The children's apparel is rapidly changing, from stalwarts Gymboree and Janie & Jack filing bankruptcy, to rising direct-to-consumer brands like Primary gaining traction. Launched in 2015 by co-founders and co-CEOs Christina Carbonell and Galyn Bernard, Primary has focued on simplicity and inclusivity. The founders believe that they have struck a cord with customers, saying they exited 2018 with $30 million in revenue.
“We’ve continued to move the brand forward with clothing designs that are very ‘Primary,’ but go beyond solid colors into classic patterns, and it’s been very well-received so far,” co-founder and co-CEO Christina Carbonell said. “For example, this past Valentine’s Day, we introduced a rainbow heart PJ, and had 6,000 people on the waitlist ahead of launch. We have also introduced puffer vests and jackets, raincoats, and activewear, which have been a hit for returning and new customers.”
Growth in a time of uncertaintly for childrenswear, as Carters and department store brands face the challenge of DTC newcomers like Primary, Monica & Andy and Rockets of Awesome.
“Primary is taking a different approach by focusing on timeless essentials in a rainbow of colors, rather than chasing trend,” Carbonell said. “Our assortment is curated around the styles that babies and kids live in, and that parents can re-buy as their kids grow. Our unique approach has become the basis of incredibly strong customer relationships. And by keeping things simple, we keep our costs low, so most styles on the site are less than $25. You can’t find this level of quality at those prices anywhere else.”
The duo have made inclusivity a cornerstone of Primary’s success.
“On our site, customers shop for ‘baby’ and ‘kids’ instead of ‘boys’ and ‘girls’,” Bernard said. “We are not prescriptive about which styles and colors are appropriate for whom. Our value of simplicity and inclusivity are resonating with this generation of parents.”
Since launching with a range of basics including hoodies, tees and onesies, Primary has scaled their collection to close to 200 styles for babies and kids.
“As we have grown, we have made a point of listening to our customers and their needs” Carbonell said. “We’ve expanded to include categories like swim and outerwear and have our first denim styles coming this fall along with our activewear line, per4orm. We also get great ideas from our customers that we have implemented, like color-coding the accent color on our socks by size, to make it easier to sort the laundry!”
While scaling as a direct-to-consumer company, the duo is always looking for new opportunities to connect with customers.
“We are always excited to think about new ways to reach people and know that once customers touch and feel our clothes, they fall in love,” Bernard said. “So while we are focused on building the best kids clothing brand via primary.com, we have worked with a few partners like Stitch Fix, STORY, Neighborhood Goods, and Maisonette and are excited to continue to explore additional partnerships with like-minded companies who put customers first.”
The co-CEOs have funded Primary business to date with a combination of venture capital as well as debt to finance inventory. “We are incredibly lucky to have supportive investors who believe in us and our vision and have been instrumental in our success today,” Carbonell said.
As for the best sellers? Primary has sold hundreds of thousands of pajamas and tees.
“Pajamas are a huge category for us, we’ve sold over 230K of them to date,” Carbonell said. “In addition to being a favorite year-round, customers have also loved using our solid PJs as the basis of amazing DIY Halloween costumes! Our team was so inspired by our customers’ creativity that we built an entire DIY section on the site at Primary.com/Halloween where we have ideas and how-tos for over 400 costumes - including Serena Williams, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and candy corns, which Galyn’s kids were last year!”
Manufacturing is able to keep up with the demand by having trusted relationships with top tier suppliers in India, China and Vietnam.
“We have incredibly high quality standards and an unbelievable supply chain team with experience at companies like the Gap, American Eagle and Ralph Lauren, including a Director of Corporate Social Responsibility who lives in Hong Kong and regularly visits and spends time with our fabric and factory partners,” Bernard said.
As for what is next, the duo want to continue to build a passionate customer base, and want to continue creating quality clothing in the softest fabrics they can find, at prices that make sense.
“We have a lot of great new styles and colors on the horizon for babies and kids - including new classic patterns like polka dots and stars as well as new categories,” Carbonell said. “Also, feedback has been so overwhelmingly positive about the quality and design of our kids clothing, that parents have been asking us since the beginning for pieces they can wear too! So we are exploring a small capsule of adult pieces… stay tuned on that front!”
“We also want to continue to improve our site and shopping experience to make sure it is as easy as possible for busy parents,” Bernard said. “We are starting to test a subscription service and are really excited to learn how best to deliver on seasonal boxes that parents and kids will love. In addition, inspired by the beautiful displays of clothing in our office, we are starting to think about physical retail as well.”
