Why Chinese parents invest in luxury children’s wear

With Christmas shopping at fever pitch, the ultimate statement accessory for the season is not the latest Céline tote or mismatched earrings but an Instragrammable child.

Social media has been key in peddling the contagious appeal of a stylish child with 10-year-old street style “influencers” leading Instagram’s discover feed. That’s why when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West launched their own children’s wear range, Kids Supply, this year, they did so on Snapchat and Instagram.

What started as gratuitous style scrutiny of celebrity progenies – such as Suri Cruise and North West – by tabloids has now turned into a fully-fledged business venture for high fashion.

The children’s wear market is estimated at US$1.4 billion globally, according to business intelligence firm, Euromonitor International. For the past five years, growth in the sector has outpaced men’s and women’s wear. In China alone, the category outperformed overall apparel in 2016 with a seven per cent increase in current value terms, reaching 145 billion yuan (HK$170.5 billion).

Balenciaga, Thom Browne and Givenchy are merely the latest in the long list of luxury labels with children’s lines that includes Stella McCartney, Dior, Gucci, Moncler, Fendi, Dsquared2 and Moschino.

From British luxury retailers such as Selfridges and Liberty London to e-commerce giants such as Farfetch and Net-a-Porter, no one is oblivious to the charms of the burgeoning industry.

With items such as a miniature Burberry tuxedo suit often retailing in excess of £700 (HK$7,140), brands are selling to the top 1 per cent of the population. Even for high fashion, the steep prices are astonishing, especially since the garments are scaled-down versions of catwalk pieces.

It would then only be prudent to assume the motivation behind the trend is more than just grandma bait – a retail term for pricey baby items.

What is really driving it?