Honor Labor

Cute as a Button Collection Fall 2009

Happy Labor Day!

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Are You Ready for Some Football???

The sun is dipping lower in the sky and the nights grow just a bit cooler…do I see the hint of color in the leaves?  Fall is in the air!  With the fall season fast approaching there is excitement brewing here at le•top!  It’s Back to School!  Well, we do get excited about Fall fashions, but there is something else that stirs the senses – FOOTBALL RIVALRIES!  Yes, this cute and cuddly children’s clothing company is home to some serious fans – so while we are busy shipping our FABULOUS Varsity Blues collection to waiting retailers our football fanatics are ‘showing their colors!’  Since le•top is available in retailers across the United States we thought we would ask a few ‘fans’ here in the office where their loyalties lie.

Sarah and Diana in Their Team Jerseys

Sarah, our le•top assistant designer loves her team!  Sarah, growing up in Montana, really had the freedom to choose any team in the country – they are not ‘next’ to anything!  She relates that her mom, a native of North Dakota has always favored their ‘neighbor’ – The Minnesota Vikings.  Her Dad went with the Chicago Bears – but Sarah had to break with the family and choose the Indianapolis Colts.  Why???  Peyton!  She fell in love with football when Peyton Manning hooked her with his ‘Hail Mary!’  Now she is here in the San Francisco Bay Area…Niners? Raiders?  She maintains “I’m a Colts fan for life!’

Diana, our customer service specialist extraordinaire, took at little different path to loyalty…She grew up in Los Angeles – a ‘city girl.’  The Raiders, based in LA during her childhood, gained Diana’s loyalty as she watched football with her older brother.  She followed football just because she idolized her brother, and football was the common bond. When Diana, a ‘Navy Brat’ moved to the Bay Area (her father was stationed at Treasure Island) found out that the Raiders were moving back to the Bay Area there was celebrating in her family!  She can’t wait until September…Go Raiders!

If you are “READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!” check out the le•top Varsity Blues collection – you fans and dads will love it!  And as for me…NINERS RULE!

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New York, New York!

If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,
It’s up to you, New York, New York.” – Kander and Ebb

le•top Booth

Every August le•top debuts the new Spring collection at the New York Children’s Club Show – one of the most exciting (and anxious) times of the year for us.  After working on designs, fabric development, go-see’s (a warm thanks to all that responded to our call for ‘Cuties!’) and photo shoots we were finally ready to present the Spring 2010 collection to buyers and owners of the fabulous stores that carry le•top.

Cute as a Button Fall 2009

Ta-Da!!!

The moment had finally arrived when we were able to see reactions to the results of all our hard work.  The verdict is in and…THE SPRING 2010 COLLECTION IS THE BEST WE HAVE EVER CREATED!

Some of the comments we heard during the show:

“It’s all so cute; I don’t know what I am not going to buy!”

“I love the bright colors!”

“This is just what I dreamed you would do!”  (really!!!)

After all the hard work we were ecstatic to hear our retailer’s enthusiasm!  What brought about the smiles and excitement?  Really great groups, including classic Ducks for boys and girls, Grasshoppers that Hip Hop, bouquets of beautiful Flowers and a whole menagerie of our famous Monokinis!  Everyone can look forward to an endless summer of fun – arriving at retailers in January of 2010.

Walking with Dinosaurs Fall 2009

But don’t wait for next summer!  Fall 2009 is here!  The new le•top and rabbitmoon fashions for fall are arriving at your local boutique every day!  The phones are ringing with re-orders as our retailers sell the cutest kid’s clothes on the planet…and beyond!  Check out some of the top sellers from Walking with Dinosaurs and Cute as a Button!

We had a terrific trip to New York!  Our booth at the Children’s Club show looked great after we put up wallpaper, assembled tables and chairs and steamed and fluffed our samples.  The excitement of hearing the praise for our new creations was our reward…and the reward of experiencing New York City life for a week!  Coming to the blog next week we’ll share our experiences at some of the fabulous restaurants we visited!

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A Peak Behind the Scenes…

Hmmm, do we need a bigger office???

Although it seems as though the Fall 2009 photo shoot was just yesterday… another season’s photo shoot has come and gone! This amazing moment in time was for our Spring 2010 line. (Already spring you say?  We work well ahead of the ‘normal’ calendar!) Our model tryouts (in the biz known as a go-see) happened on July 9th. It was organized chaos with over 100 children turning out to smile and pose (a wonderful crowd!) and way too many adorable little ones – making it a very challenging series of decisions! The photo shoot for both Le Top and Rabbitmoon happened the second to last week of July. It was an exhausting week – but a fabulous success! Many thanks to everyone who assisted, especially the delightful kids! We can’t wait to share the Spring season’s collections and all the adorable photos with you but…it will have to wait. Sometimes it’s hard for us to keep track of what month, season and year we’re working on perfecting!  We are currently shipping Fall 2009 collections to our fabulous retailers, so take a gander at all the fabulous styles.

Out comes the infamous ‘tickle stick!

I think everyone wonders what happens ‘behind the scenes’ – here are a couple under-cover shots from the Le Top photo shoot.

Beware – baby ‘off’ board!

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To Thine Own Self Be True!

We are very excited to introduce a ‘new look’ to our website – a look that is a delightful reflection of all the innocence, fun and whimsy that makes le•top innovative and nostalgic – upscale and hip!  This bright and happy site will showcase all the looks that we loved as children, mixed in with incredible new styles you won’t see anywhere else!  We are launching this new site to present our fabulous fall 2009 collections – appearing at discerning retailers across the United States.  Don’t miss Dog’s, Dinos and Varsity Blues! Check out the Kaleidoscope and Cute as a Button dresses and get a dose of Enchantment!

But this is just the beginning!  Become a part of the le•top community as we introduce new features – join the conversations on our blog for smiles and information – and follow our Twitter feed to be the first to hear about contests and give-a-ways.

Come and experience le•top: “Zero to Five – The Happy Years!”

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