What's with the large appeal of Hanna Andersson?

[neosr]

I'm sure I'll get plenty of harsh remarks for this, but I just have to ask:

What's with the major hoopla on this forum over Hanna Andersson clothing?

IMHO, it looks like a children's version of J Crew, just a bit more colorful. NBD. I mean I can understand the fascination of high-priced European adult and kids' clothing from countries like Italy and France, but Sweden? I own a Volvo and used to buy things from IKEA when in college, but when did Swedish clothing become such a fad...especially for babies? The Hanna clothing isn't all that fashionable (trendy or hi-tech), so what's with the high prices?

The looks of the Hanna clothing aren't all that different from rather simple Gymboree and Baby Gap clothing, so is their quality so vastly superior that they command prices 2-3x more? And have you seen their paltry so-called sales on their web site...I would hardly consider their items as being discounted. So what makes it a good return on your $ when your kids grow out of these things in a hurry?

Hey, I'm all for spending big bucks on quality items, but I'd like to get some of your own personal opinions as to the value of Hanna Andersson clothing before I plop down large sums of moola to join the craze. Help me "get it" or is it just one of those "different strokes for different folks?"

[bluej]

Part of the appeal is the bright colors. A lot of people don't like to be stuck w/ pastels for their babies. Another thing is the quality really is topnotch. The cotton is nice and thick and washes up beautifully. It is BETTER after it's been washed (can't say that about too many clothing companies). The sales are much better at the outlets or the B&M stores. Not sure why the site doesn't give the extra 50% off as well. You can end up paying less for Hanna clothing than clothing at Target. That is if you can wait for the sales :) And since they are such great quality and everyone is rather fond of them, they have amazing resell value. And best of all, as you stated, they ARE NOT TRENDY!!!! No bare bellies on little (or on the older) girls. No soccer balls embellished on all of the boy clothes. Just bright fun clothes.

[emmiem]

The look is very different from Gap and Gymboree. The different color patterns and crazy tights are two reasons I love Hanna. The winter catalog is always better than spring for those reasons. Gap and Gymboree are copying hanna. The pink striped dress from the cupcake line in Gymbo was a blantant copy. The quality is much better than Gap and slightly better than Gymbo. It washes and wears like iron. Even the pj's can be passed down. My DD will pick the striped long johns over the Gymbo pj's even with Gymbo's cute designs. You also won't see your kid wearing what everyone else is wearing. I like that. I also like my DD better in brights than pastels.
Michele

[momathome]

Another thing to keep in mind - Hanna clothes are cut to fit with extra room to grow, so things from Hanna definitely fit longer than from other clothing companies. I have never felt a softer, thicker cotton for baby/kids clothes, the colors are wonderful, and they have terrific customer service. They are well worth the money, IMO. Can your baby live without them - of course! Am I glad I discovered them for my girls - most definitely!
-Lauren

[pamela mom of 3]

As someone who just got started into hanna & being i live in Canada it's even more expensive doing it on a Canadian dollar w/added duty/tax lol :D Here are my thoughts,


I decided to try them because of the styles/designs their colorful & not so "trendy" plus the comments here on the quality, my kids are all quite hard on their clothing.

So far the items i have bought have been great, very soft and stretchy clothes. Plus if you have a girl those playdress are tough to beat, cute without being to "pretty" to play in, a very hard item IME to locate.

So while my kids can't be dressed in hanna from head to toe some pieces are certainly well worth the expense.

:)


~Pamela Mom Of 3

http://cmw.dailymoviereviews.com/contrib/fk/bunny.gif

[stillplayswithbarbies]

>The looks of the Hanna clothing aren't all that different
>from rather simple Gymboree and Baby Gap clothing, so is their
>quality so vastly superior that they command prices 2-3x more?

Yes. The quality of the Hanna clothes is indeed vastly superior to Gymboree and Gap. Hanna clothes actually look better after they are washed over and over. They get softer and thicker, and don't get pilly like Gymboree and Gap after many washings.

> And have you seen their paltry so-called sales on their web
>site...I would hardly consider their items as being
>discounted. So what makes it a good return on your $ when
>your kids grow out of these things in a hurry?
>

Two things. First of all, kids don't grow out of Hanna as fast. They are designed to look good a little big and a little small. Pants and shirts and jackets have cuffs that can be rolled up the first year and down the second year. Kids will get two or more years to wear these, rather than one season like Gymboree and Gap. And secondly, the resale value of Hanna means you can actually make money on them if you buy on sale. I have seen used Hanna sell for as much as brand new full price.

a third thing that makes them worth the money is that they can be handed down through several children and even kept for their children. They are classics that never go out of style.

