Some of the “but cute” plushies.

but cute/Courtesy photo

Of all the noteworthy things to come out of Aspen, “but cute” is a brand that’s worth watching.

With a mission to create a palatable, engaging way to address mental health, this new company founded by Aspen native Mikey Schumacher is changing the way insecurities and imperfections can be viewed.

“​​Growing up, I was super anxious and struggled with a lot of negative self-talk,” Schumacher said. “Something that really helped me was reframing those imperfections.”

He’s doing it through the use of plush toys that highlight flaws as celebrated features after recently winning University of Southern California’s biggest startup competition by beating out 207 other companies and receiving $38,500 in equity-free funding to produce the plushies.

Every character displays a combination of two distinct traits and what he calls an insecurity, like the anxious moon bunny or the grumpy croissant crab.

“It’s a fun, lighthearted way to start the conversation and spark that movement of embracing what makes us different,” Schumacher said. “It really started when I was growing up — I was a chunky kid, and people would always say I was chunky but cute. As I started designing some of the plush characters, I kept that in mind.”

Hence the company’s name. But he also credits growing up in Aspen to making his dreams possible.

“It just really set me up to pursue my passions,” he said. “There’s support I’ve always felt there to go after things that I care about and I love. And going against the grain has always been instilled in me growing up there.”

His mom, Judy, agreed with Aspen’s impact on her son.

“It did shape who he became,” she said.

As the youngest of six, Schumacher’s mom said Schumacher was thrown into a family that was very active, going after everything Aspen had to offer. He had his older siblings as role models, but he also always displayed a unique blend of hard work and empathy on his own.

“The reason (‘but cute’) will succeed is because he is such a caring person,” his mom said. “He’s doing it to help others. He cares, and he’s always that way. And he’s the most amazing hard worker.”

Eric Quick, a mentor for USC’s New Venture Seed Competition that “but cute” won, also saw the same qualities in Schumacher.

“The core is the emotional intelligence in him,” Quick said. “It’s why he won the entire competition … I was very impressed with the depth around the storytelling — it resonated very quickly that he understood the depth of each character, where they came from. There was a bigger reason for being.”

Schumacher has in fact designed over 300 “but cutes” that he plans to release over time, all hailing from a world he created called Quirklandia.

“As I started showing (characters) to kids, the first thing they would ask me is where is she from? What does she do? Who are her friends?” he said. “There’s clearly more of an appetite for where these characters are from.”

The backstories of them all are kept in a book that he refers to as the “lore,” which will also serve as a reference for potential animated shows or story books based on the plush toys.

His kickstarter launches June 17, with a funding goal of $15,000 to assist in getting the first round of production out the door.

And it’s not just for kids. So far, Schumacher noted his biggest consumer has been Gen Z and millennial women, and he wants everyone to join the movement of raising awareness for mental health.

“Our mission is to bring some light into the world,” he said. “Doing something positive has really resonated with people right now. That, ultimately, is the whole thing.”