, experiencing it is definitely life-changing.
Read our 2021 interview with Zaya Wade here.
ESSENCE: How do you encourage your children’s creativity?
DW: If your kid brings something home, obviously as parents, we try to celebrate them. We try to put it up on refrigerator or whatever your way is. We all try to encourage them. And I think we continue that journey. You try to find out the things, by looking very closely, the things they take onto, that they’re interested in, outside of what they learn from you. And you just try to go there as much as possible and help them along that way. It may be something they’re interested in for a week or maybe something for a lifetime. So I think just really paying attention is the way to support their creativity, because you kind of get a chance, if you pay attention, to see your kid.
ESSENCE: It’s beautiful—the process of nurturing that genuine interest. And like you said, it doesn’t matter if it lasts a week or a lifetime, it really makes an impact on them. What does daddy-daughter time look like for you two?
DW: Let’s see, let’s go off of yesterday. So I got home yesterday, and me and Kaav, we spend a lot of time outside together. So when Daddy’s here, she’s like, “Okay, daddy, let’s go outside.” I may follow her in one of her little cars that she drives around. We go shopping. She gets out the car, and she says, “Dad, let’s go shopping.” So she’s already getting a little expert on using my credit card and getting anything she wants when we go shopping.
Yesterday we were playing catch together and she wanted to play soccer. [Then], she wanted to play school. So it’s pretty much whatever Kaavia wants to do when Daddy comes home, I just lock in with her for those hours that I have her, and we just do it. And so, we do a lot of things. We watch birds together. We look at flowers together. We just try to do all of the things and not make it just the same thing.
Keep scrolling to see a few pieces from the Spring 2022 Janie and Jack collection. Shop here.
