Hi
I have just been having a look at your site having found you on Twitter. I started a company about 18 months ago specialising in First Communion dresses as a result of the problems my daughter had sourcing items for this event for my granddaughters. Since then we have expanded into Christening Wear, Bridesmaids, Flower girl dresses and as my granddaughters are now 10 and 11, we have a particular interest in what the Americans call Tween wear, for the 7 - 12/13 year olds. We also know from our customers that they find it very difficult to find age appropriate dresses particularly for special occasions. Leggings and t shirts can be had in any supermarket but a smart dress is more of a problem. Many of the shops are for birth to 8 years as is your magazine, what about the Tweens? We are trying to address this gap by stocking fashionable special occasion dresses (if they are not approved by my granddaughters and their friends, we don't stock them) have a look at our website www.littlejemsmanchester.co.uk. Interestingly, quite a few of the big names are introducing Tween ranges, M&S have just brought out a new range as have Uttam London with their Yumi Girls (we have some on order) but we are also putting together our own collection as suitable styles are difficult to find. The kids want trendy styles, not what they perceive to be baby styles made in bigger sizes. Teenage wear that is suitable for a 16/17 year old is often not appropriate for an 8 year old although some of the 8 year olds we have fitted for a First Communion dress are big enough to fit in small adult clothes. At the other end of the scale, we have had some quite tiny 8 year old girls who want the trendy dresses but only fit into perhaps an age 6/7, the styles of which they see as being "babyish".
What are your views on this? From the comments above, it seems you have encountered this problem already.
