Pumpkin Patch has new brand

Pumpkin Patch will launch its new childrenswear range with the opening of a Charlie&Me store at the Westfield Pakuranga shopping mall in Auckland on Saturday.

The Charlie&Me brand range is touted as "everyday wear", and will be cheaper than the Pumpkin Patch range.

Chief financial officer Matthew Washington said the brand would focus on the bigger Australian market in the long term, and it planned to open two or three Charlie&Me stores across the ditch before Christmas.

Charlie&Me clothing would be "for kicking a football around the backyard or climbing a tree", while Pumpkin Patch threads were "what you dress the kids in to go see Grandma".

Pricing for the new brand would be closer to prices at The Warehouse or Kmart, rather than Pumpkin Patch, he said.

The company would see how the brand performed, before committing to more stores.

"We haven't made any comment about what we see the potential being, mainly because it's unknown. But you come back to the fact that between 70 and 80 per cent of the childrenswear market is in that everyday-wear area.

"We see this as our long-term future – expanding the Pumpkin Patch concept into other brands ... and there's no reason why we shouldn't be successful."

Competition in the childrenswear market – particularly in Australia – is hotting up with the arrival of United States brands such as Gap, and Australian retailer Witchery announcing a childrens range.

Mr Washington said Pumpkin Patch was not expecting to feel any material impact in the short to medium-term.

"If you look at a lot of those players the childrenswear is going to be a very small sub-category of their brand."

One exception was Gymboree – a US childrenswear retailer that, like Pumpkin Patch, had dual brands. But Gymboree had not said it would roll out its lower-end range Crazy 8 in Australia.

- © Fairfax NZ News