Dressing Up for Halloween

This Halloween, the trendiest costumes are coming back from the dead. Literally.

According to NRF‘s 2011 Top Costumes survey conducted by BIGresearch, more than 2.6 million men, women and children plan to dress as zombies this Halloween. Due to the popularity of the characters in recent books, television shows and video games, zombie costumes jumped from number 22 in 2010 to number nine on children’s top costume list.

The survey finds Americans are expected to spend $2.5 billion on Halloween costumes this year, forking over $1 billion on children’s costumes, $1.2 billion on adult costumes -and $310 million on pet costumes. The average person is spending $72.31 on Halloween candy, costumes and décor, bringing total spending to $6.86 billion -the most in the survey’s nine-year history.

“Halloween isn’t just for kids anymore, as adults are just as likely to get in on the fun with clever, unique costumes. With Halloween falling on a Monday, restaurants and retailers will benefit as many Americans celebrate all weekend long.”

– Matthew Shay, NRF president/CEO

Top 10 Children’s Costumes. Even though Halloween is at the end of the month, over 46 million children are already planning their specific costume. As in previous years, traditional costumes still rank as consumer favorites:

Princess
Witch
Spiderman
Pirate
Pumpkin
Fairy
Action/Superhero
Batman & Vampire tie
Zombies & Disney Princess tie
Star Wars Characters

Man’s best friend is also getting into the Halloween spirit this year. Pet owners love to dress their pets like pumpkins, devils and hot dogs. Bees, fancy bows and ghosts are popular, too.

-NRF’s 2011 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, is designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the Halloween season. The poll of 9,374 consumers was conducted from September 6-14, 2011.

“I Want to Wear My Western Chief Kids Gear!”

Autumn brings rainy days and cooler weather, so kids need boots, umbrellas and slippers in the closet.

Western Chief Kids, the industry-leading designer of children’s rain gear brought to you by the Washington Shoe Company, offers a wide range of colors, patterns and styles in rain boots, umbrellas and raincoats. From special edition rain gear featuring Hello Kitty, Thomas the Tank Engine, Batman and Superman to iconic favorites such as the ladybug, frog and firefighter, Western Chief Kids offers something to please even the pickiest youngster. Most patterns are available in umbrellas, rain boots and raincoats to create a complete matching outfit on rainy days, too.

For babies and toddlers, autumn months bring cold weather; Washington Shoe Company’s brand, Staheekum, keeps their tiny feet warm with soft, cuddly sheepskin slippers, available in sizes to fit infants from 0-18 months.

What’s the MeQ™?

Popular actor Ashton Kutcher is one of the very first celebrities to reach one million followers on Twitter. He ranks among the top 10 celebrities liked by fans of Kmart, Oral-B, Sega, Save the Children and Emilio Pucci. Should all these brands rush out and hire him as their spokesperson?

“Not necessarily,” says Sree Nagarajan, founder and CEO Colligent, a technology company specializing in social network data collection and research.

“For brands to make serious marketing decisions using this data, the insight needs to evolve beyond who is popular to who is also relevant for the brand. It is important to have mutual affinity between fans of the brand and the celebrity.”

Colligent -the name stands for “collectively intelligent”– recently released a breakthrough in measuring the strength of connection between fans, brands, media and entertainment entities: MeQ™, or Mutual Engagement Quotient, measures the level and strength of engagement between two entities. The company cross-compares the Facebook “likes,” Twitter “follows” and other engagement behaviors of more than 270 million consumers with an ever-expanding database of 36,000 music, TV, radio, movies, sports, magazines and brands. This information is used to create the MeQ score for every entity tracked in the Colligent system, enabling companies to identify the strongest business building opportunities via brand partnerships, sponsorships, media and communication programs and other wide ranging marketing and promotion activities. “We think of MeQ as measuring the mutual love between two entities, or the ‘I like you, you like me factor,'” Sree says. “Our goal is to help companies identify those relationships where mutual love is the strongest. With this information we believe companies can grow their brand franchises through more successful partnering and increase the success rate of their initiatives.”

