New kid on the block: Rockets of Awesome launches subscription service for kids

Dive Brief:

Subscription-based kids apparel startup Rockets of Awesome launched Tuesday, backed by $7 million in seed funding from General Catalyst, Forerunner Ventures and LAUNCH.
As with similar services for adults, including Stylit, StitchFix, and Dia&Co, customers begin by filling out a questionnaire about their children to guide stylists in their choices. Boxes of 12 mix-and-matchable items, including staples and trendy pieces, are then sent out four times a year, with no membership fees. Parents keep the outfits they like and return what’s unwanted.
Unlike those services, Rockets of Awesome is designing and producing its own apparel, which helps the company keep costs down and charge between $12 to $36 per item, with quality that compares to apparel priced closer to $40 to $120, TechCrunch reports.

Dive Insight:

Rockets of Awesome is an outgrowth of founder Rachel Blumenthal’s earlier startup, Cricket’s Circle, a shopping site for new moms that attracted some 50,000 members. She is also an adviser to Warby Parker, the once pure-play e-commerce eyewear site co-founded by her husband Neil Blumenthal that has branched out into stores.

“What we kept hearing over and over again was once they got beyond the car seats and the strollers and what they needed for baby…they kept running into the challenge of shopping for their children,” Blumenthal told TechCrunch. “Rockets of Awesome is a solution we’re building for the Cricket’s Circle community.”

Children and baby clothing have been a focus on many retailers, as millennials grow up and enter their prime spending years. Capturing parents' loyalty when it comes to shopping for their children is incredibly important, as it increases the chance that they will visit a favorite retailer for every child-related thing: from pricey strollers to back-to-school supplies. Target has made kids apparel a key component to its turnaround, rolling out a new line, Cat & Jack, which consulted a range of children in the design stage.

Kids’ apparel is a relatively stable $30 billion market in the U.S. that grew 1.8% in 2015. Children’s Place, Gap, Gymboree, H&M, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, and Zara are among the major players, along with numerous boutiques. That makes the segment a battle for market share, especially for newcomers like Rockets of Awesome. But Rockets of Awesome doesn't seem too concerned, with Blumenthal telling Racked that its unique in-house, personalized designs will set it apart from those mainstays in the market.

The company has also employed experienced vets to help it out. Rocket of Awesome’s senior vice president of design and merchandising is Zia Taylor, who has worked for two decades for at Gap Kids, Baby Gap, Oshkosh B’gosh, J.C. Penney, and 77kids by American Eagle.

The question for the startup will be whether it can continue to offer such high quality items at such attractive prices, and whether its personal stylist approach is one that parents really feel they need.