In this paper we address the emergence of the children's fashion market as part of a broader concern to explore the geographies of children's consumption. We argue that this market is significant in that it offers some theoretical purchase on new forms of commodification, on shifting sourcing and supply relations, and on the varied spatialities of retailing more broadly. We discuss the ways in which children's fashioned bodies act as a site through which they explore and express their self-identity. We focus specifically on the ways in which knowledge, branding, and temporality are shaping this emergent sector, and argue that the speeding up of the industry's ‘clocktimes’ and the spreading out of design impulses are generating particular sets of problems for the industry. We conclude with some reflections on the ways in which children's consumption might be more fully theorised as the combined product of familial relations, social network effects, individualisation, and market structures.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AitkinS, 2000, “Play, rights and borders: gender-bound parents and the social construction of children”, in Children's Geographies Eds HollowaySValentineG (Routledge, London), pp 119–138
2.
AllisonA, 2003, “Portable monsters and commodity cuteness: Pokemon as Japan's new global power”Postcolonial Studies6381–395
BourdieuP, 1993The Field of Cultural Production (Polity Press, Cambridge)
6.
BuchnerPKrugerHdu BoisR, 1994, “Growing up as a modern child in Western Europe”Sociological Studies of Children61–23
7.
BuckinghamDSefton-GreenJ, 2003, “Gotta catch 'em all: structure, agency and pedagogy in children's media culture”Media, Culture and Society25379–399
8.
ButlerJ, 1990Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (Routledge, London)
9.
CassellJJenkinsH, 1999From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)
10.
ClarkeA, 2000, “Mother swapping: the trafficking of nearly new children's wear”, in Commercial Cultures: Economies, Practices, Spaces Eds JacksonPLoweMMillerDMortF (Berg, Oxford), pp 85–100
11.
CohenN, 1999, “The childhood snatchers”New Statesman128 page 8
12.
CookD, 2002Symbolic Childhood (Peter Land, New York)
13.
CookD, 2004a, “Beyond either/or”Journal of Consumer Culture4147–153
14.
CookD, 2004bThe Commodification of Childhood: The Children's Clothing Industry and the Rise of the Child Consumer (Duke University Press, Durham, NC)
15.
CookDKaiserS, 2004, “Betwixt and be tween: age ambiguity and the sexualization of the female consuming subject”Journal of Consumer Culture4203–227
16.
CraikJ, 1994The Face of Fashion (Routledge, London)
17.
CreweL, 2004, “A thread lost in an endless labyrinth: unravelling fashion's commodity chains”, in Geographies of Commodity Chains Eds HughesAReimerS (Routledge, London), pp 195–214
18.
CreweLDavenportE, 1992, “The puppet show: buyer–supplier relations in retailing”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series17183–197
19.
CreweLForsterZ, 1993, “Markets, design, and local agglomeration: the role of the small independent retailer in the workings of the fashion system”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space11213–229
20.
CreweLGoodrumA, 2000, “Fashioning new forms of consumption: the case of Paul Smith”, in Fashion Cultures Eds BruzziSChurch-GibsonP (Routledge, London) pp 25–48
21.
CreweLGregsonN, 1998, “Tales of the unexpected: exploring car boot sales as marginal spaces of consumption”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series2339–53
22.
CreweLLoweM, 1995, “Gap on the map: towards a geography of consumption and identity”Environment and Planning A271877–1898
23.
CreweLLeyshonAThriftNFrenchSWebbP, 2005, “Otaku fever? The construction of enthusiasm and the co-production of markets”, paper presented at the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers annual conference, London, 1 September; copy available from authors, School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham
24.
CrossG, 2004The Cute and the Cool: Wondrous Innocence and Modern American Children's Culture (Oxford University Press, New York)
25.
EntwistleJ, 2000The Fashioned Body (Polity Press, Cambridge)
26.
FoekA, 1997, “Sweatshop Barbie: dynamics factory in Thailand”The Humanitarist January/February
27.
GagenE, 2000, “Playing the part: performing gender in America's playgrounds”, in Children's Geographies Eds HollowaySValentineG (Routledge, London), pp 213–229
28.
GarotRKatzJ, 2003, “Provocative looks: gang appearance and dress codes in an inner city alternative school”Ethnography4430–455
29.