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Woolly Boo

Woolly Boo essential baby products make life easier for parents and heavenly for baby.

Whether it’s naptime or nighttime, Woolly Boo® Infant Sleep Sacks wrap little ones in luxury. Made with organic wool filler, which is layered with un-dyed natural cotton for breathable, hypoallergenic softness. A single color cotton fabric is sewn inside, followed by an outside fabric -usually a durable, easy-to-maintain damask- and it is finished off with a zipper. All seams are protected so that they do not irritate a child’s skin. Can also act as a wearable blanket.

The best way to maintain the Woolly Boo® Infant Sleep Sack is by exposure to fresh air. Spot clean. Air dry flat.

“We do not recommend washing wool unless it is absolutely necessary, as traditional detergents strip away many of the natural benefits of wool. In extreme cases, soak the product in cold water with a capful of white vinegar or use a cleaning solution that is specifically designed for wool. You can also wash it in a machine that has a specialized ‘wool’ or ‘delicate’ cycle.”

Woolly Boo also makes Crib Bumper Pads, Toddler Travel Pillows and Crib Mattress Pads/Toddler Pillow/Comforter Sets, too. All available in cotton Damask, cotton twill and cotton flannel in prints and solid colors.

826 National T-shirt Design Challenge

Threadless challenges its community to create an inspirational t-shirt design around the mission of exploring students’ creativity and improving their writing skills.

Since its founding in San Francisco in 2002 by award-winning author Dave Eggers and educator Ninive Calegari, 826 National has sparked students’ imaginations. The nonprofit, which runs centers in Ann Arbor, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC, offers a variety of inventive programs that provide under-resourced students ages six to 18 with opportunities to explore their creativity and improve their writing skills.

Each of the centers operates a street-front retail store filled with unusual products, entertaining signage and books for sale. The organization believes every future superhero, secret agent, space traveler and pirate has something in common: a good education and strong writing skills. To create awareness of its mission, 826 National is partnering with international community-driven company Threadless to challenge the public and Threadless’ community of 1.5 million artists to design a t-shirt for the organization.

For the design challenge, artists are asked to create a design inspired by 826 National’s mission of exploring students’ creativity and improving their writing skills with type-based tees encouraged. For inspiration, artists can check out the organization’s gallery featuring the best student writing from workshops, field trips and tutoring sessions from 826 centers across the country.

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Perry Winkles Kids

Toronto, Canada-based Perry Winkles Kids specializes in hand-smocked dresses and dressy boy outfits in traditional designs with a modern flair.

Inspired by the talented sewing skills of their own grandmothers, mother and daughter team Graciela and Maria Montero started Perry Winkles Kids in 2006. Originally from Peru, they moved to Canada in 1988. Superior quality, ease of care product made with only 100% petal-soft pima cotton and finished with thoughtful details like hand-smocking and hand-embroidery. The Spring/Summer 2012 Collection includes delicate and fresh prints for the little girls and new styles for baby boys, including new Christening wear and cotton cardigans.

Created with the specialty retailer in mind, with wholesale prices ranging from $30 to $37 for dresses and boy outfits. The company manufactures its entire line in Peru. Perry Winkles Kids is donating a portion of sales to non-profit Kiva, an organization that works with microfinance institutions on five continents to provide loans to people without access to traditional banking systems. and wanted to create a business that would also benefit their home country.

Get to know Sara Sara

Los Angeles, CA-based G.B.Y.M., Inc. is a popular family-owned children’s apparel business

known more widely as Sara Sara –a company designing fashion-forward, sensible, unique dresses and sportswear for girls. Wayne Lee is director of marketing; his sister Amy Chang works as head designer for all labels –Hannah Banana, Baby Sara, The Collection by Sara Sara and Truly Me– with designated designers for each label. Amy’s husband Steve leads the production effort.

