Big-Ticket Beauty Items for Children : Fashion: Several leading cosmetic houses are hoping hair-care and skin-care products for children will prove to be their new growth industry.
Take a peek at the whimsical, pre-Nintendo world of a child, full of fireflies and mud pies and . . . cosmetics?
We’re not exactly talking mascara and rouge, but, rather, grooming products. Skin and hair-care items produced and packaged to appeal to customers under 12 are the newest way of target-marketing personal cleanliness for kids.
Until now, 20-year-old Johnson & Johnson’s No More Tears shampoo has had the kiddie hair-care market cornered, and Tinkerbell play cosmetics, founded 38 years ago by Tom Fields, has been the leading name in kiddie-safe nail polish, fragrances and so on.
But now, with yuppies attempting to elevate parenting to an art form, giant cosmetics companies like Estee Lauder and French couturiers including Hubert de Givenchy are putting their names on luxury grooming lines for children, gambling that parents will be willing to spend extra dollars for pint-sized prestige items.
Most of the new children’s toiletries serve basic hair-care and skin-care needs. One of the newest labels is Kidsmetics, with botanically based talcs, moisturizers and skin cleansers ranging in price from $7 for 2.5 ounces of oat-flour talc to $16.50 for 4 ounces of moisturizing cream.
Another new label is Kids William and Clarissa, also with botanically based products, priced from about $2.50 to $10. Revlon’s Care for Kids collection offers bath and hair-care products for infants and children. Among the items are tiny emery boards priced at about $1.46 for a package of eight, available at Thrifty.
Luxury-labeled fragrances for youngsters include Tartine et Chocolat by Givenchy, priced at $30 for 3.3 ounces, and Bonpoint, $55 for 6.8 ounces, by Annick Goutal. Both are available at I. Magnin.
Estee Lauder’s first entry in the youth market is Baby Block, a waterproof sunscreen with a “30 plus” sun protection factor (SPF). Launched in May, the product contains no PABA (para-aminobenzoic), an ingredient in some sunscreens that some people are allergic to; the product is promoted as “irritant free.”
Other kiddie lines also offer a sunscreen product, ranging in price from $6.49 for Kids William and Clarissa to $18.50 for the Lauder label. Of course, companies like Coppertone have been making sunscreen products for children for some time. (Many of these products stipulate use for children over the age of 6 months. Doctors advise that babies 6 months or younger stay out of the sun.)
Kids William and Clarissa, whose upscale products are carried at I. Magnin, is debuting a lower-priced line of grooming products called Kids at supermarkets and drug stores. Prices average $3.99 per product. The new line is an attempt to woo a broader market, says Mary Pathastings, the company’s senior marketing manager.
Are these grooming products safe enough for children under 12? Most probably are, says Heinz Eiermann, director of color and cosmetics for the Food and Drug Administration. But parents who are concerned should check with their pediatrician.
Marketing strategies vary considerably. Tinkerbell products, for example, are sold in toy departments but are marketed for adult buyers. “Since our line is a gift line, we advertise strictly to parents,” explains Martin Greenfield, the company’s president and co-founder.
Kidsmetics also markets primarily to parents, says Robin Merlo, who founded the company with partner Michael Lescander. But the company’s Tinker Toy-inspired display case, says Merlo, undoubtedly catches kids’ eyes. The products are sold in children’s clothing departments as well as at adult cosmetics display counter.
Despite the product’s name recognition, Tinkerbell president Greenfield says there are no plans to expand the line to include hair-care and skin-care products.
“My own feeling is that they may be sorry they got in it,” he says of competitors launching such products. “I’m not sure there is a major market for prestige products for boys and girls--at least for Middle America.
“I see no reason why many parents would spend more money for expensive brands because it’s not important to children. A little girl is not going to say ‘Oh great, Daddy bought me a bottle of shampoo.’ As far as I can tell, parents are buying it for their own vicarious pleasure.”
Some parents are enjoying the products on more than a vicarious level, says Addie Casper, manager of Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills’ children’s department.
“Many are buying it for themselves,” says Casper of the store’s private-label collection of hair-care and skin-care products. “They like the purity of the product for themselves as much as they do for their children,” Casper adds.
Although some parents might be put off by the conspicuous consumption of it all, few could argue against its most positive outcome: tempting kids to stay clean.
“The purpose is to teach them healthy habits,” Merlo insists. “Caring for your hair and skin--just like the way you care for your body when you exercise and eat properly--not only promotes a positive appearance but increases self-esteem.”
