China big market for Kids wear

FashionUnited has previously brought you stories on the booming state of the designer childrenswear market; such in demand that leading department store, Liberty, even recently launched a whole new floor section for kids pieces alone.

Now it seems the trend has spread across the globe; reports by the Albatross Global Solutions Survey for Children’s Industry have noted that now wealthy citizens are spending ever more on items for their kids, with sell through figures up for the likes of Gucci Kids, Burberry Children, Baby Dior. This, according to the China Research Centre for Children’s Industry, is a natural offshoot of the growth seen over the past several years in China’s overall luxury market, as Chinese parents are known “to transfer their preferences in luxury goods to their children.”

According to the new Albatross Global Solutions survey of 900 respondents, 60 percent claim to have spent more than 3,000 yuan (US$474) per month on luxury goods for their offspring in 2011 – a significant 40% rise.

Nor is it a market that shows any signs of slowing, as profit margins are achieved more easily than on womenswear (less material used but prices remain high). Also beyond just luxury brands catching on, there is plenty to offer small and home grown label; “its a huge market” commented a research spokesperson for University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. Arguably the popularity and growth of kidswear in China and the Middle East is largely helped by the size of the population as home grown brands have been known to merely ‘shrink’ their main womens wear designs and in doing so ‘create’ a childrens line.

Elsewhere for big brands like Burberry, there is still a way to go as reports show that kidswear for the heritage label only accounted for 4% of total percentage sales for the year up to March 2012.

Image: Dior Kids