BUYER'S FORUM
Cute & Cool
Amy Spiezio, Managing Editor

Kids are seen and heard on many fronts these days. More than any previous generation of youngsters, today's children have major influence on where the family's money is being spent. And that starts with what they are wearing.

The days of the youngest eyewear consumers making their frame selection based entirely on what their parents want them to wear and what will last the longest are long gone, and savvy dispensers have been tracking this shifting tide over the past two decades.

August 1988. They certainly do start young. It seems that as soon as kids can speak, they express their eyewear preferences, noted Sharon Spooner, MD, a pediatric ophthalmologist at the Jules Stein Eye Institute in Los Angeles. "As early as two years of age, children want 'cute' frames," she said, "and if they like them, they'll wear them more readily."

June 1995. Teens long to fit in and be cool, and this translates to their eyewear selection, too, as was noted in our feature on marketing to kids. "Because the teen years are the most awkward, kids will do anything to fit in, and will only wear what the 'cool' kids are sporting."

"Kids today are more aware of the world around them and are getting older much faster," said Peter Friedfeld of ClearVision. "As a result, they are influenced by the adult market."

June 2004. The desire to dress more like an adult in terms of eyewear and clothing is seeping into the younger set as well, with tweens wanting to adopt the styles of their older brothers and sisters, as well as their hip boomer parents, noted Tonia Abdul-Kader of Wichita Family Vision Clinic. "Tweens don't see themselves as kids, they think they are already teenagers. So you've got to grab their attention first by showing them a frame in a recognizable brand name that's basically a pint-sized version of what grownups wear."