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 NPD, in 2002 sales of children's apparel rose 6%. During the same period, sales of apparel in general fell 1.7%. The teen market, a fickle but vastly rewarding category for retailers who can crack it, was flat. And kids' apparel--for newborns through about age 10--grew even as the birthrate slightly but steadily declined.
Sales of kids' clothing are traditionally less volatile than those of adults' clothing. Children constantly outgrow things, whereas adults can more easily defer clothing purchases, especially in hard times. But this doesn't fully explain today's persistent increase in kids' apparel sales. For that, one has to look at shifts in demographics, marketing and the national mood.
War and terrorism have created a desire among many parents to protect and pamper their children, says Erin Clack, market editor of the trade publication Children's Business. Clack says many parents tell her they want to indulge their children by buying them unique and beautiful things. This trend has been a boon to independent specialty stores like the Kangaroo Pouch in Atlanta. Owner Eloise Morris says customers seem particularly drawn to personalized items, like monogrammed hair bows and bibs.
Morris reports that while clothing for all children's age groups is doing well at the Kangaroo Pouch, layette items are best sellers, a trend that holds up at other retailers. In fact, Clack says apparel for newborns and infants is currently the top performer in the children's category.
Which brings us to demographics. Today the percentage of babies being born to women in their 30s is higher than it has ever been. In 2001 the birthrate for women ages 30 to 34 was 14% higher than it had been in 1990; the birthrate for women ages 35 to 39 was 28% higher. Women have larger salaries in their 30s than in their 20s, the age at which most women had children in years past. Women today are also more likely to be in dual-income marriages, which provide even more disposable income.
Cheryl Kilton, 40, a pharmaceutical sales representative in Omaha, Neb., has a 2-year-old daughter and says many of her friends have also had children later in life. "We have great jobs, own a home and have no debt," says Kilton, who spent $200 on a Christmas dress trimmed in mink with matching fur shoe clips and headband for her daughter, who wore the outfit once before it was tucked away in a cedar chest for safekeeping.