Necessity is the mother of invention - and, in this case, the aunt of invention. Business partners and sisters Elizabeth and Roberta Cottam, are helping families by creating fun products for kids that identify their specific allergies or food intolerances through their business, Blue Bear Aware.

The idea was spawned when Elizabeth's son - Roberta's nephew - had ongoing food intolerance issues from an early age. With Roberta's own lifelong challenge with food allergies, the pair knew that there was not just an awareness gap but also an opportunity for a business to help fill it.

"My youngest (child) was not able to eat many foods when younger, and food allergies were diagnosed as the issue," recalls Elizabeth. "In trying to cope with his dietary needs, we realized greater public awareness about children's dietary issues was needed."

Roberta agreed, and the pair set themselves to the task of creating products that were not only useful and educational, but also fun.

"Children today don't need a strip of masking tape slapped onto their back listing their allergies. A more fashionable, cool look was needed," she says.

The first products they created were T-shirts with witty slogans. Five years later, the pair have a full product line that includes not just T-shirts but also embroidered badges, allergy alert labels, wristbands and pouches to carry epi-pens with designs to cover everything from food allergies to celiac disease.

The shirts feature slogans like "Udderly no dairy," "Mutiny against peanuts" and "Some bunny doesn't eat peanuts" with accompanying stylish graphics.

Badges can be sewn onto sports bags or coats and come in bilingual versions featuring English and French or English and Spanish.

The other products are also designed with kids in mind, from wristbands that are durable for tough-playing kids, to auto-injector pouches that feature small belt sizes and open with easy zippers.

The home-based company operates out of Elizabeth's New Westminster home, where she and her family

settled after returning from several years living in Australia; Roberta lives in Burnaby.

The pair rely on local manufacturing for their products, too: T-shirts are printed in Burnaby, the badges are made in Coquitlam and the other products are all made in Canadian facilities.

"Manufacturing is local because we want to be involved with the quality control," says Elizabeth. "Roberta's experience in the Vancouver fashion industry helped when finding manufacturers."

Roberta is a professional artist, illustrator and designer who has worked with local retail fashion companies like Plum and Lululemon. It was the perfect complement to the experience and knowledge that Elizabeth brought to the venture with her background as an elementary school teacher and early childhood educator.

Like any home-based business - most of which are worked around other jobs and family demands - the biggest challenge in the early days was simply time.

"Finding enough hours in a day was a huge challenge. Family came first, then business," says Elizabeth.

The "wee hours of the morning" were used to organize orders and answer emails.

For Roberta, working on product design and the online store and website was done after putting in a full day for clients in the clothing industry.

So far, word-of-mouth and allergy support groups have helped spread the word about their products, and the pair traavel to allergy conferences and other events to share their products. They say the goal, one day, is to be the one-stop shop for families with allergy needs in North America.

"Food and other allergies are on the rise - especially among children. Today's allergic reactions are more severe than in the past, and can put a child into a critical health situation where they could potentially die," says Elizabeth. "It's crucial to raise awareness in our communities. Once in the school system, allergic children have to carry their own auto-injectors, so they have to be as independent as possible."

The products, she says, help empower children to take control of their allergies in a fun, positive way - and to open the door for dialogue with their peers and adults.

As for the company's name, it - like the product itself - has a personal origin: Blue Bear is the name of her son's stuffed bear.

For more information about Blue Bear Aware, see www.bluebearaware.com.