Streetwear, mini-me and conscious shopping are key kidswear trends says Farfetch report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 29, 2021

Luxury e-tailer Farfetch on Wednesday released its first-ever Luxury Kidswear Report, exploring how the effects of the Covid crisis and social media-savvy parents are shaping the category.

And it found that the pandemic has impacted consumer behaviour with 46% of the customers that it surveyed saying they now use social media as a place for their kidswear inspiration. And 66% increased their spend on kidswear during the Covid crisis.

As well as surveying its customers, the report takes a deep dive into the e-tailer’s data, exactly five years after Farfetch entered the kidswear category.

It said that New-Gen Parents — mainly Millennials — “seem to be a new driving force in luxury kidswear consumption”, with social media being an integral part of the lives of many of its customers in this age group. That’s clearly driving the trend for more and more kidswear shoppers to seek inspiration from social media channels.

It also highlighted a Kidfluencers & Sharenting trend whereby getting social media inspiration is a far from passive activity. In fact, many kids themselves have large social media followings (Kidfluencers) with “their own authentic and individual dress sense”, while the practice of parents sharing content about their children digitally is also a key factor in creating interest in kidswear pieces.

And Mini-Me, dressing is becoming ever more important as well with the trend that started in China increasing globally as Millennial mothers emulate celebrities and influencers who have embraced mini-me dressing for their children.

Pandemic-influenced shopping is also key and apart from parents buying more kidswear in general during lockdowns (something that was also noted by mass-market retailers such as UK-based Next), there were other trends driven by the global health crisis. Farfetch’s customers clearly joined those of other retailers across the price scale by becoming more "conscious shoppers”, for instance. 

And the need for children to have suitable clothing for the activities that were happening at home had a big impact on shopping behaviour. I's interesting that outerwear sales boomed in the pandemic period. In Q2 2020, they were almost double those of Q2 2019 as parents tried to involve their kids in as many legally permissible outdoor activities as possible. Brands such as Billieblush, Boss, Save The Duck and Moncler saw soaring kid’s outwear sales on the platform.

Meanwhile this year, spending on kidswear for big events has exploded. Farfetch said sales for festive periods in the Middle East (Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha) and Children’s Day festivities in Japan and South Korea were strong. The Middle East’s share of GMV during Ramadan nearly doubled in 2021 and the platform saw “a huge spike” in kidswear sales in April/May in the run-up to Eid Al Fitr.

The e-tailer also called out a strong trend for Kids Streetwear, comparable to the recent rise in popularity of streetwear among adults. Streetwear brands and parents are embracing this category for children. At the luxury end of the market brands are taking a similar approach to what they do with adult clothing, accessories and shoes with rarity being prized as special editions and special releases all create interest. 

Kids’ streetwear sales on Farfetch have grown 57% in the past year with brands such as Golden Goose, Nike, Jordan, Stone Island and Yeezy all popular. Ten of the 20 most searched brands on the platform are streetwear labels.

And the future? To a certain extent it seems to be more of the same. But the company is also predicting a greater interest in individuality and an even bigger focus on ethical issues as Gen Z becomes the dominant cohort buying kidswear. It also expects more new-gen labels to enter the segment as kidswear seems to be almost a must-have for most fashion brands.