Cosatto : Design & Style for Little Ones

The Cosatto design team are known for trusting their instinct and leading where others follow. Always searching for the next big trend, inspiration is taken from all kinds of places. Paris, London, New York … even their hometown of Bolton.

Cosatto understands the importance of taking the initiative and when it comes to design this is reflected in the quirky and colourful patterns and prints that are created in house. Stephen Shaw, Associate Design Director explains where the latest Cosatto trends have come from and the development of the brand:

“Inspiration can come from anywhere, but mostly come from exhibitions, trend predication websites and blogs. When searching, themes start to appear and we’ll pick a few trends we feel will be strong and can be applied to the nursery industry. Prints that we worked on a year ago for our pushchairs and strollers such as stars, geometric shapes and animal designs are only just appearing in fashion now. It really helps to have an eye for detail and good intuition when it comes to predictions.

It can be tricky to gauge reactions, as once we’ve started work on bespoke prints these become a guarded secret. A lot of what Cosatto stands for is quirky design and this needs to be protected in terms of copywriting, patenting and trademarking.”

Once the design team have worked on their ideas, the new product designs are shown to the rest of the company. Stephen explains:

“For every one design that is approved, on average between two and three are rejected. This isn’t necessarily because they’re not popular but sometimes we just need to reduce the skus, or need a boy/girl split. Sometimes none of the designs are right and it’s back to drawing board.”

Over the years the design team has fine-tuned their skills so they already have a gut feeling in terms of what will work commercially. Cosatto is all about random styles and wacky bold designs but we know what is unsuitable for the nursery industry.”

That doesn’t mean boundaries aren’t pushed from time to time. Some patterns will always get a mixed review but if Cosatto aren’t happy with a particular design, they’d never run with it just because it’s fashionable. It has to be something guaranteed to be popular with new mums and dads.
Cosatto approach design from different angles depending on the product, although certain patterns can be applied across multiple products. Prints can migrate from pushchair to car seat to highchair, whereas some patterns wouldn’t work on some products due to their shape and design. Not only that, Stephen explains how some product types demand their own designs:

“It’s about designing the right pattern to go on the right product for the right Cosatto customer. We’re always thinking ‘what kind of mums-to-be will suit this pushchair? Which new dads will want this buggy for their baby?’

For example, a product like Giggle needs a bright, bold print like Pablo and when I am designing I instantly think of how the product looks in pram mode from a side profile and what a repeating pattern would look like. Suitable from birth, we find travel systems like Giggle are chosen as a projection of how parents want to be seen. It’s about fashion and an extension of their wardrobe. The gender of the baby matters less as we see baby boys and girls in all prints. Our Supa buggy is totally different. Usually for older children, now it’s their personality that matters and parents opt for more fun designs. They want characters to suit their children. It’s the same for car seats; parents (and their children) don’t want something drab and grey but want something bright that’s engaging and colourful.”

Working a full calendar year in advance, the Cosatto design team are always busy. At the moment Autumn/Winter 2013 samples are arriving and being tweaked and approved, but the real work is happening with Spring/Summer 2014 development and planning.

So what’s in store for Autumn/Winter 2013?

“They’ll be a direct influence from our recent marketing campaign, a few polka dots and a strong Scandinavian feel. But that’s all I can say for now, we don’t want to give too much away to parents too soon!”