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- PRINTWEAR TODAY » Issue: September 2007
Styling the next generation
Childrens promotional clothing and in particular the school market is a vast profit sector for garment decorators - providing quality, style and design are at the forefront. We take a closer look at a number of suppliers in the market identifying the current trends and what the younger generation is likely to be demanding over the coming months...
Childrens wear, without doubt, offers an enormous potential to the garment deocrating industry particularly the school wear sector, with rough estimations for the junior market alone being in the region of £400-500M. The market has exisited in strength since the fifties when Lady Bird clothing cornered a large proportion of the retail market, and with a continued evolution on a par with promotional textiles, the school wear sector established itself back in the eighties. The UK is also unique, since many schools across the continent don’t wear uniforms, allowing for the generation of some thriving agencies.
Commenting, Alison Woodvine, European Brand Manager, Fruit of the Loom said, “School wear has been an important market sector for many years, and there continues to be a healthy demand for casual children’s apparel for school uniform and sportswear applications.”
“The market has witnessed the emergence of more specialist, fashion-oriented kids wear labels in recent times, but the main, high volume demand is for core styles – crew necks Ts, polo shirts, and raglan and set-in sleeve sweatshirts.”
The main evolution for Fruit of the Loom has been in terms of increased garment quality and improvements in product performance. For example, the Kids 65/35 Polo is now guaranteed to perform at a 60°C wash. This is a major benefit for parents, as it is far easier to remove stubborn stains using a higher temperature wash. Similarly, all of the Kids Sweats styles are now constructed from Fruit of the Loom’s next-generation fleece fabric. The 70%cotton/30% polyester fabric promotes all the benefits of a cotton/polyester blend – durability, shape retention, good colourfastness and so on. Where it stands apart from other children’s fleece fabrics is its 100% cotton facing, which virtually eliminates pilling. The tight knit cotton face also presents an unequalled surface for print and embroidery.
The new Kids Sweats have just completed their first full academic year with flying colours. Fruit of the Loom was fully confident the new sweatshirts would deliver significant real-world performance benefits once they were in daily use in schools, and the feedback from customers has justified that confidence, confirming the garments’ quality and durability credentials. Alison added, “We are delighted by our school wear customers’ response to the new Kids Sweats. We have received only positive feedback and not a single complaint. That speaks volumes for the quality and durability of the garments and is a glowing endorsement of all the hard work by our new product development team. We now firmly believe that in terms of quality and value for money there are no better school wear sweats on the market.”
Val McGavin, Russell Europe believes that the promo wear industry hasn’t seen a huge difference in the Kids wear sector over the past few years, particularly as there are not as many opportunities for kids prowler, however, she was quick to point out that the school market was as buoyant as ever. “We believe our current offering currently meets the demand and in particular with our Jerzees range, although we are continually assessing the market to ensure we develop styles and products to suit the demand.”
Conversely, as the proud parents of two children’s wear brands UKL has watched this market develop enormously over the last 10 years. Baby Basics was created to meet the demands of parents who did not want to only dress their children in pastel shades and could not find practical soft garments in brighter and darker shades. Popular products include the BB05 Toddler T available in 10 colours and sized from 0-6 months through to 24-36 months and the BB02 Body Suit. The full range includes bibs, fleece, sleep suits and a range of long and short-sleeved T’s and are ideal for promotional use. Also available from UKL is the Humbugz range from Mantis. The range includes many styles including some Organics.
Current trends
Commenting on the current trends in fabrics/style/design applications for kids wear, Alison said, “The market has already recognised that there is a demand for children’s garments that echo the designs of adult styles. Each of Fruit of the Loom’s kids wear styles, whilst designed specifically for children, has an adult equivalent. This allows customers to supply matching outfits for family groups and other target audiences containing a wide range of ages, whilst responding to the current preferences of both children and their parents.”
Commenting further Alison added, “The kids wear market is reasonably mature and is not a major area of innovation. Aside from the niche demand for fashion-forward imprintable kids wear, the main emphasis is on maintaining, and improving where possible, the quality and value of the core garment styles to match customers’ ever more demanding expectations.”
“It is also important to recognise that school wear accounts for the ‘lion’s share’ of the kids wear market. This is a market sector that demands continuity, not constant evolution.”
In total agreement, David Sanders-Smith, Result Clothing said, “The UK has a unique and important market in school wear and we have accepted that creating clothing for children is a big challenge. We are probably one of the most successful brands distributed through main line distribution for Schools and Clubs, partially because we recognise that kids put more wear and tear on garments than any adults and jackets designed for the English climate are worn practically continuously.”
Continuing he said, “We ensure that our jackets are 100% waterproof as children don’t want to arrive soaking wet in a shower proof only jacket, which Is a major fault of many brands who try to cut corners. In addition, it is crucial that garments used for school wear have embroidery access. We were one of the first to have the all round-low access panels.”
