Consumers' growing favor for stylish clothing has given rise to a rapid increase in fast fashion brands over the recent decade.
However, low-quality fast fashion apparel has also made consumers demand more from fashion brands. Especially in developed countries where birth rates are declining, parents are inclined to spend more on the clothes they put on their children to ensure comfort and safety.
According to market research reports, the global organic cotton children's apparel market is set to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% from US$4.4 billion in 2022 to US$8.8 billion in 2030. For their outstanding quality, Taiwan-based fashion startup Baby Baby Cool's products are carried in French department store Printemps.
It is the only local brand available at the Bellavita Shopping Center in Taiwan. Better yet, it has signed agreements with Japan's Hankyu Department Store and Isetan Department Store to sell Baby Baby CoolBaby Baby CoolBaby Baby CoolBaby Baby CoolBaby Baby CoolBaby Baby Cool apparel in their stores starting in the second quarter of 2024.
Erin Wei, founder and director of Baby Baby Cool, remarked that she established the company to help children develop a sense of taste and style at a young age by providing chic fashion for children as opposed to common kids' wear with cartoon illustrations on the market. When selecting fabrics with manufacturers, she found most of them are produced using chemicals in the process which children may absorb through their skin, harming their health and the environment. To protect the health of infants and kids, Wei decided to use organic cotton to make safe and stylish fashion for children.
Premium organic cotton combined with fashion design and craftsmanship
Founded in 2016 on the core concept of love and aesthetics, Baby Baby Cool aims to foster children's sense of taste and style through fashion design while safeguarding their health starting with the clothes they wear every day. The company insists on using GOTS-certified premium organic cotton and proven non-toxic metal accessories to produce pure, soft, and comfortable clothes that kids can confidently put on.
Applying the techniques and craftsmanship used for adult fashion to design children's wear, the Baby Baby Cool team goes beyond the boundaries of kids' apparel and creates a Taiwan-based fashion brand boasting both style and health. Featuring originality, the Baby Baby Cool team comprises professional advertisement stylists, prominent fashion designers, skilled pattern makers, and experienced seamstresses who work together to produce clothing entirely in-house.
Making use of proportions, structures, cuttings, simple yet vivid colors, and patching techniques to create interesting and innovative aesthetics, the team makes children's clothing featuring sleek lines, chic style, and simple colors. Their products with the unique style allow the world to see Taiwan's strength in children's clothing design.
Wei noted that there are kids' fashion brands on the market that highlight the use of organic cotton but they often lack design elements that appeal to consumers. Despite being a startup company, Baby Baby Cool uses special 3D tailoring generally used only for luxury fashion to deliver a more three-dimensional look through cutting, folding, shrinking, grabbing, and pinning techniques.
3D tailoring is a technique that leading international fashion brands have growingly adopted in recent years. Although everything about 3D tailoring is more costly and challenging from design to manufacturing compared to conventional practices, it can make clothes that better fit the body contour and structure. This is why Baby Baby Cool is enthusiastically embraced by the market.
Leveraging TTA's diverse services, Baby Baby Cool forays into worldwide markets
Adhering to the principles of making healthy and stylish clothing, in 2017, a Baby Baby Cool store opened at the Bellavita Shopping Center, a high-end department store in Taiwan, followed by another one in the French department store Printemps in 2018. It began to expand into overseas markets including Hong Kong and China in 2019.
However, after the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Baby Baby Cool shifted its focus back home and started to make efforts toward an e-commerce platform, reaching out to potential customers via multiple channels. After it was introduced to Sparklabs Taiwan, a Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) accelerator partner, it received guidance that significantly helped it improve operation efficiency and rethink its management and marketing strategies.
According to Wei, when Baby Baby Cool was first founded, a decision was made to tackle the most difficult sales channel. It took a while to get in touch with Bellavita but Baby Baby Cool was able to prove that their product quality is on par with hundred-year-old brands'.
From the first presentation to the final product introduction conducted in a way similar to museum exhibits, Baby Baby Cool successfully convinced Bellavita to carry its brand. This helped considerably in Baby Baby Cool's subsequent business development.
The startup faced the same challenge in 2023 again when it engaged in talks with Japan's Hankyu Department Store and Isetan Department Store. Wei was happy to win recognition from the two Japanese department stores. The availability of Baby Baby Cool clothes at their stores starting second-quarter 2024 will allow more visibility on Taiwan-based brands.
Undertaking all-out efforts toward overseas market expansion starting this year, aside from Japan, Baby Baby Cool will shift focus back to France again in 2025. As part of the efforts, it will more actively participate in TTA's events in hopes of leveraging TTA's global visibility and network to find more partners and investors that will enable Taiwan-based brands to keep shining on the global stage.
(Editor's note: The original article was published in TTA Magazine Issue 14. Read more startup stories in TTA Magazines.)
Baby Baby Cool founder and director Erin Wei