Cozy Brights vs. Flower Power: Let’s Vote!
Loobalee as Reviews
Sep|30|2008
Immediately upon reviewing BabyGap’s new line for girls, Cozy Brights, a previous line from Gymboree came to mind. I thought I was seeing things!
The line is uncanningly similar to Gymboree’s 2001 line, Flower Power — Reference Gymbohaven to view the entire line.
It caught my attention because I just pulled out a Flower Power hand-me down outfit from my older daughter for my younger one to wear this Fall.
Personally, I love this, although I’m not so sure Gymboree will. I plan to purchase a couple of current, in-style BabyGap Cozy Brights pieces to extend and liven up my Gymboree Flower Power — a bit aged now, but still one of my all-time favorites.
Let’s take a quick vote !
Which is your favorite? I’m sticking with my emotional favorite, Flower Power, reminiscent of Gymboree days gone by.
– Suzanne Rielle, Co-Founder, Loobalee.com
Sales At A Glance: Monday, Sept. 29, 2008
Loobalee as Sales At A Glance
Sep|29|2008
Here comes the Holidays! New Holiday and Winter lines are now available from almost all children’s clothing retailers. It’s notable that the only store that has introduced their new line at sale prices is Naartjie. Look on-line at Naartjie for specialty holiday items not available in stores.
In addition to the regular sales, here are some early savings already in progress on Halloween styles:
- Save 25% at Hanna Andersson
- “2 for” deals at BabyGap
- Save up to 40% on select costumes at Gymboree
- Save 25% and more at Old Navy Baby on costumes.
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Current Sales
- American Girl
- September’s Monthly Specials end tomorrow - don’t delay.
- October monthly specials will begin on Wednesday, Oct. 1. Watch the site this day for further mark downs on current clearance items as well as the possible introduction of new sale items.
- Abercrombie Kids
- Fall sale items for boys and girls are 20 - 40% off. Finally, you’ll also see some deeper markdowns on Summer clothes for teens and tweens at 50 - 70% off.
- BabyGap & GapKids
- The 40% off on Sale on on selected late Summer and Fall Transition lines continues today. Expect further markdowns soon, as many items are still at only 20% off.
- For a limited time, add any Piperlime item to your on-line order and receive free shipping on entire order.
- Register for the Gap Casting Call - and receive a special offer from Gap and Snapfish.
- Register to win a $3,000 collection from BabyGap Home plus $1,000 GapMaternity gift card. This looks like a fun collection, and valued higher than most other concurrently running sweepstakes from BabyGap competitors.
Children’s Clothing Market: News & Views
Loobalee as News & Trends
Sep|28|2008
Fairy Tales & Folklore leading the way in c hildren’s fashion trends for fall and winter.
- Interested in a comprehensive report on the current World Children’s Market? If you have a childrenswear-oriented business, this detailed report is pricey, but may be applicable. To us, the fact that an agency went through effort to compile this research is indicator of the enormity of the childrenswear market.
- The U.S. isn’t the only country hit by a hard economy - along with many other goods and services, the cost of children’s clothing in Denmark rose 30% in August.
- New article on eHow, How to Re-Purpose Children’s Clothing, offers 11 tips.
- Designer wear is no longer the exclusive domain of adults. These days you can find many stores selling designer wear exclusively meant for children. Read more…
- Alice + Olivia designer is expanding line – inspired by her pregnancy and inability to stop sketching little girls clothes.
- Skin rash problems for babies and toddlers reported with some of Carter’s tagless clothing.
- Zutano Fall/Winter 2008 Line to support global action for children organization in their efforts to help children around the globe.
- Check out the Top 8 Hollywood-Inspired Halloween Costumes for Kids.
Kids Halloween Costume Sites - And the Winners Are!
Loobalee as Shopping Tips
Sep|26|2008
Do you feel like a Witch doing Broomstick tricks when it comes to pulling Halloween costumes together for your kids?
To help give you a little peace of mind, we spent some time reviewing the mega, on-line Halloween Costume specialty retailers for Kids Halloween Costumes. We found some winners and some losers!
