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Dressing up junior

Children's wear is evolving as big players join the bandwagon, writes SERISH NANISETTI

PHOTO: VINO JOHN

FASHIONABLY YOUNG Recognising the market potential, more designers are focusing on prêt wear for children

Children used to ask the darndest questions and now they want to wear the darndest things. Ask a few parents how they are driven batty by the tube-watching, brand conscious, finicky brats and you will get the point. Or checkout the billboards around town or step into the malls that are transforming themselves and you will get the message about the arrival of the brat pack. Kids as customers.

Realising the fashion forecast, at the annual NIFT fashion show, Indrani showcased her collection for children. Then, the students pursuing Computer Aided Fashion joined in with their version of sportswear, rainwear and even sleepwear.

Budding designers

"Our students have been picked up by Pantaloons, Shoppers' Stop, LifeStyle, Westside and other malls for designing their own labels. Even bigger labels have picked up our students to do their children's stuff," says Sanjay Shrivastav, an associate professor of NIFT.

"But children's wear is yet to evolve fully in India where it gets classified into festival wear where flouncy, oriental tastes dictate the trend or clothes to be worn at weddings where filmy or exotic embroidery makes its presence felt," says Sanjay.

But children's wear still offers a big opportunity as 40 to 45 per cent of clothing market is dictated by children's wear. If the size of the market is attractive, the pricing isn't; children's wear is only 22 per cent of the bottomline for clothiers.

The market has become so attractive that UK babycare major mothercare and German children's wear label whoopi have joined the gaggle to clothe the young ones in Hyderabad. Appearing pricier than the stuff in the market available till now, they are peddling comfort, safety and classic styling.

On the other hand old Hyderabad player Ocean, which specialises in kids collection believes that children's wear is dictated more by parents' taste and their budget.

"The pricing leaves little room for manoeuvre. Most parents back out when they see expensive children's clothing saying that they will wear it only so many times. And 95 per cent of the stuff that is being sold in Hyderabad is either designed in Mumbai or Delhi," says Surendra Gala of Ocean near Begumpet Airport.

If the bigger MNCs are using comfort and quality control as the USP for their higher prices, Indian mass merchandisers are sticking to the cut and paste formula. Beside the usual Disney and Pogo characters, even Beyblade characters are making their presence felt on the clothes (everytime a cartoon character is used on any dress material, a portion of the royalty has to shared with the owner of trademark, thus pushing up the cost).

As the bigger labels sport four-figure price tags and parents think nothing about it while paying for their children's comfort it won't be long before the five-figure price tags make their appearance and many children will just want to have them.

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