THE PERFECT FIT WITH THE LITTLE WHITE RABBIT
“There isn’t much to choose when it comes to children’s clothing.” This is the common gripe of most young parents today. But most tech-savvy parents have now found an alternative by switching to online shopping, which has become the current fashion trend. The Little White Rabbit – an online designer brand for children – is one such online store catering to parents in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world.
“We are essentially a designer wear brand for children. Our designs are simple and minimalistic, elegant and classy. They are vintage and boho inspired with a special emphasis on comfort,” multifaceted Umayangana Randeniya who started the Little White Rabbit 18 months ago, told Life Impulse. “We are an online store, so we run the majority of our business on social media platforms such as facebook and instagram. Our target market are todays social media savvy young mothers who often don’t have time to physically visit a store and also the wider globally dispersed online community of customers. The orders are placed online simply by sending us a message and once the order is processed we offer home delivery as well as the option of picking up the order from our pick up location,” said Umayangana, the daughter of veteran film actor Ravindra Randeniya.
WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO EMBARK ON THIS VENTURE?
Being a very shy introverted child I’ve mostly kept to my self lost in my own imaginary world getting lost in colours and sketching’s, gathering inspiration from everything around me…. I’ve always been in awe of the beauty of colours , textures and patterns .. Being from a creative, artistic background, think creativity runs through my veins. I’ve always loved play with colour and draw and paint as a kid . I’ve studied economics and management however since I was always passionate about fashion design I followed a diploma in fashion design (foundation level) at the academy of design whilst doing my first job, as soon as I completed my BSC . Then I started a career in the corporate world and got kind of sucked in to it. Then I went on to do my further studies in Australia, came back and worked in Singapore for a couple of years and once I came back I finally had sometime for my self to actually take a moment and think of what I really wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to have my own label and I thought that there was a niche when it came to designer clothing for kids, and there’s also something so satisfying about the humble joy you feel when you get to dress up a little boy or a girl and see a smile on their faces. I don’t have any kids on my own but most of my friends are young parents and having constant access to my market segment on such an intimate level provides me with insights to what young parents are on the look out and what the needs are for their children. And also I’ve built my business model around the needs of today’s young parents. They are busy, social media savvy and fashion conscious, however they have very little time to go to places and taking kids to shops itself is not an easy task and also they are all users of social media.
WHAT NEXT FROM HERE, ON A BROADER VISION?
While keeping the online part of the business still going, the broader vision for me is to open up my own little boutique store for children offering a whole range of products for children including children’s books under the little white rabbit brand . My mum Preethi is a children’s book writer so I think that would be an added advantage for me. We are working on it at the moment.
WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT YOUR DESIGNS?
My line is designed with a focus on comfort, I hate to see children being stuck in uncomfortable tight fitting clothing which doesn’t allow them to be their selves. Which doesn’t allow them to be children. Our boys’ range is very modest comfortable, minimalistic and comfy while our girls range dresses are super chic, feminine, simple and comfy. I believe that you don’t need to compromise on simplicity in order to stand out. And I believe that that’s how our brand stand out by being simple, classy and elegant .
YOUR TIPS FOR DRESSING LITTLE ONES?
Don’t overdo it, let simplicity and elegance be the key.. Childhood is the most beautiful part of anyone’s life.. don’t take that away from them by dressing them to look older.. Make sure they are comfortable in whatever they wear no matter how nice it may look on them.
ARE KIDS AWARE OF EMERGING FASHION TRENDS?
Yes. Kids are exposed to a lot of things at a younger age through technology. They see whats trendy..so they do have a much broader understanding and exposure to fashion than what we had as children. So I think its important to consider their opinion as well when it comes to fashion
THE FEEDBACK YOU GET?
Awesome... and so encouraging. Our customers love to dress their kids up in our clothing and send us pictures, so far the feedback has been really good. I’ve been blessed with really good customers and once a customer told me that her little girl refused to take off her avurudu costume so she had to put her to bed in it !I’ve received a lot of comments on how much they love our designs .most of our clients make it a point to send us pics of their kids dressed in our outfits which is something we really love and appreciate .
HOW COULD ONE CONTACT LITTLE WHITE RABBIT ?
Its pretty simple. It’s an online store, so orders are placed through the little white rabbit Fb page or instagram by simply writing a comment or in- boxing a message.. and we get on it right away. Once the order is processed we give them the option of picking it up or delivering it to their doorstep.
Childhood is the most beautiful part of anyone’s life.. don’t take that away from them by dressing them to look older