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alandenisefields
09-04-2003, 04:30 PM
Hi folks! Good news alert!

The New York Times will run an article this Sunday (9-7-03) on high-end strollers (and how popular they are). The article will mention our book, BABY BARGAINS and our web site, as well as board guru StrollerQueen!

Here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/fashion/07NOTI.html?pagewanted=1

You must register (free) to read it.

Be sure to check it out!
--
Alan & Denise Fields, authors
BABY BARGAINS * BABY 411 * TODDLER BARGAINS * BRIDAL BARGAINS * CYBERBRIDE * YOUR NEW HOUSE

--
We have a brand new book for parents! It's called Baby 411---think of it as the ultimate FAQ for new moms and dads! Check it out here: http://www.Baby411.com

MartiesMom2B
09-04-2003, 04:37 PM
Wow very cool. When it runs can you put a link to the article up? Not all of get the New York Times!

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

alandenisefields
09-04-2003, 05:24 PM
Good idea! Remember: the NY Times requires registration (free) to see articles online.

--
Alan & Denise Fields, authors

nathansmom
09-04-2003, 09:46 PM
Martie-
I get the Times and I would be happy to mail you the article if you'd like.

mharling
09-05-2003, 11:54 PM
Sonia -
Remind me; I'll give you a signon I created when there was a NY Times article linked here a little while a go.

Mary & Lane 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b3237413c427 - New 6/18

jd11365
09-07-2003, 07:03 AM
September 7, 2003
NOTICED

Babies Are Riding High
By DAVID HOCHMAN

ANTA MONICA, Calif.

THE supermoms in the organic bread aisle couldn't stop staring. And who could blame them? My new baby was surely the finest-looking creation the store had ever seen, what with the adorable curves, the crimson bonnet and the ergonomically correct brushed-aluminum chassis.

So what if my wife wasn't scheduled to deliver our firstborn for another three weeks? As soon as our tricked-out red Bugaboo stroller arrived from Babystyle.com, I had to take the little addition for a spin.

Designer diaper bags do nothing for me. Sippy cups are for kids. But the $700 Dutch-engineered Bugaboo Frog had me rolling down the path of conspicuous conception. Maybe it was the 12-inch all-terrain tires or the squishy grip bar or the fact that the Bugaboo steered more like a Porsche than a pram, but there I was, wheeling an empty stroller through a grocery store for the adrenaline rush.

I wasn't alone. From Central Park West to Santa Monica's trendy Montana Avenue, the Bugaboo is the chariot of choice. Miranda has a Bugaboo on "Sex and the City." Julianne Moore showed hers off to Barbara Walters. And Noah Wyle rarely leaves home without his. "The Bugaboo's design surpasses anything that's out there," said Mr. Wyle, the star of "E.R." who has a 9-month-old named Owen. "I mean, have you seen the shocks on this thing?"

Though baby strollers have been around for more than 250 years, a new generation of exotic, expensive imports is redefining the way well-heeled parents push their kids around.

With once-prestigious brands like Peg Pérego and Aprica glutting baby stores, the strollers with cachet now come from little-known design firms in places like New Zealand and Sweden, and at prices upward of $2,000. And these aren't just chick vehicles anymore. Marketers are wooing new fathers like me (not to mention David Beckham, Matthew Broderick and David Duchovny) by packaging these ultra-prams — leather seats, pneumatic braking systems and all — as if they were little Lexuses.

"Suddenly, it's all about who's got the Techno, who's got the big wheels, who's got the limited edition," said Bryan Pulice, owner of Traveling Tikes, a Los Angeles children's store that sells four Bugaboos a day. He said he sold one to Mr. Duchovny and his wife, Téa Leoni.

The flaunt factor is definitely part of the appeal. Jim Folker, a patent lawyer from Chicago, gets stopped two or three times whenever he takes out his Bugaboo, er, his 8-month-old son, Nathaniel, for a stroll in the West Loop warehouse district. He likes that he can push the stroller with one hand, "which makes it feel less girly."

A Dutch designer, Max Barenbrug, developed the Bugaboo. His concept was to create a stroller with the mobility and visual simplicity of a bicycle, something "that gave women a feeling of freedom, yet with an uncomplicated design that men would find appealing," Mr. Barenbrug said by telephone from the Netherlands. With assistance from his brother-in-law, Eduard Zanen, a physician who advised Mr. Barenbrug on ergonomics and safety, the Bugaboo was introduced to Europe in 1997 and brought to the United States a year later.

