This week we highlight the Dynamic Duo behind DAUMOS, an up and coming clothing brand located at 1692A Dorchester Ave, Boston, MA 02124. Founded in 2015, DAUMOS, which is a combination of the words DAUghter and MOther, is the creation of Marisa Babcock (mother) and Adalicia Virginia De Pina (daughter). Originally from West Africa, Marisa came to America in 2001, She worked in the health care system to help provide for her three children that stayed in Cabo Verde. She was an account manager and has always had a love and passion for helping others. Marisa would spend a lot of time in her husband’s shop in Cabo Verde, where she learned how to sew and where she began to develop a love for fashion.
Her three kids also grew up in their dad’s tailor shop, who developed a reputation for making high quality hand stitched suits for men. People would come from all over the country to order their own custom-made suits. Adalicia in particular showed an interest in the work from an early age. Marisa jokingly added “Adalicia was nosey” She was always asking questions, and watching her dad and mother working on pieces. She learned how to sew at that shop and it was also at the shop where she began to experiment with drawing designs of outfits. She fell in love with every aspect of the work, even learning how to repair the equipment that they use to make their amazing pieces.
Marisa has always loved working with family, she has always encouraged her children to pursue their passions. Marisa encouraged Adalicia to go to school for Business Management and Economics to learn more about the behind the scenes work that is vital to having and sustaining a successful business. Together they would have many heart to heart conversations about their career choices, they always wanted to work for themselves while doing what they love. In 2015 Marisa decided to step away from her career in the medical field to work with Adalicia in following their passions for working for themselves, working with family, fashion design and creating their own Clothing Brand which we now today as “DAUMOS”
They decided they would host a fashion show and spent a year preparing to host the fashion show creating 100’s of pieces from scratch out of their home. It was a labor of love for them, it also brought the family together. Marisa and Adalicia solicited the help of their family to help organize, plan and promote their first fashion show. They spared no expenses, hosting their first fashion show at Lombardos in Randolph in 2016. It proved to be a big success with over 350 people attending the show, it showed them that they could turn what was a hobby into a professional business.
After the show Marisa and Adalicia realized they had a lot of leftover clothes, they thought it would be best for them to have their own retail space where they could sell their pieces, offer their tailoring services and give them more space to work on new designs. It was important for them to stay local so they began to look into spaces in Dorchester where they could set up shop. Eventually they would find their current location at 1692a Dorchester Avenue and in 2018 they would officially open the doors at DAUMOS. To this day DAUMOS has remained family orientated, Marisa works with her sisters who design the Pursues and Jewelry that are available for purchase in store.
Marisa gets her design inspirations from nature, other designers work, movies, tv, magazines and from working and discussing ideas with Adalicia. Marisa added “it’s beautiful to work together, we mesh together so well. We have our own unique styles and design sense but we never clash”. Adalicia gets some of her inspirations by watching tv, movies, magazines, but the majority of her designs’ inspirations come from her dreams. She will dream of creating a unique piece and the next day she will draw what she saw in her dreams. Over the years Adalicia has taken on more and more of the day-to-day responsibilities at DAUMOS. She does everything from drawing new pieces, hand making pieces, running the social media, fixing machinery and working directly with DAUMOS Clientele. Everything that this dynamic mother daughter combo makes is from scratch and tailored made for their clients. They can make whatever the customer desires, while walking them through the whole process from initial drawings to the final piece.
Marisa and Adalicia recently hosted an amazing fashion show at the Hibernian Hall, all of the designs were done by Marisa and Adalicia, in preparation for the show they were making 10 pieces a week. In total they had over 120 unique pieces that were all made by hand. They named this collection “rise up” and was inspired by the nature capability of changing and adapting. It’s a tribute to all resilient women that had to overcome so much during this past year, facing the pandemic head on and doing what they do best. It’s a sexy, bold, and provocative collection that explores different body shapes, and aims at striking the balance between commercial and conceptual, as well as classic and avant-garde.
The whole family came together to support Marisa and Adalicia , they have sisters, nieces, nephews, brothers and cousins who came out to help them run the show. Adalicia added “ We have a great team that comes together to run the show, it can be stressful but because the team is so good it’s easy.” On top of working on the Fashion show Marisa and Adalicia also used the shutdown to make over 1000 masks a month that they donated to local hospitals, and nursing homes used to work. They also would go to local senior communities and host classes where they would teach people how to sew as well as how to do more advanced sewing. It’s important for Marisa and Adalicia that they give back to the community that has supported them over the years.
We strongly encourage you to visit Marisa and Adalicia at DAUMOS, with over 30 years of combined experience they can provide you with an amazing customer service experience that starts from the initial concepts to the final design. Together they make an incredible team and exemplify what makes Ashmont a truly amazing community to live, work and shop in. You can check out Daumos at 1692a Dorchester Avenue Boston Ma, 02124 or at