In terms of future evolution, David believes that safety will play a factor. “We have two types of kids fit safety tabards, which grow in demand year on year. Although we are astonished that the Government still has not brought in legislation that children on the highway on bikes should be forced to wear this protection, and with Britain and Ireland having the highest fatalities on the roads in the EU, it is high time that some parliamentarian got behind this.”
How can decorators capitalise?
Garment decorators should be proactive in building relationships and business with kids wear customers, and school wear buyers, in particular. To this end, Fruit of the Loom produces an annual school wear brochure that acts as an invaluable marketing and sales tool for customers seeking to generate new business in the UK school wear market. The catalogue shows Fruit of the Loom styles, decorated with a generic school badge or crest, modelled by real pupils in real school settings, to give end user customers a clear idea of how their uniform might look. The catalogues can be overprinted with decorators’ own contact details.
Val also believes that in addition to be proactive, decorators should consider attending trade shows to identify if the ranges and styles designed for adults can be applied to the children’s arena, thereby enabling decorators to capitalise further.
Alison added, “Fruit of the Loom actively supports its kids wear customers – in the school wear market, especially. For example, the company has distributed its school wear catalogue to every school in the UK and Ireland – more than 30,000 in total – to promote the availability of modern, casual school garments and the many options offered by its customers. Fruit of the Loom is emphasising that the brochure is specifically intended to support its customers in selling more Fruit of the Loom branded products into the school wear market, and as such directs schools to contact their usual school wear supplier to find out more about the Fruit of the Loom products.” She was also quick to point out that any enquiries that Fruit of the Loom receives directly from schools are forwarded to local suppliers.
David added that decorators should be in regular contact with local clubs and schools to ensure they don’t miss out on regular, local revenue. “What’s more, ensure you offer quality before low price, otherwise the demands of quality wear and tear will come back to bite you.”
David was also vociferous in stating that decorators and brands alike should use not only good ethical policies but also have superior needle control policies. “Needle control and any other sharp objects must be detected before packing, and the best way of ensuring this is to pass garments through a metal detection machine prior to packing.”
Popular choices
Fruit of the Loom’s most popular kids wear styles are the Kids 65/35 Polo and Kids Raglan Sweat. Together, these garments form the basis of a great value, easy to decorate, hardwearing school uniform.
Fruit of the Loom takes every measure necessary to ensure that all of its Kids products conform to all the relevant European environmental, ecological, and safety standards for each age category.
Result’s R37J body warmer and R34J hoody are particularly popular choices and are made from some of the best and strongest fleece in the world, which David is very proud of.
An education
To start the next academic year in style, Mantis World has introduced two new kids polo shirts to the Humbugz collection with the unique HM58 Boys Stretch Polo and complementary HM59 Girls Stretch Polo. Taking the classic short sleeve polo shirt design, Humbugz has added new fashion details that set these styles apart, such as a trendy narrow placket and contrast colour twill tape finish to inside neck and side vents for a flash of colour. And because they are made from Mantis World’s signature Stretch360° Pique, this high quality cotton/elastane fabric offers exceptional stretch, comfort and fit.
School wear is a feature of many garment decorators ranges. With so many schools now preferring to source their uniform from a local supplier, there has never been a better time to review the school wear selection available from UK Leisurewear. Phase One has been one of the most popular choices for schools and clubs. The recent addition of the Phase One Performance range has allowed the brand move to the next level by offering professional standard fabric technology combined with excellent styling.
BTC activewear has added Fruit of the Loom’s Children’s College Jacket 66223 to their 2007 range. Launched on the back of the highly popular adult’s version, this jacket has a single jersey lining that opens for easy accessible print and embroidery. Available in a choice of 6 colours the fabric is 100% Nylon 210T shower resistant and comes in a choice of 5 sizes from 5 to 15 years.
Also new for 2007 are a number of stylish school wear Polo shirts, including the Kustom Kit Klassic Children’s Polo Superwash 60 degrees, which is an 180gsm honeycomb stitch pique featuring a half-moon yoke, slanted placket and double roll tipped collar and cuffs. Available in 6 key colours this comfort finished polo has a useful area on the care label for the child’s name.
Gustav Daiber GmbH offers the Club ’n’ School Now Collection, a product range of trendy team wear which is combinable according to the occasion and personal taste. The new collection ranges from trendy caps to fashionable tops and casual jackets. With colourful Club ’n’ School Now Collection even school is fun. Furthermore, young and older trend setters make a find because all products are available for children as well as for adults.
Image conscious
For active image-conscious kids who want high performance and the very latest trends in sportswear, the HM52 Children’s Active Contrast Hoodie teams up with the HM54 Children’s Active Stripe Pants for a co-ordinated fashion track suit with eye-catching curved contrast colour panels and cover stitch detail. Made from the unique Stretch360 Cotton/Elastane French Terry, these styles allow flexible movement and are designed to be long lasting performers.