We catch up with Wayne and Amy, as they give us an inside look into Sara Sara.

Baby Sara

What does your company name, G.B.Y.M., Inc. stand for?

Contrary to popular belief, it is not Go Bother Your Mom … G.B.Y.M. stands for God Bless You & Me. We have been blessed for the last 20-some-odd years with steady growth in sales and customer base. We do know it has to do with keeping the ‘customers first’ mentality.

Hannah Banana

In your opinion, do girls still love wearing dresses?

There are always events that girls will want to dress up for. Every girl wants to experience them looking her best! No matter the time, the season or the state of our industry, girls will always be girls, so dresses will never be out of fashion.

The Collection by Sara Sara

What’s selling for you? How do you accommodate market trends in your designs?

We try to give our customers the latest fashion, designed with kids in mind. We want our kids to be fashionable, sensible and comfortable. For the coming spring and summer, fashion is trending toward long dresses, wide-legged pants with crop tops … bold prints, ditsy prints and a lot of bright colors; stripes are a must; romantic looks and lace, just to name a few. It’s a certain ‘look’ we achieve while still being age-appropriate and kid-friendly. You’ll see a lot of these elements in our designs this season!

Truly Me

What’s next?

Lately, we’ve received so many requests and proposals from around the world, especially from Asia. Representatives from China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan are requesting exclusive contracts and we are evaluating them as we speak. We’ve worked with foreign countries for some years now, but we think we can really hit those foreign markets with a bang.

New company helps retailers navigate internet marketing

Worldwide retail executives struggling to sort out what is current and what is outdated best-practices for

e-marketing, e-commerce, online advertising, sales and marketing, web and design can now access a compilation of tools for google advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), global PR services, and resource directories –all at www.globalb2bcommunications.com.

The high return-on-investment and low risk tools and services compiled on Global B2B Communications are geared to help B2B company executives and other online retailers responsible for cultivating worldwide lead generation.

The resources on this site are based on a very sophisticated understanding of natural language processing, how today’s worldwide search engines really work and how companies can combine state-of-the-art artificial intelligence tools for competitive web analysis with Google AdWord campaigns and Global PR tactics to quickly reap significant ROI from their online marketing investments.”

-Amy Munice, founder

The launch of this website and its companion b2c site slated for future release, marks the culmination of a year+ search to find the best-in-class internet marketing tools. Amy, also president of 20+ year-old PR company ALM Communications Inc., specializes in worldwide PR campaigns with pre-set guarantees and deliverables. Headquartered in Chicago, IL, USA, ALM works with a wide network of technical and trade magazine editors across the globe.

Every day I am visiting websites with long laundry lists of the same keywords on every page -ostensibly because the company is ‘optimizing’ each webpage for every one of these dozen or so terms, not realizing the diminishing returns of that type approach. These signs of out-of-date web marketing approaches are ubiquitous -worldwide.”

All inquiries can be directed to info@almcommunications.com.

At Home in the Hamptons

Walk down Main Street in Westhampton Beach, NY and you’re likely to run into locals who know Elyse Richman.

Elyse owns and operates not just one, but three shops there –Shock, a women’s clothing store, Baby Shock / Shock Kids and Shock Ice Cream. Her very loyal customer base -mothers and grandmothers who know her women’s store- shop Baby Shock / Shock Kids for their children’s needs or baby gifts, naturally. Elyse says, “When he was a baby, I used to keep my son Maxwell in a crib at my store window. Everyone on Main Street has watched him grow up.” Now that Maxwell is 11 years old, he’s outgrown the store. In the years to come, Elyse hopes to secure approval for a complete renovation and expansion of Baby Shock / Shock Kids and double its size.

I am very lucky to live and work and ‘shop at Shock’ in Westhampton Beach. My commute is less than three minutes. The people in the Hamptons are out here to get away from their worries and harried lives. The style of Baby Shock / Shock Kids reflects the casual, beachy lifestyle here. We really don’t carry any serious clothing.”

