Children's Wear Guides: Buyers Guides and Directories for Childrenswear

Children's wear guides are printed directories for the children's apparel trade: buyers guides listing the executives and buyers at women's and children's wear stores, and manufacturers directories listing the companies that make women's and children's clothing. They are working tools for designers, sales representatives and manufacturers who need named contacts and company details. One caution governs every purchase on this page: check the year of publication before buying. Directory information ages — buyers move, companies open and close, and contact details change — so an older edition may be out of date for current selling even when it remains useful as a historical reference. The choices include older editions for readers who have an interest in them, but the details of each guide should be checked carefully to make sure it is the appropriate one. More current children's clothing guides may be available elsewhere, and the Fashiondex Books section, linked in the navigation on this page, is the place to check for current-year buyer guides.

A flat-lay of folded children's garments only: folded children's shirts, small folded pants, folded pajamas and small children's shoes arranged in tidy rows on a plain table beside printed buyers guide directories, no people

Children's Wear Guides, Store Directory Categories and Related Guides

Check the Publication Year Before You Buy

A buyers directory is a snapshot of the trade in the year it was published. The buyers named in it held those jobs at that time, at the stores and addresses listed, and the manufacturers directory entries describe companies as they stood when the edition closed. That is exactly what a seller needs in the edition's own season — and progressively less reliable afterwards. Buyers change jobs and departments frequently, stores merge or close, and manufacturers change officers, price ranges and product lines. For that reason the editions gathered here span a wide range of years, and each one should be judged on its date first. A recent edition is a selling tool. An older edition is a reference to how the women's and children's trade was organized in its year, useful for research, but it should not be relied on for current contact details without verification.

The Buyers Guides and Manufacturers Directory

Women's and Children's Wear Buyers, 2010-2011 is the most recent buyers edition in this group, covering the buyers who purchase women's and children's apparel. The National Register of Apparel Manufacturers: Women & Children's Wear, Seventh Edition takes the supply side of the same market: it gives full company information on nearly 4,000 apparel manufacturers in the United States. Its detailed entries include company details and officers, fax numbers, year established, dollar volume, number of employees, price range, type of activity including whether the company sells licenses, what type of garments are produced, the fabrics used, and other labels affiliated with the company, and the directory is fully indexed for easy cross-reference.

Women's & Children's Wear Buyers 2008-2009, published by Salesmans Guide, is aimed at sellers just beginning in the women's or children's apparel market as well as businesses looking to revitalize their sales. It lists over 13,500 key executives and buyers, so a seller can reach the decision-makers without wasting valuable time talking to the wrong people. Each listing includes key information such as contact names and titles, type of merchandise bought, number of stores, street and P.O. Box addresses, phone and fax numbers, and website and e-mail addresses. That field list is a useful checklist for any buyers guide, whatever its year: a directory that gives the merchandise each buyer purchases, and the size of the store group behind the buyer, saves the most wasted approaches.

Older Editions Kept for Reference

Five older editions round out the group, and they are listed so that readers who collect or research these directories can find them — with the publication-year caution applied in full. They are: Women's & Children's Wear Buyers 1998; the Directory of Women's and Children's Wear Specialty Store, 1993; the Women's and Children's Wear Buyers Metropolitan New York Directory, 1999, covering the New York market; the Nationwide Directory of Women's and Children's Wear and Fashion Accessories Buyers, 1991; and the Women's and Children's Wear and Fashion Accessories Buyers Nationwide Directory, 1990, which covers the country exclusive of the New York Metropolitan Area. Read together, the 1990 and 1991 volumes and the 1999 New York volume show how the trade divided its national and metropolitan coverage at the time. None of these older editions should be used as a current contact source without checking every detail independently.

Children's Clothing Store Directory Categories

Guides are one route into the children's market; the children's clothing store directories are another, organized by the merchandise a store sells. The categories are: Girls Dresses; Children Hat Retailers; Children's Shoe Stores; Slippers; Infant Shoes; Adaptive Children's Clothing; Children's Swimwear Stores; Kids Costumes; Children's Raincoats; Children's Formal Clothing; Children's Clothing Guides; Plus Size Children's Clothing; Children's Sock Retailers; Children's T-shirt Stores; Children's Used Clothes Stores; and Children's Tennis Clothing Retailers. Each category, linked in the navigation at the top of this page, is a working list for its segment: footwear alone divides into children's shoe stores, infant shoes and slippers, while occasion and seasonal lines such as formal clothing, costumes, raincoats and swimwear follow their own buying calendars. A maker of children's clothing can work from the category that matches the product, learn more about children's clothes, children's apparel, children's fashion brands and children's fashion through the linked guides, and then use a buyers guide for named contacts at the larger store groups.

Keeping This List Current

New children's clothing directories appear as publishers revise their editions, and this list is updated when new children's clothing guides are found, although no guarantee can be made that every new edition is captured. Readers who find newer kids clothing guides are welcome to let Apparel Search know so the guide can be added. The navigation on this page also leads onward to the rest of the childrenswear trade: children's fashion buyers, children's clothing stores, children's clothing wholesalers and children's clothing factories, salesman buyer guides, employment guides for fashion industry careers, and the fashion industry books and fashion books sections. Readers who arrived here looking for a different market can continue to the Womenswear Guide or the Menswear Guide instead.

Common Questions

Why should the publication year be checked before buying a children's wear guide?

Directory information ages: buyers change jobs, stores merge or close, and manufacturers change officers, price ranges and product lines. A recent edition is a current selling tool, while an older edition is best treated as a historical reference whose contact details need independent verification.

What information does the National Register of Apparel Manufacturers give for women and children's wear?

The Seventh Edition gives full company information on nearly 4,000 apparel manufacturers in the United States, including company details and officers, fax numbers, year established, dollar volume, number of employees, price range, type of activity including licensing, garments produced, fabrics used and affiliated labels, fully indexed for cross-reference.

What does each listing in the Women's and Children's Wear Buyers directory include?

Listings include contact names and titles, the type of merchandise bought, number of stores, street and P.O. Box addresses, phone and fax numbers, and website and e-mail addresses, across over 13,500 key executives and buyers in the 2008-2009 Salesmans Guide edition.