Seriously! I know — it’s barely spring!
As you may know, I attended the Chicago Children’s Collective Fall ’09 Childrenwear show in Farmington Hills on Sunday. Attending with me was Melissa, LoobaLee’s most discerning Mom, Tester, and Researcher of anything and everything to do with shopping for childrenswear.
We intend to open a retail boutique filled with carefully selected items that LoobaLee loves and that we believe will retain their resale value over time. Everyone at the show was helpful to us as we researched the feasibility of opening a store by this Fall. To be honest, the buying process and selection was so overwhelming that I think this expansion of LoobaLee may just have wait another season.
In the mean time, though, we liked what we saw. There is value in knowing what’s coming and what will be style next season to help you gain insight on:
a) What to buy (at deep, deep discounts) from last season;
b) What to watch for on-sale in the current season that will comfortably transition into Fall;
c) What to keep and what to sell or donate, and
d) What will be hot sellers on the resale market this the Fall.
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Here’s 10 hot trends for Fall:
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- Don’t Give up those Leggings & Tunics! They are in most every 7-14 line, done Cotton/Spandex and Jersey fabrics. Watch for stripes and large patterns this fall.
- Organic & Natural Fibers, such as bamboo, are in and being mainstreamed by several clothing designers.
- Tutu the Max! (I think this could be a blog article in and of itself). The tutu-style petticoat skirt, popularized by Kaiya Eve and Belle Ame, is leading to all sorts of layered and poofed styles from several major designers, such as tops, panties, dresses, and bell-bottomed pants.
- Less Bling & More Ruffles - we really didn’t see too much bling! But, we did notice a strong trend towared layered ruffles (perhaps also stemming from the popularity of tutu-styled skirts)
- Lots of Tie Dye - styles for both Boys and Girls.
- Dark Denim & Corduroy. Soft, Corduroys were seen in everything beyond pants, to shirts, dresses, jackets, and coats (even one-pieces for babies).
- Hang on to the Hoodies – The zip-style hoodie is still a favorite for next season. We saw several chunky cardigan styles with funky details.
- Give up the Black. The Fall neutral palette is tending more toward Chocolate Browns, Navy, and Dark Grays. But don’t think it’s boring. The palette is loaded with color. I think there are more dusty, muted tones than we saw this season, but there are still many strong, bright colors too. We also some some colorful metallics, like hot pink, and more gold than silver.
- Along with Black being out, so goes the “Rock” look. Maybe we’re finally moving beyond the goth, hard-rock fashions (yeah!). But don’t worry if you like the edginess … there are still plenty of edgy and funky looks. I personally think they are more tastefully done for ’09 than ’08.
- Patterns and themes? Peace Signs. Reduce/Re-use/Recycle. Birds & Owls. Florals, vines & leaf/tree patterns. And, just take a cue from the scrapbook stores — many designs remind me of current, popular scrapbook paper designers.
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We were impressed with the overall “wearability” of the designs – fun & unique, but still very comfortable for kids. I suspect lines are gravitating toward what parents are most likely to buy given the economy. We even noticed that some lines seem to be offering fewer styles than previous years, and still other lines aren’t planning to produce a Fall line at all, such as Sister Sam.
Are you curious about any trends we have or haven’t mentioned? Leave us a Comment ✿
Suzanne Rielle, Cofounder– LoobaLee.com
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