Textile Insight

IN THE STUDIO | YOUTH It's a Small World 20 • Textile Insight ~ July/August 2017 textileinsight.com An International View of Designing for our Littlest Consumers. By Suzanne Blecher Textile Insight spoke with top executives at two leading youth- specific brands to get a global perspective on the children's apparel and footwear markets. Here are their comments: Matti Lehtovirta, International Sales Director, Reima How is Finland's children's apparel market different than other markets around the world? I would say that the kids apparel market in Finland is probably the most demanding for what the consumers demand from products in terms of comfort, durability and functionality. In Finland, already from early kindergarten age, kids spend 3-4 hours outside every day, no matter what the weather. Reima has been the leading apparel supplier for that lifestyle for more than 70 years. Which ideas would you consider adopting for your business from other firms, markets or industries around the world? Being the globally leading dedicated functional kids wear brand, we need to adapt to all of our markets locally. Naturally we have to implement ideas from other firms to be able to succeed locally in each market, but we do not want to tweak our identity to a great extent. We believe the Reima story, heritage, and brand has a global resonance. Which features and/or benefits are most important to a parent in selecting a shoe or piece of apparel for their child? Reima is really spearheading a movement to get kids active and out in any weather. In this category, obviously, function is crucially important. Waterproof, durable and breathable clothes/shoes give parents a great ease of mind, but really if the kid him/herself is not comfortable, function doesn't matter. We design age specific clothing for each age group in which kids feel maximum comfort. Being a kids-specific brand we don't merely shrink adult clothing, we know how kids function at different ages. Outlook of the garment itself is obviously also very important, but not without the above. Our best-selling item globally is the Stavanger snowsuit. We sell it in all our markets and it is a signature piece of the lifestyle we preach. We also plan to sell it in the U.S. market even though we understand that kids stop wearing snowsuits at a lower age compared to cold European markets. Helen Rockey, Chief Executive, See Kai Run How is the United States' children's footwear market different than other markets around the world? We find a wide variety of differences in children's shoe markets around the world. German parents often buy highly crafted leather-lined shoes that can be passed down to several siblings. Chinese parents love the sparkle and embellishments for girls with licensed or hero graphics for boys. The USA market is casual, casual, casual. Which ideas would you consider adopting for your business from other firms, markets or industries around the world? I'd like it to be easier for parents to promote healthy foot development in their children from day one. Consumers expect to get instructions when they buy a board game for example so why shouldn't shoes have instructions on the box top explaining footwear needs for specific ages and stages of development? Maybe we'll do that! Which features and/or benefits are most important to a parent in selecting a shoe or piece of apparel for their child? Getting the shoe on, keeping the shoe on and having room for developing toes to wiggle are important to parents around the globe. Lightweight flexibility is important for the child to be able to actually BEND the shoe – crucial for learning how to walk properly. Casual, fun sneakers work for us at home and abroad. We like to mix it up with materials, prints and textures, which is a hallmark of the See Kai Run style. O Water friendly sneakers from See Kai Run. Matti Lehtovirta, Reima Helen Rockey, See Kai Run ReimaGO apparel features a sensor/app to track movement.

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