Fashion retailers rebalancing childrenswear’s gender mix

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jun 22, 2022

In 2022, the global childrenswear market is expected to be worth $263 billion, and is forecast to grow 3% annually over the next four years. A bright outlook that is leading fast-fashion retailers to devote more room in their assortments to children's fashion.

According to Retviews by Lectra, which analyses how product assortment is changing on fashion labels’ e-shops, the share of children's collections within the overall range on offer at various fast-fashion retailers increased from 35% to 40% between 2021 and 2022. At Zara, owned by Spanish group Inditex, childrenswear accounted for 35% of the assortment in 2021, and grew to 45% in early 2022. The same holds for Japanese retailer Uniqlo, owned by the Fast-Retailing group, where the share of childrenswear in the assortment grew from 25% in 2021 to 30% in 2022.

These retailers are mainly targeting their products at the Alpha generation - children born after 2010 who will be 20 in 2030 - and are rebalancing their range by giving more space to boys’ products. Until now, products for girls had the lion’s share of the range. A change that is part of an effort to be more inclusive, as the assortment of unisex products is growing too.

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In 2021, 20% of Zara’s overall assortment was devoted to girls aged 3 to 15, and less than 15% to boys the same age, but in 2022 the gender mix was balanced at 17% each.

The phenomenon is even more evident at another Spanish fashion retailer, Mango. In 2021, more than 25% of its total assortment was devoted to girls, compared with 15% for boys. A year later, the share is 18% for girls and 17% for boys.

Another finding was that, similarly to what is occurring in the adult market, the average price of children’s products increased in Q1 2022. At Gap, the increase over Q1 2021 was 7%, with an average price of €30. In the same period, prices jumped by as much as 14% at Uniqlo, for an average price of €14, while price increases at Zara and Mango were 9% and 5% respectively.