As our website will confirm, we love a bit of Scandi Style for children.

When we opened the shop 10 years ago, Scandinavian children’s clothing was relatively hard to come by in the UK.

Becoming a shop which sold so many Scandinavian brands came about by accident for us. We were looking for bright and bold childrenswear that was a little bit different, helped children stand out from the crowd, withstood play and could be washed again and again and still look great. When I went to trade shows my eye was drawn to the colours and the quality, not the country of design. Yet I found myself often favouring Scandinavian styling and, before I realised what I’d done, the shop was packed with these fabulous brands.

Part of it may have been because I’d worked for a well known Swedish company for many years in my previous life. I was lucky enough to visit Sweden and Denmark frequently and used to wander the streets in the evening ooh’ing and aah’ing at the shop windows.

When we opened our doors I jokingly used to refer to us as ‘Little Sunflowers aka the Dressed in the Dark shop’. Red and purple were my favourite colours for dressing our boys in those days, regardless of who designed the collections. They still are actually. Those two colours were always the last to sell in our shop. I persisted. Still they didn’t sell.

I have a vivid memory of the occasional customer walking into the shop for a baby gift in the early days and looking at me as though I were mad. Pink and blue was pretty much the universal new baby gift option and, even as recently as 2004, many of our customers didn’t feel comfortable buying an orange baby romper with green elephants for new parents.  We realised pretty early on that, if we didn’t offer choice including pink and blue, we weren’t going to be in business for very long.

I asked for feedback. Essentially the issue seemed to be that neither red nor purple were universally defined as being for a boy or girl and that was a problem.

Wind forward 10 years. The UK is in the grip of a love of all things Scandi right now. You might not realise it, but Denmark, Norway and Sweden are technically Scandinavia. Finland, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Aaland, together with Scandinavia, form the Nordic countries.  However we love the style of all those countries so Finland, Iceland etc often get referred to as ‘Scandi’ when technically they are not.

Geography aside, we’re often asked by customers how to get that fabulous Scandinavian look. I see lots of articles about getting the look in your home and how to get the taste in our kitchens. But there’s very little around about how to capture ‘that’ look when dressing your children.

So I’ve been finding out why the Scandi look is so appealing to parents. What is it that makes this such a distinctive look?  And how do you create the look, even with brands that are not necessarily designed in Scandinavia?

Rebecca said: I think it’s appealing because it’s comfortable and looks like children’s clothes as opposed to mini adults clothes. It’s also difficult for a toddler to explore in jeans! I think for boys Smafolk-style baggy pants or bright leggings, 90s colour blocking, helmet hats and bright prints are what I associate with Scandi style. As far as recreating that look without Scandinavian brands: look for bright colour blocking and repetitive prints, don’t be afraid to scour the girls section as boys stuff is so restrictive and it’s not like all they have is frilly pink dresses. The look would usually be pretty unisex whatever the gender anyway.

Kelly Ann said: Layering, bright colours, contrast and distinctive patterns. I could make a non scandi outfit look scandi by layering it over a rainbow long sleeved vest and adding some leg warmers. 

And Michelle said: I love the gender neutral aspect but for me scandi style is about being able to dress my sons in comfy, bright, funky clothes that aren’t little versions of what their dad or even grandad would wear. Children’s clothes should be bright & fun & easy to wear in my opinion… to recreate Scandi, look for basics in primary colours, all over print & retro styles like baggy cords & dungarees.

Whether or not you embrace the gender neutral parenting style, there is another very practical angle to all this. Many of us buy the independent brands not only because they are different, but because they are often of better quality than the mass produced designs on the high street. You spend a bit more knowing that it will last, not only for one child but the next too. So a bit of gender neutrality goes a long way.

Gemma said: Gender neutral bright funky patterns allow me to dress my boy girl twins the same and them be comfy to boot.

What is it about the Scandi brands that make them so brilliant for children do you think? Is it the comfort and quality, the bright colours, the child-like prints, the gender neutral approach that so many of them have… or something else? And do you have any tips about how to create the look? Is it layering? Contrasting and/or bright colours? Repeat prints?

We’d love to know what you think.