Everything in life is more fun when it includes children. Birthdays and holidays are more joyful, livelier. Life is generally more fulfilled when there are children in it. Regardless of one’s connection with those children – whether it be their children, kids of the family, or friend’s kids – life is sure to be full of laughter and joy. And picking out baby clothes is more fun than shopping for adults. Most of the time, children’s fashion is more vibrant and more expressive than adult fashion. Kid’s fashion is constantly changing, but the one constant is that it is always fun, always vibrant, and always allows children the chance to be expressive. It is not all sunshine and rainbows, however – though it certainly is becoming more so (thankfully).
Historically, children’s fashion has been delegated into gender-based groupings on the racks and the shelves. Split definitively into “Boys” and “Girls,” clothing used to be largely a pink and blue mass of altering shades – pink for girls and blue for boys. However, this gender ideal has been challenged over recent years, with more and more brands introducing a vast array of vibrant, exciting color options, as well as new styles. The move has allowed children a whole new lease on their creative fashion choices, and it has sparked a revolution that is both exciting and long overdue. The simple fact is that not all girls like pink and not all boys prefer the color blue. Therefore, it only makes sense to give all children options outside of the traditional stereotypical fashion choices – and outside of gender ideals as well.
There has been a relatively recent wave of change, with some big-name kid’s fashion brands doing away with gender ideals entirely, giving their brand a refreshing and welcome change of pace. In taking away gender-based stocking on store floors, these brands are showing their customers that they value the young generations’ right to expression of self and who they are just as much as the families that these children are a part of doing. While leading retail stores like John Lewis have made the revolutionary move of eliminating gender-based stocking on their children’s fashions, there are other retailers that are still adhering to the gender-based traditional shopping methods.
There are more transformations taking place in the kid’s fashion industry as well. There are now several exciting and successful subscription-based kids clothing brands on the market. These brands, designed with the needs of the modern family in mind, operate on a very simple basis. Every month, a personalized subscription box is sent to a child with various clothing items in it. The parents only end up paying for the items their child keeps.
This way of marketing not only caters to the gender-based fashion ideals of modern society, but it also allows the families to have personalized fashion choices sent to their front door without the need for hours spent searching for the perfect clothes for their kids. Kids are not renowned for their undying patience, so eliminating the necessity for hours in a clothing store is a welcome change to the industry.
