Mintel estimates that the market for childrenswear is set to grow by 4.5% in 2018, reaching £6.9 billion. The childrenswear market is particularly reliant on sales from supermarkets and clothing specialist retailers, rather than childrenswear specialists. Additionally, as the largest childrenswear specialists have struggled, we have seen an increase in the number of clothing retailers that have upped their focus on childrenswear, seeing this category as a good opportunity for growth.

While the birth rate is slowing, the growing tween and teen population presents opportunities for this market, particularly as the older age ranges are most likely to care about the fashionability of clothing, are more into brands, and are heavily influenced by social media personalities, as can be seen from our consumer research.

Childrenswear shoppers are mostly concerned about price and quality but are also heavily swayed by convenience, which gives supermarkets the edge. There are also several trends that have been making waves in the childrenswear market, such as mini-me styling and gender-neutral options.

For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:

• The market size for childrenswear incorporates all clothing for children aged 0-15 years, including schoolwear.

• Baby and infantswear relates specifically to clothing for children up to the age of 4 and includes bibs, but excludes nappies and disposable nappies.

Excluded:

• Footwear is not included in this Report (for more information on this see Mintel’s Report Footwear Retailing – UK, July 2018).

• Some children reach full adult sizes before they reach the top of this age range, and will shop in outlets that cater for fully grown men and women, rather than for children per se. The market sizes do not include this spending, as it is already included in data for womenswear and menswear. However, discussions of outlets used for shopping include outlets that sell adult sizes to children.