As for the sales . . . they run the best sales twice a year as they clear out end of season. The outlets and retail stores just had 50% off the sale price. I got $800 worth of clothes for under $200.

>Hey, I'm all for spending big bucks on quality items, but I'd
>like to get some of your own personal opinions as to the value
>of Hanna Andersson clothing before I plop down large sums of
>moola to join the craze. Help me "get it" or is it just one
>of those "different strokes for different folks?"
>

If you don't like the style of the clothes then they are a waste of money for you no matter how cheap.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[egoldber]

Ditto what everyone else said. I had a few hand me down pieces of Hanna stuff for DD when she was an infant that looked practically brand new. I didn't start buying new Hanna stuff for her until she was over a year old. IMO, its more worth it after they hit size 70.

You might find this thread interesting too:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboar...ng_type=search

HTH,

[Tracey]

I absolutely love dressing my daughter. It has become a hobby of sorts. I think my husband is just glad it's not something more expensive...like antiques :). Anyway, I would divide her wardrobe into several categories: Mall clothes (gap and gymboree), Hanna, Euro (Catimini, Clayeux, Oilily, Jacadi, Lili Gaufrette etc...this is the smallest category), Boutique (Baby Lulu, Indygo, etc. a lot of smocked, heirloom and "Southern" clothing...this is the largest category).

I am assuming you are shopping for layette. I wouldn't necessarily do Hanna for layette. If you like Euro clothing, take a look at Petit Bateau. Once my daughter started to crawl, Hanna went wayyyy up on the list of must haves. It's not the style for me, but the design and construction. Hannas are everyday workhorses. She is moving all over the place and these clothes are super comfortable (thicker and sturdier as others mentioned)and she doesn't crawl up into, or step on, the pants. Longer dresses are completely out because she gets caught up in them. Shorter dresses look like they are hurting her knees. Hanna zippers are the only one pieces that her knees don't pull up into and tangle her up. They are a must! We are living in Hanna wiggle pants, turtlesuits, creepers, and Gymboree leggings for knock around the house wear. Once she begins to walk, I will probably buy less Hanna. Hope that helps a bit. If you are interested in high fashion Euro clothes for children, check out www.tuesdayschild.com.

[amp]

Yes, many of the mommies are hugely in love in Hanna here, but not all of us are. There was a thread awhile back about this. I don't have a problem with their clothing, but it just doesn't appeal to me for the most part. Of course, many would argue that since I haven't actually tried it, that I just don't know what I'm missing. My DH and my wallet are glad for that!

[brubeck]

Someone mentioned to me that Hanna Moms seem to all be on the East Coast. Certainly as someone on the West Coast I don't see a lot of it around. There are no outlet stores and only one B&M store out here. Based on all of the raving on this board I drove down to the B&M store to check out the sale but all the items I liked on the web site were not carried in the store. In fact only the most expensive sale items (ie: the stuff that was NOT cheap even at half off clearance) were in the store. I was very disappointed.

I actually tried to buy my first Hanna about 10 days ago. I saw a dress on clearance on the web site and as people suggested I checked every day because the stock changed. They finally had it in the size I wanted. It was $32 (which is VERY expensive for a kids' dress) ON SALE but I thought perhaps I'd bite the bullet this once just to see. But when I got to the end they had added $7 for shipping (What??? One outfit???) and $3 for tax and that brought it over $40 so I stopped the madness right there.

Frankly I find the styles and colors of Land's End to be similar and much cheaper. Instead of that over-priced Hanna I dress I bought 2 LE dresses on sale that were the same style for less than $25 including tax. Made me feel much better, and I think the LE quality is certainly good enough!

I guess if you were handing these clothes down to subsequent children I could maybe see the extra cost. But this isn't the case with me (since I have a boy and a girl and no others are planned) and come on, how many Moms on this board are out buying new wardrobes for their second gender kids? Lots! We all have fun clothes shopping for our kids and wouldn't want to give that up no matter how many nice things we have in the closet. So IMHO paying for 'hand me down' quality is useless.

Now I know there are some people who EBay it and if they can get their money back more power to them. I recently tried to EBay a bunch of stuff and with the time and effort I put in the cash wasn't worth it. I would have been much better sticking it all in a box and donating it to the Salvation Army for a tax writeoff.

Hope I didn't offend anyone, this is just my POV after trying to get on the Hanna bandwagon and failing miserably.