In talks with Green baby director

Following the huge growth of visitors and interest at this year's Bubble, the UK's leading childrenswear show, and the vastly expanding Kidswear market, FashionUnited caught up with Sari Cavanna, brand director at Green Baby, the eco

childrenswear label that has recently launched, Green Kids, a line for over 5 year olds.

FashionUnited:When did you initially launch Green Baby?
Sari Cavanna: 1999

FU: Why did you think now was a good time to launch Green Kids?
SC: Our consumers and wholesale customers have been asking us for years to extend the range beyond age five, and as we are now coveted for our design-led collections as much as for our ethical credentials, we felt the time was right to expand into kidswear. ·

FU: Why do you think eco friendly kidswear has become such a growing market? And thus influenced you to extend the range?
SC:Parents are becoming more aware of environmental issues and want to find ways to buy products that are aligned to these values. The increase in buying organic and fair trade has growth exponentially in the last 10 years and we've found a big gap in kids offerings that are 100% organic/fairly traded. Given our position as a pioneer in the baby market, it was a natural extenstion for us.

FU: For S/S, John Lewis was the exclusive stockist -Why did you decide to sell through like this?
SC: We have long admired JLP’s working ethos, as a destination family department store with a commitment to tackling the many challenges that trading ethically presents. They were a great team to work with, and helped us immensely in the development of the exclusive range. This arrangement also helped us to get broad exposure on the new line through their loyal customer base, and exclusivity for JLP. ·

FU: And why for A/W have you decided to expand stockists across the UK?
SC: The JLP exclusivity was purely for the initial Green Kids launch. The exposure to the mainstream marketplace through this project, led to copious wholesale enquiries, beyond our expectations, so we are delighted to be working with so many independents for our AW11 offering.

FU: You recently were in Pitti, how did you find reactions differed across the markets/industry?
SC: Pitti is a comprehensive show with a wide range of international buyers and brands coming together. One of the clear differences we encounter is that northern Europeans are much further on in adopting the ethical lifestyle than the South, and emerging markets are really embracing the concept of organic and fair trade. As the movement is slowly growing in these regions, for us it represents an opportunity to educate and influence by finding parters that are just as passionate as we are. ·

FU: Who would be your ideal stockist? Do you want to expand outside the UK?
SC: We would love to get into accounts that are aligned in terms of values and cater to our core consumer. We feel that John Lewis is that ideal in the UK and we'd love to win over someone like Nordstrom's in the US as they've pioneered many programs that have traditionally not been tackled by the department store channel. For instance they aim to use and increase their usage in organic cotton within their private label areas in addition to working with brands that do the same.·In terms of outside the UK, we aim to expand our international business through a range of business models so it's not just about stockists. Web is key to our long term strategy so we aim to launch EU language sites and multiple currency options with and build up logistics system to service more markets. In additon, we are in talks with several potential distributors to add to our existing distributor network. For some markets we are looking to go the traditional stockist route with a balanced portfolio of departments stores and quality independents. Beyond that we are also open to and in process of working with some key online retailers. To advance this channel strategy we've participated in Bubble London, Pitti in Florence, the northern UK show AIS and this month we are heading to NYC for Playtime

FU: How do you intend to keep developing the range and moving it forward?
SC: By continually re-assessing and keeping up to date with consumer attitudes, trend direction and being aware of any new developments in sustainable or organic materials. Our key platform in product is to design innovative fashion lines, that are accessible in terms of price point and that ultimately exceed the customer’s expectations in terms of quality, organic materials and fair trade standards. ·

FU: Talk me through the design, manufacturing process – from where do you source materials from?
SC: All materials are sourced in India or in Turkey, using locally grown organic cotton. All of our lines are certified through the GOTS programme (Global Organic Textile Standard,) which means that the complete supply chain is assessed and certified and there is traceability throughout. This includes the growing, harvesting, ginning, spinning, weaving, dyeing and of course the sewing and manufacturing of the finished garment. This is not enough however as we need to see for ourselves each facility and we aim to visit our partners two times a year to build relationships and increase visibility into the supply chain. The design process begins with researching market and fashion trends, and from there creating our colour palettes, key items and looks for the season, ensuring we have the fashion basics to compliment the collection, working closely with our graphic print designer - prints being a signature. We are also looking to identify a panel of key accounts and customers to help us with feedback on some of our new exciting ideas in work. We constantly talk about the balance between innovation/design and commerciality and we think this can help us gain valuable insights. ·

FU: What’s your position on the recent call from big industry names, such as Philip Green, to bring manufacturing back into the UK?
SC: For us, producing outside of the UK is a two-way thing as we work with fair trade projects in India for the manufacture of our garments. For other companies who have previously sourced their manufacturing in China for example, the move to the UK could make sense, as costs increase in China and the UK does need more industry, and so we, as a country, can maximise on our excellent design and tailoring expertise. We are doing some things locally - for instance we are working with a local print house which is a registered charity helping to train up local youths in the craft of t shirt printing. We are also looking to design a portion of our range that will be elevated fashion and are looking to work with UK knitters and weavers for special additions to the range. ·

FU: If you could change something about the industry or the way childrenswear is viewed, what would it be?
SC: From a consumer perspective, it is a really tough segment of the industry because there is a widespread expectation that childrenswear only needs to last for a year and that is more of a disposable purchase rather than an investment. This not only pushes down on the price value equation and makes it tougher to sustain a business, but it also puts pressure on workers all around the world to make cheap fast fashion even cheaper - Yes children grow quickly but passing it on should be the goal, not throwing it away.