Spending It All on the Kids

In an unsteady economy, many parents are looking the worse for wear, but they're turning their children into FASHION plates

You may think the term granny grabber refers to an unsavory frequenter of shopping malls. But in the garment industry, it evokes one of the most heartwarming and affirming human interactions: diminutive overalls and dresses that prove so downright adorable that grandparents can't resist buying them as gifts. Thanks in part to the granny-grabber factor, children's clothes have been a consistent bright spot in an otherwise rocky retail environment. "The children's market has bucked the trend," says Marshal Cohen, co-president of the market-research firm NPDFashionworld. "It's the only apparel sector that grew in 2002."

And the trend is continuing. According to...

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