GhemawatPNuenoJ, 2003, “Zara: fast fashion”Harvard Business Review 23 June, Multimedia Case 9-703-416
30.
GilbertD, 2000, “Urban outfitting: the city and the spaces of fashion culture”, in Fashion Cultures Eds BruzziSChurch-GibsonP (Routledge, London) pp 7–24
31.
GirouxH, 2000Stealing Innocence: Corporate Culture's War on Children (Palgrave, New York)
32.
GregsonNCreweL, 2003Second Hand Cultures (Berg, Oxford)
33.
GregsonNBrooksKCreweL, 2001, “Bjorn again? Rethinking 70s revivalism through the reappropriation of 70s clothing”Fashion Theory53–28
34.
GregsonNCreweLBrooksK, 2002, “Shopping, space, and practice”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space20597–617
35.
GunterBFurnamA, 1998Children as Consumers (Routledge, London)
36.
HoodSKellyPMayallBOakleyA, 1996Children, Parents and RiskSocial Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, London
37.
Hood-WilliamsJ, 1990, “Patriarchy for children”, in Childhood, Youth and Social Change Eds ChisholmLBuchnerPKrugerHHBrownP (Falmer Press, Brighton, Sussex), pp 155–171
38.
ITN, 2005, “Winslett named top yummy mummy”, ITN News feature, 6 September, archive reference 467076
KlineSDyer-WithefordNde PeuterG, 2003Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture and Marketing (McGill Queens University Press, Montreal)
44.
LangerB, 2002, “Commodified enchantment: children and consumer capitalism”Thesis Eleven6967–81
45.
LangerB, 2004, “The business of branded enchantment: ambivalence and disjuncture in the children's culture industry”Journal of Consumer Culture4251–277
MartensLSouthertonDScottS, 2004, “Bringing children (and parents) into the sociology of consumption”Journal of Consumer Culture4155–182
48.
MillerD, 1998A Theory of Shopping (Polity Press, Cambridge)
49.
Mintel, Mintel International Group Ltd, 18-19 Long Lane, London EC1A 9PL1999Schoolwear Retailing2001Childrenswear Retailing
50.
Mintel, Mintel International Group Ltd, 18-19 Long Lane, London EC1A 9PL1999Schoolwear Retailing2002Schoolwear
51.
Mintel, Mintel International Group Ltd, 18–19 Long Lane, London EC1A 9PL 1999 Schoolwear Retailing2004Children's Clothing Mort F, 1996 Cultures of Consumption (Routledge, London)
O'SickeyI, 1994, “Barbie magazine and the aesthetic commodification of girls' bodies”, in On Fashion Eds BenstockSFerrisS (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ) pp 21–40
ROAR, 2002, “Why designer labels are on their way out” by T Carey for Right of Admission Reserved, 29 October, http://www.roar.org.uk/press33.htm
58.
RogersM, 1999Barbie Culture (Sage, London)
59.
RushkoffD, 1997Children of Chaos (Flamingo, London)
60.
RushkoffD, 2000Coercion (Little, Brown, London)
61.
RussellRTylerM, 2002, “Thank heaven for little girls: girl heaven and the commercial context of feminine childhood”Sociology36619–637
62.
ScottSJacksonSBackett-MilburnKHardenJ, 2000The Impact of Risk and Parental Risk Anxiety on the Everyday Worlds of Children ESRC Final Report; copy available from S Scott, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Stirling, Stirling
63.
SeabrookJ, 1985Landscapes of Poverty (Blackwell, Oxford)
64.
SeiterE, 1993Sold Separately: Parents and Children in Consumer Cultures (Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ)
65.
ThriftN, 2003, “Closer to the machine? Intelligent environments, new forms of possession and the rise of the supertoy”Cultural Geographies10389–407
66.
Verdict, Verdict Research Limited, Charles House, 108–110 Finchley Road, London NW3 5JJ1999Childrenswear
67.
Verdict, Verdict Research Limited, Charles House, 2000aRetail Demographics
68.
Verdict, Verdict Research Limited, Charles House, 2000bThe High Street
69.
ZelizerV, 1985Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ)
70.
ZelizerV, 2002, “Kids and commerce”Childhood9375–396
