Kids fashion is taking over TikTok

TikTok has become one of the biggest new social media players in the fashion industry. Its short, curated content videos became the thread by which the sanity of some was held during the COVID-19 lockdown. Since then, it birthed the next generation of social media influencers, from fitness to travel, and of course, fashion. While there are tons of successful influencers providing style tips, one of the most noticeable trends on TikTok right now is kid’s fashion.

The hashtag #kidsfashion has received over 392 million views on the app, meaning it’s something people are searching for, and it’s inspiring the childrenswear market. As kids, they get to be more experimental with their style than adults do. From streetwear to going-to-school style, the TikTok toddlers are going viral.

How TikTok has transformed the childrenswear market

While these single-digit age young ones are not of age for running their own TikTok accounts, these kids are helping their parents rack up likes and views on the video app. The TikTok account @madnatorr2 boasts over 194,000 followers. The user regularly posts videos of her kids to her Instagram page in fashions ranging from jumpsuits with straw hats to mommy and me bathrobes. Some of these videos have over 10 million views.

TikTok is also evident that kids these days are not dressing like the kids of yesteryear. The generation having children nowadays, primarily older millenials, grew up in the age of always presenting themselves and curating things for social media. It makes sense as to how they are now ensuring their kids are as well-curated as possible. Even in the celebrity sphere, children’s fashion is taking on a new life.

North West, the daughter of socialite and reality star Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West, attended Paris Couture Week in July. The firstborn child of the celebrity duo proved her status as the major influencer at Paris Couture Week, with many publications referring to her as the best-dressed celebrity of the week.

In the era where kid’s fashion has mega-million views on TikTok, childrenswear designers and children’s brands now must think about how they appeal to the TikTok generation. The Evening Standard recently reported that due to TikTok, this is the first time in history we are seeing younger generations influence the older generations.

Fashion brands are looking to TikTok and Gen Z to figure out what’s cool, what’s trending, and what customers want. For brands to have stability and staying power, they must constantly court the next generation of customers. Gen Alpha has also reached an age where they are spending considerable amounts of time on social media.

As a result, Gen Alpha has started building brand awareness and seeing what fashion trends are out there, and are even curating their own style aesthetic. Parents of these teens and pre-teens are also willing to spend the money to indulge these kids' fashion habits.

Designers will have to become more adept at designing toward social media trends, as every generation after millenials won’t know a world where social media hasn’t influenced fashion.