LOS ANGELES — Devotees of surf lifestyle brands Quiksilver and Roxy may now outfit their babies in the brands’ famous boardshorts and hibiscus-print dresses.
Quiksilver Inc., based in Costa Mesa, Calif., has extended its toddler lines, Roxy’s Teenie Wahini and Quiksilver Boys, to include infants’ sizes.
“We’ve been getting a lot of call-outs for infant [apparel], and we thought, why not?” said Anne Kelly, national sales manager for Roxy’s kids’ collection. “We were thinking, ‘If the brands are already really successful, how can we make them even more successful?'”
The idea was a long time coming.
“We’ve been talking about doing infants’ for a few years,” said Dave Rosenberger, vice president of sales for Quiksilver’s boys’ division. “I think the bottom line was, our brand has been around for 30-some years and it’s been through a few generations. You look around, you see all these fathers aged 28 to 40. It seemed like a really natural product extension.”
The subcollections, Roxy Teenie Wahini Infant and Quiksilver Infant, shrink classic surf-inspired Quiksilver and Roxy designs, including boardshorts and logo zip-up hoodies, to sizes 12, 18 and 24.
Roxy has been shifting the age of its target customer to 17 from 15 for the last three years, said Randy Hild, Roxy’s senior vice president of global marketing, who acknowledged that introducing an infants’ line while trying to age up a brand “can drag you down. It’s a very delicate balance.”
Still, company executives said requests from retailers for an infant line were too numerous to ignore.
“We have had significant call-out to add this size range in our line, so the retailers are very excited to have it,” Kelly said.
The two brands work independently of each other, but launched the infants’ lines simultaneously. The design team at Roxy modifies looks it creates for toddlers to infants’ specifications, removing any glitter or rhinestones and retooling the fit. At Quiksilver, the designs are more closely linked to what’s happening in the men’s wear category. “We start with men’s styles…and keep taking it down,” Rosenberger said. “The closer we get to infant, the smaller the number of [stockkeeping units], but you can trace it back to the men’s line.”
Related Articles
You May Also Like
The collection wholesales from $9 to $17 an item. Bestsellers at Roxy include roll-cuff jeans, yoga-style warm-up suits and camouflage pants. Boardshorts and zip-up hoodies top the list at Quiksilver. Shrunken-down styles are the strongest sellers, but the dominant colors in the Roxy line are classic little girl — pastel pink and turquoise.
Monica Paull, director of communications at Roxy, added that the line’s reasonable prices had hit big with shoppers. “The price points on items is so high on brands like True Religion and Marc Jacobs,” she said. “This packs the same punch [as premium brands], but the price makes it more appealing.”
Initial distribution of the infants’ lines for holiday 2006 was kept small. “The collections shipped to 40 Macy’s and Nordstrom stores in December, and about 50 to 60 doors with core specialty surf shops, plus a few better children’s boutiques,” Rosenberger said.
A full launch of both lines is scheduled for this spring.
“Our brand is so aspirational, and that goes into the kids’ wear, too,” Kelly said. “There’s a certain novelty to having your kid look like a little surfer.”