How a Simple Tool for the Potato Sack Pose Launched Our Prop Line

When we started The Newborn Nerds 6 years ago, our only goal was to share our knowledge with other photographers. We wanted to create a space where people could access posing tutorials, editing tools, and other digital resources. That’s it. No shipping, no inventory, no dealing with packing peanuts. (Lindsey was adamant about this. 😂)

But sometimes, the best parts of a business come from the things you never planned.

The Potato Sack Pose Problem

We’re huge fans of the potato sack pose — but getting it just right every time? Not so easy. So we created two tools to help us out: a little support belt and a soft, form-fitting fat suit. We made them for ourselves to make the pose safer, smoother, and more efficient.

And whenever we taught at conferences or workshops, we brought them along.

That’s when the begging started.Our students kept saying:
"Please tell me you sell these."
"You should put these in your shop."
"I need one yesterday."

Finally, we gave in. We released a batch of just 30 Potato Belts — and they sold out in about 10 seconds.

From Side Gig to Signature Product

At first, Lindsey made them all by hand. But after those first few rounds, we realized we needed help. We found a local seamstress named Nicole who was willing to make a few on the side. She thought it would be a quick one-month gig.

Years later… she’s still making every single one for us.

Nicole is the reason our belts and fat suits are so consistent, so well-made, and so trusted by photographers across the world. Having one person behind the quality control has made all the difference — and we love that we’ve been able to support her with a long-term creative side hustle she never saw coming.

The (Unexpected) Start of Something Bigger

At the time, Potato Belts and Fat Suits felt like an “accidental” product line. But looking back, it was the start of something much bigger — the beginning of our prop shop. And while these tools are small and easy to ship, they paved the way for the larger ideas to come. (Literally. Just wait until you hear about the seamless paper.)

Still don't have your own fat suit or potato belt? Find them in our posing aids section here!

👀 Stay tuned for Part 2 — where we dive into how we created our own seamless line, and why we wanted to make color-matching setups easy and beautiful for photographers.