When my daughter was born, I was rapidly faced with the dilemma of how I wanted my baby to look fashion wise.  Did I choose ‘mini-fashionista‘ versus ’mainstream’ or  big $ brands versus the affordable?  After all, I am French and with that comes an expectation to be well dressed and elegant at all times. I assumed it applied to my baby too.

So there I was, trying to find ’elegant’ pieces of garment for my newborn baby in Sydney. Well, most department stores are visually split into colours, baby pink and baby blue with the odd yellow and green items for those who choose to discover their baby’s gender at birth.  Combined with the usual busy patterns of fairies, bunnies and butterflies, there just was not anything that really inspired me.  

My preferences for clothing are simple whites, neutral and  classic colours.  I also like it when children are dressed similarly.  With this in mind, I tried my luck in more exclusive boutiques who had some beautiful pieces that suited my taste but very few that suited how I wanted to spend my baby bonus.  It is so annoying for me to see that Petit Bateau selling for 2 to 3 times the price of what it retails for in France.  In fact, in France, it is one of those iconic family brands we all grew up with and that sells pack of 3 pairs of bodysuits in French supermarkets.  So I simply could not resolve myself to pay over $39 for a cotton bodysuit, as cute as they might look.  My next thought was to think of when my next visit to France was planned for?

I quickly realised, I could either find things I liked but would pay an absolute fortune for or dress my baby in her standard supermarket-purchased bodysuit.  BTW the same concept, I realised later, applied to shoes.

A year later, I launched Comme les grands.

Since launching, we have received so many positive emails letting me know that I was obviously not the only one who was frustrated by the choices out there.  We have also been developing a second collection which caters for children from 1 to 7 so that your children  and Comme les grands can grow together.  This will be available in the coming few months so that you no longer have to compromise quality and style for value.