Baby Shock / Shock Kids is a 1,000-square-foot space. Attached to it is Shock Ice Cream. “We have the best ice cream store a kid of any age could imagine; it has over 60 flavors of ice cream, Italian ice and gelato along with Dippin’ Dots and soft serve. We do birthday parties there,” Elyse says. Baby Shock / Shock Kids is packed full of merchandise: layette to size 7 for boys and layette to size 14 for girls – collections from Baby Steps; ArtWalk Baby sweaters and blankets; Mish Mish, Lemon t-shirts, Signorelli, Charlie Rocket, Tickle Toes, Trumpette, Twigs and Twirls, Lily Pulitzer, Twirley Girl, Flowers By Zoe, So Nikki, E Land, Kids Republic, Angel Dear, Skivvy Doodles, Books to Bed and more. Zutano is a staple; the line is the first Elyse buys for the store back in March 2000, at her first ENK Children’s Club trade show in New York. “Most people visiting my store come in just to take a look around. I believe in offering my customers a variety to choose from,” she says.

Through the years, all three businesses have been voted to the “best” lists of Dan’s Papers -a cherished magazine covering life in the Hamptons since 1960- and Hamptons Magazine, a glossy go-to-30+-year publication. The Shock brand adds to the friendly personality of Westhampton Beach by supporting local charities and community events like the local soup kitchen fundraiser and Shock’s own annual coast drive, collecting hundreds of coats that are donated to the needy.

Business in the Hamptons can be a bit challenging. We are a year-round business in a resort community. Traffic slows down in the off season, but Baby Shock / Shock Kids stays open every day, all year.”

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Stanford Distributing Corporation Celebrates 50 Years

“Having been a member of Baby News for 23 years, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to succeed in the baby business for the long haul. The group is willing to open up their operations to others and share what makes them successful, or even share their failures. There are a variety of store sizes, so we get differing perspectives from all types of demographics. Merchandise is also available from a shared warehouse, but not restricted to purchasing from the warehouse like some franchise operations.”

– Richard Woo, Citikids Baby News Store, San Francisco, CA

Stanford Distributing Corporation, the main business arm of Baby News, an association of independently owned children’s retailers, celebrates 50 years of business this year. “There are many difficult issues confronting retailing today,” says president Roger O’Callaghan. “However, if you have good people who recognize the value of ‘we’, you can adjust to the bad times. The Baby News family has always been willing to take some chances and change with the times, but the communality of the business and the willingness to work together remains constant.” Roger tells us more about this unique association and its benefits for retailers.

What’s the greatest way an association like Baby News helps a retailer in this economy?

We believe that specialty stores now need to work together to find exclusive products, get better pricing and develop an expertise on juvenile products that will separate them from the mass merchants. Although Baby News stores pay fees to be part of the association, they all benefit from the partnership they have formed together. All independent stores should consider joining one of the major retail groups in our industry.

What one membership advantage do you find is universal among all Baby News stores?

The secret of the growth of the business has been the interaction of the Baby News store owners. Stanford Distributing was created by the stores to service the association of stores. BNO Inc. was created by the stores to answer the need for an online registry and fulfillment. The registry has over 30,000 items with pictures and descriptions due to the stores’ involvement in helping to create the registry program from scratch.

Baby News considers itself a family of stores, which shares many things, from ideas, store volumes and merchandise. The Baby News catalog is a creation of the individual stores in bringing the best products to customers. Yes, nearly all of the growth of Baby News has been from personal contact with existing Baby News store owners.

How do potential retailers find out about Baby News?

Retailers can find out more about our association by visiting BabyNews.com, our informational website. Meetings are held at trade shows and independently. Stores communicate collectively through online services and the corporation sends out newsletters about business promotions and changes.

Congratulations, Roger and everyone in the Baby News family!