Boyswear 
Example: Burberry dress, was £150, now £45 
Girlswear
Kidswear Collective is a brand new kids concept store based on the circular economy, with past collections (some new with labels) as well as pre-loved authnticated designerwear, sold up to 80% off their original retail price.
The items are all uniquely sourced by the founder, Shoshana Kazab, who’s been in the kidswear industry for decades.
We decided to catch up with Shosh over a coffee to find out more!
1. What inspired you to start Kidswear Collective?
I wanted to find a way to create something very special which could address our urgent need to reduce waste in the fashion industry, but also make available designer pieces at affordable prices.
As a PR in the children’s industry for over 15 years I am fortunate to have worked with many of the leading brands including Rachel Riley, Il Gufo and Marie-Chantal. I have also worked with many of the industry’s leading influencers whose children are impeccably dressed but who sadly only get to wear their clothes a few times before they grow out of them.
I approached a few of the influencers to see if they would be interested in me helping finding a new home for their children’s outgrown designer wear, through Kidswear Collective. And they all loved the idea!
2. Explain the business model!
We work with influencers who have their own page on the website. Having them involved means their followers can shop their favourite looks and also be alerted when new pieces arrive.
Influencers on the site include The Fashion Bug Blog, Masha The One, Sofia Gouveia and Deborah Brett. For example, when The Fashion Bug Blog’s pre-loved page went live, 8 out of her 11 items sold within the first hour.
It’s a real coming together of the industry, which is why we called it a ‘collective’ as it’s a great way for us to all support each other.
Shoshana Kazab
Anyone can sell on the site, however, all items must pass Kidswear Collective’s ‘8-step inspection process’ to ensure only the highest quality collections are stocked. Any unsold items are donated to the family charity, Little Village and we donate up to 5% of every item sold to the NSPCC.
Creating a first-hand experience for buyers was a key consideration for us. Every garment is cleaned, photographed and carefully stored until it is sold, before it is sent out in our luxe signature packaging.
We want shopping on Kidswear Collective to feel like a luxury experience, similar to what you’d get when shopping on sites like the The Outnet and Farfetch. When it arrives all beautifully packaged, it generates the same level of excitement as it would when shopping on any other luxury website.
3. Who is the typical Kidswear Collective customer?
What’s great about the website is that we really don’t have a typical customer, and it really does appeal to anyone. One of our favourite customers is a lady who lives up North and is a nurse for the NHS. One of her purchases was a Moncler coat which originally retailed at £550 and which she bought for £150. She was delighted as she said she could never normally afford to buy her son anything from Moncler but loves the quality and durability of it. That feels so rewarding!
Not everyone wants to buy pre-loved pieces, so it’s important that we have a selection of past season options too, which is more similar to an Outnet.com style business model.
4. What does sustainability mean to you?
We are passionate about extending the lifecycle of luxury clothes. Of the 80 billion pieces of clothing produced worldwide, it is estimated 75% of these will end up in landfill each year.
In Britain alone, we are expected to throw away 235 million items of clothing this year.
Shoshana Kazab
A popular hashtag currently trending is called #30wears (check it out on Instagram!) which is encouraging us to wear our garments at least 30 times. With a designer kids piece, we estimate that it is worn, on average, only six times before a child grows out of it. This means that there are four more potential owners for this one garment.
There has never been a better – or more important time – to change the way we shop, but without having to compromise on quality.
5. Favourite labels and why?
The most popular labels on the website are many of the mini-me brands such as Burberry, Gucci, Moncler and Dior as these labels are often prohibitively expensive for people on a modest income.
I love the fact that Kidswear Collective has democratised designer kids fashion, and that people who could previously never have afforded (or perhaps not wanted to spend so much on) designer items, have access to these incredible brands at a fraction of their original price.
But what I also love is that we are a platform for sharing new and up and coming brands to our customers, and this is largely driven by our influencers. One of our best-selling influencers is Emma & Alf (https://www.kidswearcollective.com/collections/emma-alf). Whenever we receive new stock from her it sells out, but she loves the more artisan and independent brands, some of which we hadn’t previously heard of which is really exciting for us.
6. Kidswear Collective in 5 years?
The trend in buying secondhand clothing is only going to increase.
We’ve built a solid foundation and are now are now in the process of adding more brands and sellers to the site. In addition, we have had some initial conversations with a group of investors, who are very experienced in the fashion-tech sector. It would be fair to say that we are quite excited about what the future holds!
7. Finally, who inspire you and why.
Julie Wainwright, the founder of The RealReal, a luxury second hand consignment store, online and with brick and mortar stores in Los Angeles and New York. I visited the store in SoHo in New York, it was incredible! Although the concept focuses mainly on women’s and men’s pieces, the edit is impeccable and you’d never know you were in a second hand store!
And of course Natalie Massenet, the founder of Net A Porter, a trailblazer at a time when everyone told her that no-one would ever shop for luxury clothing online.
Check out kidswearcollective.com