Monogram This: Personalized Clothes, Toys Are on the Rise
The children's apparel and accessory industry is going monogram mad. Driven by intensifying competition and some creative technology, there is now seemingly no end to the number of things you can emblazon with a child's name or initials: soccer balls, stuffed animals (Gund offers bears and puppies adorned with not only the owner's name but birth date), doll strollers, burp cloths, pacifier clips, SpongeBob watches, lunch boxes and bean-bag chairs, not to mention nearly every item of clothing imaginable, from hand-knit hats with "Tommy" to lace-trimmed socks with "Felicia."
While some companies, such as Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s Lands' End, have offered monogramming on kids' items for decades, scads of newcomers are jumping into the business. Toys "R" Us -- whose newest division is called "Personalized by "R" Us" -- will not only customize a sweatshirt with a child's name but will do one with the names (and little drawings) of everyone in the family, including the pet.
It also offers a "best friend" shirt with the name of your child and a special pal. Blueberry Babies, a Web-based retailer that began 2? years ago, says its sales of personalized items jumped nearly eightfold this past December from December 2003 -- compared with general sales growth of nearly fourfold. The most popular item on blueberrybabies.com: $14 monogrammed diaper covers called "fancy pants."
But all that is old hat compared with where the personalization craze is heading. The toy industry is starting to use technology to come up with the ultimate individual stamp. A few months ago, LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., maker of interactive learning toys, introduced My Own Learning Leap -- basically a frog that talks -- which allows you to program in your child's name and it will spout songs and stories with him as the star. Toys "R" Us has struck a deal to sell exclusively a "Happy Birthday Barbie" (in various ethnicities) who will voice birthday wishes to your child using her name and actual birth date. It also offers both a stuffed Elmo and Winnie the Pooh, programmed at the warehouse to say such things as "I love you, Ryan," or "May I have a hug, please, Melissa?" (The technology isn't foolproof. It can do Mohammed and Mohan, but has trouble with, say, Ghalia.)
The personalized wares play into the total delight kids take in seeing (or hearing) their names -- and also, perhaps, to a tad of parental vanity. Plus, there is the issue of practicality (it's convenient to be able to pick out your kid's GameBoy from everyone else's).
But the trend is 180 degrees counter to what schools and child-safety authorities advise, which is to keep your child's name out of the public eye. In recent years, some schools have removed names from kids' athletic jerseys and asked local newspapers to withhold student identities in covering various events. Yet some personalized items on the market offer pretty specific information. Some clothing lines, for example, sell T-shirts that don't just display the child's name but offer other details such as "Carrie, Middle Sister" or "Ben, Big Brother."
Howard Safir, a former New York City police commissioner who now runs SafirRosetti, a security-consulting firm, says putting initials on a backpack or stroller to identify it makes sense, but adorning it with a full name isn't a good idea. As for adding other identifying details, like birth date, birth order or school name, he says: "From a security standpoint, that is not a good thing to do. You are giving information to people who might harm a child."
Safety reasons aside, some of this cute, cool stuff will no doubt make for a few rocky parenting moments. After all, the classic childhood assertion -- "It's mine!" -- now has documentation.
Elizabeth Skelly , a mother of four children, ages 1? to 8, in Needham, Mass., loves personalized kids' items and often buys them as gifts. "I think they really work well when you have lots of kids," she says. She was delighted by the Blueberry Babies "fancy pants" her baby daughter received as a gift with "Emma" splashed across the rear. She even bought a pair with "Nina" for her newborn niece recently.
But there have been some skirmishes in the Skelly household as a result of the labeling. When 3?-year-old Ethan recognized his name on a little step stool, he became proprietary. "Now there's a battle for the step stool," Ms. Skelly says.
个性化服装和玩具正流行
儿童服装及用品业在字母组合上大做文章。受竞争激烈及部分创新性技术的推动，以儿童姓名或缩写字母为灵感创造出来的商品层出不穷：足球、填充动物玩具、玩具车、婴儿肚兜、奶嘴夹、午餐盒等等，更不必说能够想象得到的各种服装了：从手织的带有“Tommy”的帽子到带“Felicie”字样的花边袜。
尽管西尔斯(Sears Roebuck & Co.)旗下的Lands' End等公司推出儿童字母物品已有几十年之久，但还有众多后来者加入到这项业务中。玩具反斗城(Toys R Us Inc.)不但可用儿童的名字定制T恤衫，还能制作出带有家庭所有人的名字的服装，甚至包括宠物。公司还提供“最好的朋友”衬衫，上面带有孩子和好朋友的名字。两年半前开业的网上零售商Blueberry Babies称，2003年12月至2004年12月期间，其个性化商品的销售额增长了近8倍，而同期总销售额仅增长了不到4倍。在Blueberrybabies.com网站上最畅销的商品是: 14美元的带有字母的尿布盖，叫做“fancy pants。”
但同现在匪夷所思的个性化商品相比，这些都已经不新鲜了。玩具业正开始使用能够带来个性化印记的新技术。几个月前，交互式学习玩具生产商LeapFrog Enterprises Inc.推出了My Own Learning Leap，一款能够说话的青蛙，可以输入孩子的姓名，然后它就可以滔滔不绝地给孩子唱歌和讲故事。玩具反斗城已经签署一项协议，独家出售“生日快乐芭比娃娃”(Happy Birthday Barbie)，可以在生日当天用孩子的名字向其祝福生日。该公司还推出了填充玩具背包大侠(Elmo)和小熊维尼(Winnie the Pooh)，可以讲“我爱你，瑞安”或“我想拥抱你，玛丽萨”之类的话语。
这些个性化的物品让孩子们在看到或听到他们的名字时会感到开心。但这种做法同学校和儿童安全部门的建议背道而驰，他们希望能不让儿童的名字展现在大庭广众之下。近年来，一些学校已经取消了学生运动衫上的名字，并要求当地报纸在报道各种事件时不要披露学生的姓名。但市面上仍有一些个性化商品提供了相当具体的信息。比如，部分服装摊上销售的T恤衫不但显示了儿童的姓名，还有其他详细信息，诸如“凯丽，妹妹”或“本，大哥”等字样。
前纽约市警官，目前管理安全咨询机构SafirRosetti的霍华德?萨菲尔(Howard Safir)说，背包或手推车上用缩写名字是别的方法是可行的，但用全名就不太好了。至于增加其他识别标记，如生日、出生年月或学校名称等，他说，从安全角度而言，这些做法不值得提倡。这会让可能伤及孩子的人获得信息。
除了安全原因之外，这些器具无疑也会给孩子的生长带来一些负面影响。毕竟，“这是我的”这种儿童固有的判断就会更加堂而皇之了。
4个孩子的母亲伊丽莎白?斯凯利(Elizabeth Skelly)很喜欢个性化玩具，也经常当作礼物买给孩子们。她说：“我认为当你有好几个孩子时，这真的有用。”
但在斯凯利的家中，也已经因为这类标记而发生些不愉快。当三岁半的伊桑(Ethan)发现一个小凳子上有他的名字时，他就变得专断起来。斯凯利说，现在经常为争夺小凳子发生战争。
