Hi All,

I am doing a consultancy project as part of my degree at London College of Fashion in conjunction with a well-known High Street retailer. I would greatly appreciate it if you could answer the below questions for me. The project is centred on premature babywear – mothers of premature babies would be most helpful but anyone can answer :-) Please feel free to elaborate on your answers and give any extra information you feel would help.

Thank you in advance!

Questionnaire

Please state your age at the beginning of your response.

1.Do you have, have you had or are going to have a premature baby?
2.If you have, please state the weight of your baby.
3.Which retailers do you know stock premature babywear on the High Street?
4.Have you ever bought any?
5.What do you think of the current offer of premature babywear? Is there enough?
6.Is price an important factor when purchasing premature babywear?
7.How much do you think a 7 piece premature pack should be?
8.What do you think should be the essential items for a premature pack?
9.I have noticed that most premature packs on the High Street are basic designs in pastel colours. Do you think this is the most appealing design? Please indicate any design ideas/suggestions you may have for a premature babywear pack.

Any information you can give me would be so helpful!! :-)

1. Will have my baby at 37 weeks at the latest, but will be small due to congenital condition.
2. Predicted around 5lbs.
3. Boots, Mothercare, JojoMamanBebe, Pumpkin Patch
4. Yes - vests, hats (really hard to find small enough) and babygros
5. Not much cute stuff!
6. The same as any babywear, most is overpriced because people have to buy it. I can buy clothes for me at the same price as babywear. Not right!
7. I've paid around £12 I think, which is actually a good price. Packs are better value than singles.
8. Small hats
9. No. I don't know what sex I'm having, but even if I did I wouldn't want just pink or just blue. The whole babywear industry could do with a hauling over in my opinion, would love to see more colour options and designs. I bought my cutest stuff in France as they have a lot less gender specific outfits.

Thank you, that's really helpful :-)

Please state your age at the beginning of your response. 26
1.Do you have, have you had or are going to have a premature baby? Had one
2.If you have, please state the weight of your baby. 2lb 4oz when born, (6lb 6oz now)
3.Which retailers do you know stock premature babywear on the High Street? Mothercare
4.Have you ever bought any? Yes
5.What do you think of the current offer of premature babywear? Not small enoughIs there enough? No
6.Is price an important factor when purchasing premature babywear?Yes
7.How much do you think a 7 piece premature pack should be? £25.00
8.What do you think should be the essential items for a premature pack?vests, sleepsuits, hat, CARDIGAN
9.I have noticed that most premature packs on the High Street are basic designs in pastel colours. Do you think this is the most appealing design? Please indicate any design ideas/suggestions you may have for a premature babywear pack. ANY

im 26
1. my little boy was 6 weeks prem
2 6lb 3oz
3 i didnt know any at the time, but since then i know of mothercare thats about it.
4 no there wasnt a well advertised range at the time (5 years ago) all the newborn stuff was massive
5 there should be more for prem babies as its more common than people think
6 i would say yes as they grow so quick
7 about £11.99??
8 defiantly hats that will fit a prem baby as they are all massive
9 i think pastels are good for hospital, but when you bring bubs home, there isnt much choice as far as boy/girl nice outfits go



mer

I am 22 years old . . .
1.Do you have, have you had or are going to have a premature baby?
I had a baby girl 7 weeks prem due to pre-eclampsia

2.If you have, please state the weight of your baby.
2lb 4oz at birth, 4lb 11oz now at 9 weeks old.

3.Which retailers do you know stock premature babywear on the High Street?
mothercare do the smallest stuff. . .but Boots also stock a few peices up to 5lbs I think?

4.Have you ever bought any?
Yup, mainly vests. Brooke came home weighing only 3lb 7oz though and it was a nightmare trying to find anything at all to fit her.

5.What do you think of the current offer of premature babywear? Is there enough?
nowhere near enough choice IMO-sleepsuits with no feet and vests seem to prevail-nobody has yet thought that parents might actually like some dresses/dungarees/socks/tights/outfits!! there is alot of velcro on the mothercare stuff which was helpful in scbu as it allowed the wires to go in and out as they should, but a pain when she came home as they unstick when you pick them up!! very annoying!

6.Is price an important factor when purchasing premature babywear?
yes-it seems to be VERY expensive for very little choice and not much in each pack. I think we were paying £12 for 2 vests??

7.How much do you think a 7 piece premature pack should be?
depends what the 7 peices were! if just 7 vests no more than £12 like 'normal' size baby clothes cost, but if 7 different peices IE cardi, vest, sleepsuit, bib etc then about £25.

