Known for its hand-painted prints and bamboo fabric, sustainable children’s sleepwear and clothing brand Rosa & Blue is on the brink of some significant developments. CWB’s Laura Turner learns more.

 

Pollyanna De Saulles launched Rosa & Blue, a gender-neutral children’s sleepwear and clothing brand, in 2021. Named after her daughters Rosa and Bluebell, the collection offers luxurious, breathable and sustainable pieces for babies and children that centre around exclusive prints that are hand-painted in-house by De Saulles’ husband.

“After having Rosa, I became aware that almost everything on the childrenswear market in terms of prints was cartooned and not realistic drawings,” explains De Saulles, on the inspiration behind Rosa & Blue. “I started looking into the idea of a childrenswear brand that incorporated my husband’s artwork and realised we had the makings of something really unique.”

 

 

De Saulles wanted to create what she couldn’t find herself as a consumer – luxurious, sustainable, gender-neutral childrenswear, featuring realistic, hand-illustrated prints. Playing an integral role in the brand’s identity, the prints primarily focus on nature, with designs including Farm, Jungle, Safari, Ocean and Woodland, alongside specific animals such as a koala, panda and the Floating Otter.

“We’ve nailed down what works and sells – a very minimalistic aesthetic using one, three or five elements per design,” continues De Saulles. “I generate the initial ideas for the prints and take inspiration from everywhere, although I don’t particularly follow trends or seasonal influences. My husband Rob then interprets these ideas into watercolour paintings. We currently offer around 20 prints, with our bestsellers including Brown Bear, Hearts and Starlit Moon.”

 

 

Providing the canvas for Rosa & Blue’s artistic designs is its signature bamboo fabric.

Focusing on white and ivory only, a mixture of 70% bamboo and 30% organic cotton is used, with the cotton helping strengthen the bamboo for increased durability. “When Rosa was little I loved dressing her in bamboo, so when I designed the brand, I knew that’s what I wanted to use,” confirms De Saulles. “As well as being very soft, it has so many great properties, including being thermoregulating, hypoallergenic and breathable.”

In terms of developments, one of Rosa & Blue’s impending changes is the expansion of its age range. To meet customer demand, it is extending the current age range of newborn to six years up to eight years for s/s 24, and from a/w 24, this is increasing again to 10 years. And it’s not just the brand’s age range that’s growing.

 

 

“We currently cover all of the baby essentials, including sleepsuits, long- and short-sleeved bodysuits, rompers, sleeping bags in 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 Tog, blankets, hats, and muslin squares and swaddles, alongside children’s summer and winter pyjamas,” says De Saulles. “However, we have lots of new items coming very soon, including new product categories.”

Rosa & Blue has recently moved its production from Turkey to Portugal, where it uses a small, certified childrenswear factory to produce its Oeko-Tex Standard 100 and GOTS certified products. De SauIles is very much involved in the entire production process and speaks to the factory daily. With production now being in closer proximity, she can easily visit the site every two to three months to have meetings with the team and suppliers, check production, and build relationships with the people making her garments.

This level of transparency not only supports Rosa & Blue’s requirements for quality and ethics but will also lend itself to the brand’s next big step: the ultimate commitment to sustainability.

“We have started our journey to become a B Corporation, which is very exciting,” confirms De Saulles. “It’s a big commitment and a lot of work, but it’s something I really want to do. We have been working to reduce our impact with 100% recycled and recyclable packaging. We also ensure no plastic is sent to the customer, with everything being packaged in a Kraft mailer box, which is made from 100% recycled material and is 100% recyclable, together with water-based ink tissue paper.”

 

 

Having built a loyal repeat customer base that continues to grow, Rosa & Blue is now looking to develop the B2B side of the business. Up until January this year, the focus has solely been B2C. That said, despite not actively seeking wholesale accounts in the past, Rosa & Blue has been approached and subsequently stocked by London and Whipsnade Zoo, Scandiborn and Bubba & Me in Tunbridge Wells.

“Up until now, this was as far as we had gone in terms of wholesale,” concludes De Saulles. “However, we have some big developments coming up and a major brand collaboration on the horizon. This year my focus is very much on securing key wholesale accounts with premium retailers and building brand awareness to take us to the next level.”

For further information on Rosa & Blue, please click here.