"No matter how many extras we added," Mr. Barenbrug said, "the initial design impulse never changed. You should look at the buggy and know exactly what it can do."

And yet, seeing one for the first time surprises people. "A cabdriver chased us down to ask about it," Mr. Folker said. "You certainly don't get that reaction with bibs and stuff."

Stroller envy is nothing new. When the English architect William Kent designed the first baby carriage for the third Duke of Devonshire's children, nobles everywhere soon followed suit. That was in 1733. But since 2001, when the British company Maclaren released its $2,000 limited edition Titanium Techno model, with leather seats and a super-lightweight body, the top end of the market has exploded.

As Alan Fields, who with his wife, Denise, wrote the "Baby Bargains" shopping guidebooks, said, "If you don't own a car, as many New Yorkers don't, then your stroller is your primary vehicle."

An old Buick would probably be cheaper than many of these elite rides. Five hundred dollars buys a limited edition German-made Teutonia Y2K stroller with blinking rear fender light and velvet-smooth suspension (it was seen on "Friends" last season). The Swedish Emmaljunga (the "l" is silent) is supremely stylish but only available abroad and runs $600. And the Silver Cross Silver Stream from England, the white-wheeled buggy favored by European royalty, has swaddled the heirs of Sarah Jessica Parker and Mr. Broderick, Madonna and Guy Ritchie, and Victoria Adams and Mr. Beckham. The classic hand-painted pram retails for as much as $2,500 — that is, if you can find it. This summer, the company stopped producing the carriage for at least two years. F. A. O. Schwarz rushed to buy the remaining stock.

Like members of every subculture, stroller aficionados find meaning on the Internet. "The Web has given stroller fanatics a forum to lust 24/7 and to search out those obscure brands," said Mr. Fields, whose "Baby Bargains" bulletin board at windsorpeak.com is one of several sites where obsessed parents find the hottest buggies. "The low point for me," said Stephanie Williams, a professional fund-raiser and stroller fanatic from Tulsa, Okla., "was cruising German eBay after midnight with an old high school dictionary trying to figure out the German word for rain canopy."

The more I learned about stroller lust, the more I realized my infatuation with the Bugaboo was pretty tame. "If I see a stroller I like, I will search literally to the ends of the earth to find it," said Janet McLaughlin, a television writer from Santa Monica, known in chat rooms as Stroller Queen. The mother of two children under 6, she has owned more than 50 strollers. She has had six Emmaljungas, two Teutonias and two Silver Crosses, and was the first American to buy the rugged $500 three-wheeled Mountain Buggy stroller from New Zealand. "Everything lights up inside when I see a beautiful stroller," she said. "I'm like, I have to touch it, I have to push it. Parents flip because they think I want to steal their babies."

Ms. McLaughlin may not be able to contain herself in the year ahead.

Maclaren is about to expand its fleet of Kate Spade prams, unveil a new line by Philippe Starck and introduce an exclusive collection of Burberry buggies. Next year, Mountain Buggy will introduce a 12-pound collapsible stroller that could carry an 85-pound child. And the French company Bébé Confort is marketing a deluxe stroller to fathers under the tagline "the paternal instinct." It even has a Web site that resembles a sports car ad at www.la-kart.com.

This month, Silver Cross releases its $2,000 Balmoral and $2,600 Kensington prams (the first Kensington model went to Brooke Shields this summer by special air delivery from England). Entirely made by hand in northern England, each is numbered and comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by the craftsman. There are three coats of high-shine lacquer paint on the steel bodies, the leather is local and the lining is decorated by hand.

Even the Bugaboo, named the best all-around stroller of the year by Fit Pregnancy magazine, is going more upscale. Eager to maintain its boutique appeal as more buggies hit the streets, the company is introducing new colors, including a limited edition denim model handcrafted in Morocco. The price will be significantly higher, and there will probably be a waiting list. Perhaps we'll get our name on it. That is, as soon as the baby is born.

Copyright 2003*The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | Help | Back to Top


Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
5/1/03

cvharris
09-07-2003, 02:17 PM
Oooh, a 12 lbs collapsible stroller from Mountain Buggy? I want I want! :)

DDowning
09-07-2003, 07:32 PM
Hey! My Y2k is pictured on the link! Too cool!

Torey
09-07-2003, 10:25 PM
Okay, so our "stroller queen" really is a writer huh? And everyone here kept saying she should be. Go figure. :)

ginalc
09-08-2003, 05:49 AM
Here's another article where StrollerQueen was featured. Guess she's been famous before....

http://www.bugaboo.nl/links/wallstreet/WSJ.htm