8.What do you think should be the essential items for a premature pack? cardi definatly! sleepsuits that cover feet. vests, hat. maybe a little romper suit?

9.I have noticed that most premature packs on the High Street are basic designs in pastel colours. Do you think this is the most appealing design? Please indicate any design ideas/suggestions you may have for a premature babywear pack.
anything other than plain colours! something with animals on, printed patterns or words like mummy's/daddy's boy/girl. something fun!!!

I noticed when Brooke was wearing the sleepsuits that the sleeves on them all are ridiculously long, even on preemie stuff that said she was the right weight for it. They would need to be folded over 2 or 3 times so you could see her hands! the length of those may need to be tweaked? ?HTH xx

Im 19years old.

1.Do you have, have you had or are going to have a premature baby?
Have a premature baby

2.If you have, please state the weight of your baby.
he was born at 4lb 140z

3.Which retailers do you know stock premature babywear on the High Street?
Tesco, Asda, Mothercare, Next

4.Have you ever bought any?
When my son was born, i bought some from tesco's, and asda's. I got given next and mothercare premature clothes as a gift.

5.What do you think of the current offer of premature babywear? Is there enough?
No, i don't think there is enough and shops that do seel them do not seem to have that much variety.

6.Is price an important factor when purchasing premature babywear?
Yes, as they do outgrow them quickly.

7.How much do you think a 7 piece premature pack should be?
If it's a 7 piece pack of sleepsuits, probably around £10 - £15.

8.What do you think should be the essential items for a premature pack?
Sleepsuits, vests, mittens, socks for the feet, definately hats as most are really big. CARDIGAN
9.I have noticed that most premature packs on the High Street are basic designs in pastel colours. Do you think this is the most appealing design?
No, could include things like flowers for girls and cars or something for boys. or just ones with words like mummys/daddys little princess or mummys/daddys little prince etc

Please indicate any design ideas/suggestions you may have for a premature babywear pack.
Defiately include cardigans or coat of some sort, these items are quite hard to find for premature babies.

1.Do you have, have you had or are going to have a premature baby?
- No, my daughter was born at 38 weeks but was still only 6lbs 1oz and too small for newborn clothes when she was born.

2.If you have, please state the weight of your baby.
- 6lbs 1oz @ 38 weeks.

3.Which retailers do you know stock premature babywear on the High Street?
- From North America but the only major retailer I have found to sell preemie clothes was Wal Mart, and they had SOME at Babies R Us.

4.Have you ever bought any?
- Got some from Wal Mart.

5.What do you think of the current offer of premature babywear? Is there enough?
- Disappointing.. really not much selection, only plain one colour onesies (baby vests?), some sleepers, and hats.

6.Is price an important factor when purchasing premature babywear?
Not for me, I was given lots of clothes in larger sizes for gifts so really had not bought much myself.

7.How much do you think a 7 piece premature pack should be?
Depending on what comes in it; if it's a layette set (hat, booties, onesie, sleeper, mitts, cardigan, socks, blanket).. then maybe around $40? Not sure what that converts to there.

8.What do you think should be the essential items for a premature pack?
- Hat, mitts, a sweater or coat, onesies, sleepers, booties, socks (need smaller socks for smaller feet, it is hard to find tiny socks)

9.I have noticed that most premature packs on the High Street are basic designs in pastel colours. Do you think this is the most appealing design? Please indicate any design ideas/suggestions you may have for a premature babywear pack.
- Coat or snowsuits!! They are impossible to find for little babies!!
- Preemies are delicate (all babies are) so it would be good to have the snaps going up the front or back rather than have clothes that pull over the head?

im 28 years old:

i had a premature baby at 35 weeks.
he was 5lb 11oz.
Matalan, Asda, Mothercare and Next.
I bought clothes from matalan asda and next.
There are definately not enough premmy baby clothes, the selection that are available is very small and they are not very varied at all.
The prices are very high some places id go as far as to say extortionate.
I think the price of a 7 piece baby set should be the same as any other size, ideally around £10-£15
Essential items would be sleepsuits, vests, hats, cardigans, booties and an outfit...with my little boy he was in intensive care for a couple of weeks so we were only able to dress in vests and sleepsuits...when he was due to come home though i was desperate for a cut little outfit...i had to go with a tiny baby outfit from asda with no feet so they came past his feet and i put socks over the end...he did look cute!
New designs would include bright colours, funky designs, snowsuits, coats, hats (they are always huge) and t shirts with the motifs on "i love my daddy" "im a little brother"