What to Expect
In general, you should expect these common services from any kids Halloween Costume website (if not offered, leave and go elsewhere):
- Detailed Size Information
- Customer Reviews
- Shipping Gaurantees
- Minimum 14 Day Return/Refund policy and no re-stocking fees
- Beware: Sites that offer Free Shipping promotions may require re-stocking fees on returns
- Less than retail offers (via a % off or free shipping)
- On-Line Coupon Codes and promotions for an extra 15 - 25% off and/or Free Shipping (Google search on store name + “coupon”, e.g. “Costume Supercenter Coupon”)
- On-line Zoom features that allow you to see the Costume Details
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Returns and Exchanges
Be careful with Returns as most sites do not allow you to return items that have been opened, and many sites have Return exclusions. However, most sites do allow Returns and have flexible Exchange policies.
We paid special attention to Return/Exchange Policies during our reviews recommend you avoid these two popular sites. Neither site offers competitive enough pricing or a unique enough selection of costumes to justify the risk:
- HalloweenCostumes4Kids.com
- HalloweenCostumesOnLine.com
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And the Winners Are!
- Largest Selection: BuyCostumes.com
- With over 1,600 kids halloween costumes, they offer 20% more costumes than the closest competitor
- Most User-Friendly: CostumeSupercenter.com
- Best all-around user-friendly website (and the only site that thanked us for joining their mailing list)
- Most Detailed Information: BuyCostumes.com
- Significantly more detailed information about the measurements, fabrics, and details of the costumes are provided than on any other site
- Best All-Around Prices: BuyCostumes.com
- Most costumes are discounted off retail by 15 - 30%
Sales At A Glance: Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008
Loobalee as Sales At A Glance
Sep|25|2008
Here comes the Holidays! New Holiday and Winter lines are popping up all over this week. The only store that has introduced their new line at sale prices is Naartjie. Look on-line at Naartjie for specialty holiday items not available in stores.
If you’re in the market for Outerwear, don’t forget the pre-season sales are ending soon at Hanna Andersson and Garnet Hill.
We noticed that, in general, specialty Halloween lines were cut back by merchants this year — especially in Youth Sizes. Several stores offer Baby and Toddler Halloween apparel and costumes, but not in Little and Big Kid sizing. Here are some current sales on Halloween styles worth noting:
- Save 25% at Hanna Andersson
- “2 for” deals at BabyGap
- Save up to 40% on select costumes at Gymboree
- Save 25% and more at Old Navy Baby on costumes.
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Current Sales
- American Girl
- September’s Monthly Specials, where you can save 15 - 20% off selected current merchandise, are newly up on the site.
- Abercrombie Kids
- Fall sale items for boys and girls are 20 - 40% off. Finally, you’ll also see some deeper markdowns on Summer clothes for teens and tweens at 50 - 70% off.
- BabyGap & GapKids
- This weekend: Take an additionally 20% of sale merchandise - a lot of which is currently marked 40% off.
- Ends Today! Baby Sale at the Gap Outlet - September 12 - 25. Save 40% off already discounted prices.
- For a limited time, add any Piperlime item to your on-line order and receive free shipping on entire order.
- Register for the Gap Casting Call - and receive a special offer from Gap and Snapfish.
- Register to win a $3,000 collection from BabyGap Home plus $1,000 GapMaternity gift card. This looks like a fun collection, and valued higher than most other concurrently running sweepstakes from BabyGap competitors.
Absorba Boutique Today at RueLaLa.com
Loobalee as Around the Web
Sep|23|2008
Today’s boutique at RueLaLa.com is Absorba, where you shop from a large selection of Absorba designer items for baby and children at 1/2 the retail price. Hurry though, because RuLaLa’s boutiques stay open for just 2 days and usually sell out faster.
“Rue La La is… an exclusive, invitation-only online destination where Members discover premier-brand, private sale Boutiques, each open for just a brief window of time.” You can, however, get on their waiting list for an invite.
We’ve had fun watching the boutiques, which range of womens’ and men’s apparel and accessories, baby and children’s clothing, and home furnishings. If you’re in the market for great bargains on designer children’s clothing it’s worth signing up to catch the occasional featured boutique for babies and kids.
