There probably isn`t a child alive who hasn`t, at one time or another, tried on something or other from Mom`s or Dad`s closet. Either out of curiosity, boredom or a desire to ”be just like. . .”
But today`s parents can take heart because major retailers are sizing down their wares to outfit their grownup clientele`s offspring. If father wears pleated khakis, a denim workshirt and a striped silk tie, so can son. Or daughter, for that matter, because menswear on women seems to be the one definite trend this fall.
The same goes for whatever fashion choices a mother, or older sibling, may make, thanks to such companies as The Gap, The Limited and Benetton.
These retailers, similar in that they are the primary marketers of their own merchandise, have each revolutionized related-though distinctly different- realms of retailing. The Gap has glorified the pure basic; The Limited has made cutting-edge fashion affordable and accessible; and Benetton has renewed and refined the knit.
But all three companies are now advancing along the same frontier. They all boast extensive and interesting children`s lines, similar to-or even, in some instances, exactly the same as-their adult offerings.
The Gap kids` line was created when the company`s president couldn`t find the kind of clothes he wanted for his son. Thus, in 1986, he conceived and created GapKids, and today there are 247 such shops (some of which include babyGap departments).
The startup of The Limited`s children`s division, Limited Too (now with 182 stores), was not as spontaneous but no less successful. Susan O`Toole, the company`s operating executive, asserts that girls in the 6 to 14 age group are ”very fast” when it comes to fashion. ”They`re trend setters,” O`Toole says, ”so we saw a need for a specialty store to cater to them.”
But Benetton has been making the same high-quality, fashion-forward clothes for children as it has for adults all along, says Patricia Saraceni, director of public relations for the firm. In this case, ”all along”
translates into more than a quarter of a century, placing Benetton in the vanguard in this arena.
But it doesn`t hold the lead. Surprisingly, the first company to make the same kind of classic and durable basics for babes that it made for big folks is one that is often overlooked in this realm: OshKosh B`Gosh. Pint-sized bib overalls were first introduced by that company at the turn-of-the-century, approximately five years after its beginnings in 1895.
”Our company motto was `work clothes for dad, play clothes for sonny,`
” says Michael Donabauer, vice president of corporate marketing and planning for the firm. ”We were primarily a regional work-wear manufacturer, so we always kept the basic product essentially the same,” he says, noting that the company was surely the nation`s ”first innovator of denim and hickory strip garments.”
The bib overall took off in 1970 when Bloomingdale`s buyers saw it in the Miles Kimball Catalogue, a mail order outlet of the day. They stocked it in their New York store, and the rest is history.
