Not only ruches: Russian brands of clothes for children
IN RUBRIC "NEW MARK" we present young designers and tell them where and why to buy their things. In the new issue - three heroines at once, who have chosen the niche that is still free in Russia for pretty and modern children's clothes, which are not inferior to adults.
Crusta
www.crusta.design
The idea to create their own brand of clothes for children appeared in Christina and Hermann back in 2015, the year went on paperwork, the purchase of materials and the production of the first collection. According to Christina, the story of a joint business developed in parallel with the relationship of the couple. When it became clear that the guys were ready to become family and parents, the idea to create clothes for children appeared by itself. Now Crusta is a family brand with a small team. Christine is the only person working full time. Her husband, Herman, is involved in website and technical issues in his spare time. The third member of the team is Christina's mother: as a person with extensive experience in sewing, she is in charge of production. The creator admits that without the support, knowledge and skills of the mother, they would hardly have started this business.
The main concept of the brand is simple and convenient cut, soft natural fabrics and natural shades. Materials for things are ordered at the Polish factory, all of them are certified according to the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 system. Accessories are purchased in Moscow. Orders for production are also placed in the capital - this allows you to control the process from and to. The cost of things varies from 1000 to 2500 rubles - Christine notes that the brand has a high cost and minimum markup. In the future, the team plans to make clothes more affordable and lower prices, but this will be possible only with a significant increase in production volumes.
In addition to the online store, not long ago, Crusta had a showroom at the Patriarch's Ponds. Future plans include turning the family microbusiness into a self-sufficient brand with regular new collections.
The history of our business has evolved along with our relationships. We know each other for half a life: we were friends for several years, then met for several more years. And constantly thinking about starting their own project. The most difficult was to risk transferring all this from the field of plans to reality. We invested in the business the money set aside for the wedding - we decided that we needed our project more than let it be a significant but one-day celebration. Still not regretted.
Lu Kids
lukids.ru
As often happens, Elena began to think about starting her own line of children's clothes after the birth of a child - Moscow lacked beautiful and practical clothes for the youngest. The brand Lu Kids appeared in 2015 as a continuation of the “adult” project LU, which Lenin’s girlfriend was engaged with. Soon the brand ceased to exist, and the children's line grew and attracted the interest of buyers and concept stores. Now the Lu Kids collection can be purchased on the brand's website, as well as in MLittle and Babyswag stores, in the Five Kids, Jupon-Pantalon networks and in the Aviapark.
At first, Elena planned to launch a brand that supports fair trade and local production, and to buy only natural materials. But the reality was far from ideal: the very first year of sales showed that more commercial and practical solutions enjoy success. Now, in the collections, both bold in terms of design models are combined with transforming details and technological coloring, as well as more understandable, childishly vivid things with abstract prints. Elena admits that in every episode a “minimalist corner” turns on - absolutely black things for kids.
The main difficulty encountered during the launch of the brand is the lack of professionalism of the contractors. According to Elena, only long-term painstaking work and a lot of stuffed cones helped build acceptable production relationships with factories and suppliers. Fabrics and accessories are ordered in Europe and try not to get involved in China: Elena worked there as a model and saw the terrifying conditions of local production.
Now the brand produces two collections a year. Sketches, samples and selection of fabrics - on the creator. After approval and fitting of samples, the main batch is removed; part is taken by partner shops, the rest is in the online store Lu Kids. There is no staff of the company in the company, all positions are outsourced: accounting, online ordering services, courier service, digital support, photo content creation, design development and design and tailoring of collections.
According to the founder of Lu Kids, price plays a decisive role in children's clothing. To pay a lot for the thing from which the child will quickly grow, many parents are not ready, especially if there are several children in a family. Therefore, the main task in the development of the collection Elena considers the search for minimum prices from suppliers and factories while maintaining quality. For example, a lycra swimsuit with an abstract print costs 2300 rubles, a summer dress - 3200, a bomber jacket with a silicone coating - 4500, a waterproof backpack with a hood - 4800 rubles.
Before moving to Moscow and having a baby, I lived and worked as a model abroad, mostly in London. Having plunged into the new wondrous world of motherhood, I wanted to surround my child from birth with stylish things and at the same time realize my long-time passion for creating clothes.
Little pushkin
www.littlepushkin.com
The founder of Little Pushkin is Anya Dyuzhnik, a philologist by training, but she admits that she did not work a single day in her profession. For more than ten years she worked in the field of finance, then she was engaged in organizing parties and public relations. About creating their own brand of clothing Dyuznik first thought after the birth of her son. The year was taken by the preparation: team building, concept development, drawing the first collection and the search for production. Anna considers that it is necessary to do children's things in the same way as adults. These are not just cute and comfortable clothes, but models that have something more behind them: epochs, cultural codes, an understanding of how attitudes towards children have changed over the past decades and how children themselves have changed. At the same time, Little Pushkin is not a niche or conceptual brand, but simple, high-quality and modern clothing for everyone.
Dozhnik notes that there were a lot of difficulties - there was not enough education, experience and investment - but a solid team came to the rescue. Two years later, one has to face other kinds of problems: the company grows and it is difficult for one person to control all processes. In total, the Little Pushkin brand employs eight people in different countries.
The brand uses Japanese and Chinese textiles, part of the materials ordered in China, another - in Bangkok. For example, a French-terry, from which things are sewn for the smallest, is brought from China, but made specifically for Little Pushkin. It is very soft, comfortable, hygroscopic and wear-resistant material, which has no analogues in Russia. According to Anna, the absence of normal fabrics and accessories is the main problem of Russian production.
Anna believes that pricing plays an important role. Little Pushkin can be safely attributed to the category of luxury brands, but the founder claims that the company is trying to stick to moderate pricing: for a young brand, it is more important to attract new customers and meet customers. At the beginning of the summer, the project released a joint collection with MLittle children's online store. In the near future, there is another collaboration, the details of which are still kept secret.
The impetus for creating your own brand was the birth of a child. I have always loved fashion and have never treated it exclusively consumer, but I didn’t even think about adult clothes - it’s already too much. I have always been interested in children, and I wanted to do something cool and useful for them.