Back to Cool
Alicia Melchor, manager of Limited Too in the Glendale Galleria, rarely hears the sort of battles over style and price that once echoed throughout dressing rooms every August as mothers and daughters partook in the annual ritual of back-to-school shopping. The reason? Moms aren’t there anymore. Or else they’ve caved in.
“Kids have their own money to shop with,” Melchor explained on a recent morning after wrapping up a $250 sale to two sisters, ages 10 and 12. Melchor called the girls independent and “very picky,” typical of young shoppers at the chain that caters to girls as young as 6 and features techno music and Spice Girls lollipops. Shopping alone, the sisters left with flare bell bottoms, skorts, matching sweater tops and glitter cosmetics for school.
Some mothers still accompany their daughters to the store but often leave to do their own shopping while the girls hang out, trying on clothes and cosmetics. Even if they don’t like what the girls have picked out in their absence, Melchor said, “moms, honestly, will buy what the little girl wants.”
The age for independent shopping has been creeping downward the last several years, and this year more “tweens” (children ages 9-12) than ever before will be choosing their own back-to-school wardrobes, according to market researchers.
“It appears the children are in charge,” said James MacNeal, professor of marketing at Texas A&M; University. “And I’m talking all the way down to first-graders,” he added.
As recently as a decade ago, MacNeal said, mothers shopped alone for their children’s clothes, and the children reluctantly wore them. That was then. This is now--a time when both moms and dads are working, have less time, more money and guilt and tend to gravitate toward convenience and material concessions. Children 12 and under are spending $4 billion of their discretionary money and influencing $18 billion of their parents’ money every year on shoes and clothes alone, he said.
Kids admit the point is to impress other kids, and the decisions about what clothes to buy are too critical to leave to the old folks, who just don’t get it.
“They say, ‘It’s not good. It’s too short. It’s too big. It’s too baggy. It’s like a gangster thing,’ ” said a 13-year-old girl from Glendale, who came to the mall by bus with three friends, some of whose parents didn’t know they were there. If their parents don’t like what they buy, they might have to return the items, so the kids said they either hide them, wear them under something else or just don’t tell their parents what they buy.
Kids today are forming definite tastes and brand preferences at increasingly young ages, said Richard Leonard, vice president of the Zandl Group, a youth marketing firm in New York. Boys are even pickier about brand names in their clothing than girls, he said.
“The importance for boys is to be associated with the leader. Girls tend to enjoy the whole process of shopping so are less likely to make that commitment in advance,” he said. “It reflects vestiges of primitive social roles.”
Kids who come shopping with parents or grandparents say they put up with it mostly because it’s the only way someone else will pay.
Cara Chandler, 13, of La Canada said she doesn’t mind shopping with her mom, Jan, even though her mom has the final say. The problem is knowing how to tell her mother diplomatically she doesn’t like the clothes the baby boomer picks out for her.
“Sometimes I try it on and say it doesn’t work for me,” Cara said.
This year Cara brought along a friend, Christie Martin, 13, for support.
“She’s a better person to help me know if people at school will like it and stuff,” Cara said. “My mom doesn’t see people at my school that much, so she doesn’t know if they’re going to like it or not. [Christie] has an opinion, and she’ll be truthful.”
Parenting experts said there’s nothing necessarily wrong with letting kids 12 and older shop for themselves. Indeed, it offers an opportunity to learn lessons about budgeting, the influence of peers and advertising, and the relative importance of appearance. The mistake is assuming that younger children can handle large sums of money without limits and can learn from the experience.
“Kids are overempowered. They’re simply accustomed to running the family, doing what they want. We see kids talking back, being disrespectful. Adolescence has jumped to age 8,” said parenting expert Sylvia Rimm, director of the Family Achievement Center in Cleveland. In shopping as in other decisions, she said, “you give kids choices, where all the choices are the right ones. Otherwise, you don’t give them a choice.”
Another mistake is letting children under 12 do what they want with “their” own money, Rimm said.
“The whole issue of ‘You can use your own money’ has gotten out of hand. They don’t pay rent, food. It isn’t really ‘their’ money. Even if the money is their allowance, or they worked for it, there are still things you can say no to,” she said, especially when it comes to price.
Even though retailers benefit from the young consumers shopping alone, they know some parents feel unhappy and helpless in the face of popular gangster or slutty looks and shoes costing upward of $100. Melchor said she tries to help. If, say, a mother fears a spaghetti-strap tank is too sexy for her little girl, Melchor teaches her how to layer with a sports bra underneath.
In some cases, Melchor said she and the mothers form a secret alliance.
“The moms come in and say, ‘You know what, Alicia? I like this for her, get her to try it on.’ And it works. The moms come in and tell the little girl, ‘I like this for you and the girl will say, ‘No, no, no.’ I can say, ‘Look, sweetie, we just got this in, try it on. She’s, ‘OK.’
“For some reason,” she said, “the moms don’t know anything, and the Limited Too girls know everything.”
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It’s Show Time
Children can check out fashion trends at shows especially designed for them.
There will be hip-hop music and handwriting analyses to entertain students and parents at Macy’s in the Glendale Galleria on Saturday. The show, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Level 2 Juniors Department, will feature back-to-school sportswear by Mossimo, Steve Madden, XOXO, Esprit, Rampage and Levi’s. Also onstage will be stylists from Carlton Hair International offering complimentary consultations and make-overs by Benefit Cosmetics Specialists. No purchase is necessary to participate.
At Bloomingdale’s Sherman Oaks, 14060 Riverside Drive, there will be special children’s fashion events on two Saturdays.
On Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. on Level 3, children 3 to 12 can choose their own outfits and accessories to model. Designers will include Guess for girls, Polo Ralph Lauren for boys and the DKNY boys collection.
Kids can have “rainbow hair” created by Alan Edwards Kids Salon from 1 to 5 p.m. on Aug. 30 on Level 3 at Bloomingdale’s Sherman Oaks.
More Back to School
* Let’s do lunch. Forget boxes sporting cartoons. For sophisticates in second grade and up, zippered, sporty, accessorized food packs are in. Page 2.
* When school spells stress: How to recognize the signs your child is troubled and open the lines of communication. Page 2.
* Get academic with expert tips on homework and tutors. Page 2.
* The art of the science project by a mom who has been there--over and over. Page 3.
