Distributor “Jamilco” decided to sew children’s clothing

Jamilco, which traditionally imports clothing from Western brands into Russia, decided to start producing children’s clothing. This was preceded by the acquisition of the Russian business Mothercare, which stopped supplies to the Russian Federation in 2022, and the renaming of this network to Motherbear. Clothes will most likely be produced under this brand. Jamilco, which is currently selling off the remnants of Mothercare, is faced with the task of filling its stores with assortment, and the multi-brand model in the conditions of competition with marketplaces is unprofitable, experts say.

“Jamilco” is looking for personnel to develop its own trademark (private label) in the field of children’s clothing, Kommersant discovered on Headhunter. The distributor, in particular, is looking for a head of the private label group for the Motherbear brand, a production manager, and a designer of children’s clothing. Jamilko did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Motherbear was created by Jamilco in November 2022 on the basis of the stores of the British children’s goods chain Mothercare, which was developed in the Russian Federation under a franchise by Monex Trading, a structure of the Kuwaiti Alshaya Group. Jamilco bought this business after the brand announced the cessation of work in the Russian Federation in March 2022 due to the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At that time, under the guise of Mothercare, 120 stores operated in the Russian Federation, and their share accounted for about 20–25% of the retailer’s global retail sales.

Motherbear currently has 59 stores, according to the information on its website. You can still find Mothercare products online, as well as other brands, Kommersant was convinced. Jamilco has registered the Motherbear trademark since 2023, including in classes related to clothing. At the end of 2022, the distributor also submitted applications to register the marks Kidstudio, Wearkid, Wonderkid under the same classes.

Against the backdrop of the departure of foreign brands, the assortment of many Russian children’s goods stores now includes more private labels, for example, Detsky Mir, says Fashion Consulting Group (FCG) CEO Anna Lebsak-Kleymans. Detsky Mir told Kommersant that private labels account for 100% of the assortment of the chain’s offline stores in clothing and footwear. FCG calls the creation of its own brands a logical step in the development of multi-brand retailers. Motherbear’s predecessor, Mothercare, relied on exactly this, adapting its offer to regional differences in markets, including climate conditions, Ms. Lebsak-Kleymans points out.

Players in the children’s goods market understand that there will no longer be new large foreign brands with large advertising budgets on the Russian market, so they prefer to develop their own brands, says Antonina Tsitsulina, president of the Association of Children’s Goods Industry (AIDT). Only through the development of private labels can retail chains compete with marketplaces, says General Director of Infoline-Analytics Mikhail Burmistrov. According to him, it is not economically profitable for networks to use a multi-brand model in conditions where marketplaces can offer sellers more favorable conditions.

Other clothing retailers also have their own production, including Gloria Jeans, Lime, etc., points out One Story partner Olga Sumishevskaya. At the same time, according to her, the children’s clothing segment is not yet saturated. In 2022, the Daughters-Sons network went bankrupt, a year later, the structures of billionaire Alexander Mamut acquired the Korablik network, which was experiencing financial difficulties. Nevertheless, the children’s clothing market is highly competitive and brings together strong players, Ms. Lebsak-Kleymans notes.

Based on the results of 2022, the children’s goods market, according to AIDT, grew in monetary terms by 6.2%, to RUB 1.035 trillion. According to preliminary results, in 2023, according to Ms. Tsitsulina, the segment will increase in money, but will fall in physical terms, including due to a decrease in the birth rate.

Polina Gritsenko