By Kimberly Inskeep
Lately, I’ve been thinking about friendship, not in the abstract, but in the quiet yet formative ways it shapes a girl’s sense of self.
In girlhood, especially the tween years, friendship isn’t just companionship. It’s identity. It’s where she learns what it means to belong, to be chosen, to be enough. I’ve seen how true healthy friendships can steady a girl. And I’ve seen how deeply it can wound her. The difference between the two isn’t always obvious in the moment, but its impact can echo for years.
Girls already have a word for the friendships that feel safe, warm, and life-giving.
They call it “bestie.”
I understand the weight of that word personally.
When my daughter was in fifth grade, two girls she called her best friends suddenly withdrew from the friendship. There was no clear explanation, just distance where closeness had been. What I witnessed in the months that followed wasn’t drama, for it happened so quietly. What I witnessed was pure grief.
Even with loving support around her, and beautiful new friendships that endure two decades later, that rupture planted a quiet question that followed her for years: “What about me broke that friendship?”
Now adults, those same girls recently reached out to my daughter and there was so much goodness in their time together. I had always known it was never about her, but about something going on in their lives: but a 10-year-old can never understand that in the midst of the pain.
That experience clarified something I now know to be true: friendship during these in-between years is not small. It is significant and formative. In fact, recent data backs up what so many moms have seen and girls have experienced. According to a 2024 survey by the Girl Scouts of the USA, there’s a correlation between girls’ loneliness and their confidence. As girls enter the tween years, loneliness increases and confidence decreases. An antidote? True and healthy friendship.
In our culture, the word “bestie” is often used casually, tossed around in captions and conversations. But at this age, it holds real weight. A bestie isn’t just a favorite friend. She’s often the mirror a girl uses to decide who she is.
At Foxtale, we’re choosing to define that word with intention.
To us, a BESTIE is the friend, or even that thing, that helps you be more yourself, and the assurance that you are safe to step out and try new things.
Being a BESTIE isn’t about exclusivity or perfection. It’s about showing up with loyalty and care. It’s about telling the truth without tearing down. It’s about choosing inclusion and shared joy even when it would be easier to pull away.
In other words, being a BESTIE is how true friendship, kind honesty, and bold joy take shape in real life.
You’ll see this idea woven throughout Foxtale in the stories we tell, in the experiences we create, and even in the small details tucked into her favorite clothing pieces. Sometimes it’s visible. Sometimes it’s hidden, like a quiet reminder meant just for her.
Our story world reflects this too. In our upcoming Finding Foxtale Forest, the prequel, the Fox and the Bird show us that the best adventures are never meant to be taken alone. Friendship, at its best, is truthful, kind, and bold.
BESTIE isn’t a fleeting trend. It’s language girls already understand and live every day. It encompasses the relationships they’re developing with their moms, go-to women around them, and the emerging friendships that will shape their everyday lives and sense of self.
Our hope is simple: that by naming it, honoring it, and modeling it well, we can help girls carry a clearer, kinder definition of friendship with them, now and for years to come.
Because friendship will be one of the loudest voices in her life. And it matters deeply what that voice says. Stay tuned for more on BESTIE and Foxtale’s Spring 2026 collection, coming soon.
