The kidswear sales calendar: Children's Day, school, Christmas

A small kidswear brand can't run campaigns at full intensity all year round. Production and advertising budgets have to be concentrated on the moments when parents, grandparents and godparents are buying anyway. In Romania these moments are fairly stable from year to year, and their great advantage is that you can prepare for them well in advance.

The year at a glance

Here are the main selling windows for children's clothing and what gets bought in each:

• January–February: winter sales, then the first spring pieces; moderate demand;
• 1 March (Mărțișor) and 8 March: small gifts, spring colours, mother-and-daughter sets;
• Easter: holiday outfits, tees and dresses in light colours;
• May: the summer collection, clothes for camps and holidays;
• 1 June, Children's Day: gifts, printed tees, sets;
• July–September: back-to-school season, basics, polos, sweatshirts;
• September–October: the autumn–winter collection, hoodies, tracksuits;
• November: the big end-of-month discount campaigns;
• December: Christmas gifts, family pyjamas, boxed sets.

You don't need to take part in all of them. Pick the 4–5 moments that suit your products and prepare those properly. A brand of school basics will focus on August and September, a babywear gift brand on Christmas and christenings, and a summer label on May and June. Write the chosen moments into an annual calendar, together with the date by which stock has to be in your warehouse.

1 June: the biggest moment devoted to children

Children's Day on 1 June is one of the best opportunities for a kidswear brand in Romania. Buyers include parents as well as grandparents, godparents and family friends. Products that work:

• tees with a special print in a limited edition;
• summer sets packed as gifts;
• multipacks of tees in cheerful colours.

For Children's Day tees, colour is the first argument. A vivid red looks festive in photos and on the rail. We would use 170 g red single jersey in 100% combed cotton with an enzyme and silicone finish: it is light enough for early summer, soft on the skin and gives a strong ground for white or gold prints. For a range of complementary colours, see the 220-colour card.

Work backwards from the campaign date

Every selling moment needs a preparation calendar. An indicative timeline for 1 June:

1. March: choose products, prints and fabrics;
2. early April: samples and print approval;
3. late April: produce and print the run;
4. early May: photos, product pages and ad creative;
5. mid-May: campaign starts, two or three weeks before 1 June;
6. last days of May: communicate the order cut-off for on-time delivery.

The same principle applies to Christmas, where the campaign usually starts in November and production must be finished in October.

Back to school: long, but with a clear peak

Some parents start preparing for school as early as July, but the peak falls in the last two weeks of August and the first weeks of September. Basics must be in stock from July, in every size. Unlike Children's Day, you aren't selling gifts here but necessities: polos, sweatshirts, comfortable trousers. The campaign message should be practical: durability, sizing and fast delivery.

Christmas and the November discounts

November brings the big discount campaigns, and December brings gifting. For a small brand a prudent strategy is:

• moderate discounts in November, only on previous collections or leftover sizes;
• full prices in December for gift sets and family pyjamas;
• a clear deadline for the last order delivered before the holidays.

That way you don't sell your new winter collection at a discount right before the best selling period of the year. If you do run a November promotion, calculate your margin after the discount before you fix the percentage.

Planning fabric for the peaks

Sales peaks need stock available exactly then, not a week later. So for campaign pieces, work with fabrics you can source quickly. The red jersey ships from stock in Afumați with no minimum, by the roll, so you can produce a Children's Day run and restock quickly if it sells well. For a fabric plan across the whole year, send us a quote request.