Styled to Succeed

Walk into any specialty toy store these days and you're bound to see a lot of exciting product for kids that falls outside the realm of toys, nestled happily next to the board games, Webkinz and Playmobil sets typically on display. As many retailers are discovering, a wide selection of these items—backpacks, kids' purses and overnight bags, lunch boxes, raincoats and boots, umbrellas, personalized cups and drink bottles, kids' jewelry and treasure boxes—appeals both to their young customers and to parents and grandparents looking for the perfect gift.

Sebastopol, Calif.-based Enchantmints is one such manufacturer. “For children to thrive and develop towards an inner sense of freedom they need to be surrounded by goodness, truth and beauty,” company founder Marke Levene, who has 25 years of experience developing products for kids, tells Playthings. The company offers multiple collections of music boxes, treasure boxes, decorated framed mirrors and tin lunch boxes—along with its paper dolls, classic games and folding playsets and play environments—all created with original artwork that aims to be beautiful, Levene says.

The company works with retailers to help them pick the most successful combination of products to stock, to ensure consistent sell-through. “Our music and treasure boxes continue to lead the way in toy stores,” Levene says. “We find as categories that Fairy, Ballerina and Horse products are relatively equal, with Horse being slightly dominant.” In addition, the company's new tin lunch boxes are hard to keep in stock, Levene says, as “sales have been so rapid.”

Niles, Ill.-based Kidorable is also a big player in the category. “We are solely dedicated to providing people with fun, practical, and unique children's accessories,” Nancy Gut, assistant operations manager, tells Playthings. “We steadfastly keep our focus on designing products that will touch a child's heart and bring a smile to their face.”

For 10 years the company has offered its unique collections of coordinating kids' accessories, including raincoats and boots, umbrellas, backpacks, purses, sunhats, knitwear and towels, plus hangers to match, and even bookends for kids' rooms. All products are original designs in 11 kid-appealing themes, such as Fireman, Ladybug, Fairy, Dinosaur, Butterfly and Frog.

“We want children to be able to express themselves through everyday products. We don't design a Fireman raincoat without thinking about the little boy that will eventually wear it. We want him to imagine that he is the hero,” Gut says, noting, “Historically, toy shops do very well with our products. Kids love it them. Moms and dads love them. You really can't go wrong.”

Kidorable's bestsellers include the Ladybug and Frog rainwear items, Gut says, with Fireman, Dinosaur, Butterfly and Lotus Flower themes also popular.

For Bazoongi Kids, Addison, Texas, “We have always been interested in making safe, fun and—where possible—educational products for the retail market,” Bob Muniz, vice president of operations, sales and marketing, tells Playthings. The company offers a wide variety of products that sell well in toy stores, including play tents and play structures, slumber bags, soft lunch boxes and backpacks; the later of these sell especially well during the back-to-school season. Of the play spaces, the Circus Tent, the company's most expensive product, is its all-time bestseller, while its Beautiful Butterfly Cottage and Froggy Fun Cottage are also solid sellers with girls and boys, respectively.

“We want to be innovative,” Muniz says. “We try to develop new product that will spark imagination and learning—not just for 'regular' or gifted kids, but for kids with special needs … We are interested in making products that contribute to the total well-being of our customer (the kids) while providing some fun and excitement at the same time.”

The company works with reps to teach them about the features of its various products, and how they might work best in different types of store environments, Muniz says. “We also try to help retailers by developing a range of merchandising and marketing aids to assist them at the point of purchase. We create assortments to help them market and we also have low minimums to make it easy to have a wide variety of product selection without breaking their bank accounts.”

For Chicago-based Sassafras Enterprises, children's accessories are both a growth area and a staple. The company began its foray into children's products in the 1980s. Now, it offers a wide variety of items, including kids backpacks and rolling luggage (both plush and vinyl versions), purses, lunch bags, pencil cases, umbrellas and collections of room decor—along with classic wooden toys, outdoor toys, gardening sets and a selection of baking kits for kids.

The company's constant reinvention is all about responding to the demands of the market, sales facilitator Chris Grzych tells Playthings, noting that its accessories categories remain strong, especially at specialty retail. Bestselling items include the Ellie the Elephant Sleepwalker, Grzych says, a brightly colored plush, elephant-shaped bag just big enough for kids ages 3 to 7 to pack for a night at Grandma's house.