April 22, 2004

Local moms earn money, set trends
Kids’ clothing line combines fun, fashion

By Justin Petersen
Staff writer

Attention moms! Don’t sweat the Easter sales you missed last week at Macy’s and Baby GAP. ‘big enough,’ a high-end East Coast children’s clothing manufacturer, is providing a low-cost and easily accessible shopping alternative, and it’s coming to a neighbor’s house near you.

Recently, big enough expanded its sales force throughout Blossom Valley and Almaden via consultants Diana Fedrow and Katy Stamos. Fedrow and Stamos, who multi-task as wives and as mothers of several bubbly children, are excited to continue spreading the word about the colorful, durable clothes they sell through trunk shows.

“It’s really quite an opportunity,” Stamos says of the possibilities stemming from her company. “Oftentimes it’s too large a hassle for mothers to shop with their kids in department stores. It’s difficult to manage them. It’s difficult to arrange for them to stay home. At big enough, shopping is a matter of comfort.”

The sales process is similar to that of the Tupperware, PartyLite or Mary Kay “home party” format. Essentially, a consultant or selected hostess holds a gathering at her home, where the latest big enough lines are displayed and examined by guests, who inevitably tend be friends of the hostess. As an incentive, a hostess receives a 10 percent discount on the clothes she wishes to buy, unless the group’s sales total exceeds $400. In that case, the hostess receives a 15 percent discount.

The dynamics result in a unique shopping experience.

“It’s so easy having a rep come to your own home, where your kids can try the clothes on and you’re not getting pulled in a million different directions like you might in a department store,” Fedrow says. “Generally, a big enough trunk show feels like a mom’s night out. It’s fun.”

And kids agree. “The last trunk show I attended turned into a fashion show. Kids always get excited trying on the new outfits in front of their friends and parents,” Fedrow adds. “The next thing you know, they’re strutting around as if they’re on the runway or something.”

Typically, between 10 and 20 guests participate in a trunk show, where the merchandise is arranged by season and color. The clothes are designed in textured knits, state-of-the-art fiber blends, woven plaids and printed florals. According to the company’s Web site, the collection’s color palette draws directly from what is happening in the fashion world at the moment.

big enough also boasts the WOW, or Worlds of Wardrobing, mix-and-match system of clothing. WOW refers to a clothing line at big enough that offers a collection of colors, patterns and silhouettes that all suit one another. This way, a mother buying four pieces separately has actually acquired 16 outfits, after matching each of the pieces together.

With the spring season already in motion and summer months rapidly approaching, Fedrow and Stamos are in hot pursuit of anybody “big enough” to host a trunk show. For more information, call Fedrow at (408) 978-7697 or Stamos at (408) 621-2918.