Photos by Hugh Stone
At left, one-year-old Tyreece Johnson in an Old Navy sweatshirt with Reebok jeans and sneakers. At right, one-year-old Tamoya Thompson wearing Old Navy blouse and shorts valued at about US$30 each and a Reebok Classic, about $3,500.
Alicia Roache, Staff Reporter
WE ALL love babies. They are cute and cuddly and they inspire parents to do all in their power to care for them. We want to give them the best of everything. The best food, clothes and amenities. But when is enough too much?
Would you spend $25,000 on your baby's clothes in just one visit to the store? Najolia 'Nooks' Cummings, 25, mother of one-year-old Brahiem Ebanks, has done so, and she sees nothing wrong with it.
The stay-at-home mom from Alligator Pond, St. Elizabeth, says she bought brand-name clothing, the only type her baby wears, to the tune of $25,000 for Brahiem's first Christmas. "The cheapest thing I bought for him that time was his socks", she says. The socks cost $250 per pair.
According to Nooks, Brahiem wears brand names such as "Tommy (Hilfiger), Nike, Old Navy and Reebok."
And though most of his clothes are bought overseas by his father, Melvin, and other relatives, she admits to spending as much as $10,000 on an entire outfit shoes, pants, shirt and socks for the baby.
EXPENSIVE THINGS
"People say why we buy expensive things and he's going to grow them out," she says. "Maybe it's because he's the only child and I would prefer him to look more expensive than me," she explained. This, she says, explains why she does not wear as many brand names as her baby does. According to Nooks, brand-name clothing gives Brahiem that 'special look'.
Nooks is certainly not the only mother who dresses her baby in brand-name clothes. Lorraine Smith from Portmore buys Timberlands at up to US$110 for her one and 18-month-old baby, Kemar. She endorses brand names like "Jordan's, Old Navy and Baby Gap", but she expresses a more sober attitude towards baby brand names.
"Your clothes represent you, you know, so it's not definitely you have to have on a brand name to represent you, because sometime you don't have to have on a brand that people know... There are other brands that look good but not that expensive," she says. "Is not really the brand, is the clothes that represent you."
Nonetheless, she will pay upwards of US$30 for a shirt for her baby to be properly 'represented'. A pair of pants comes separately and costs US$40.
Stacy-Ann Russell of Denbigh Crescent in May Pen says baby Tyreece, now almost two years old, has been wearing brand names since he was born. Even though Stacy is a stay-at-home mom and admits that brand name clothing is expensive, she says little Tyreece wears brand names such as "Tommy, Nike, OshKosh, Old Navy, Gap, Puma, Nike and Reebok" almost all the time. She has spent $1,500 on a Tommy shirt and $4,000 on Nike shoes for her child. She argues "I don't have a problem with people saying that babies shouldn't wear brand name... If I couldn't afford it I would have to work with what I can afford," she says.
Tamara Paragh of Spanish Town, another mother of a 'brand name baby', agrees that certain brands do give the baby a special look. She says she mixes "regular and brand name" clothing for her one-year-old daughter, Tamoya. She too admits that buying brand name clothing is expensive, but says she does it because she wants her baby to "look the best".
"She wear regular clothes in the yard, but when she go out I like her to look nice so I would buy brand name," she says. Like Stacy-Ann, most of her baby's outfits come from relatives overseas.
Even though the influence of American brand names is pervasive and some parents feel that certain names on the clothing make babies look better and more privileged, there are others who think buying expensive brand name clothing for babies is ridiculous.
BRANDS DO NOT MATTER
Nicola Chin, a May Pen businesswoman, is appalled that parents spend so much money on such transient items. The mother of two children, eight-year-old Alex and four-year-old Jade says that from her experience with one child she has learnt that brands do not matter. She says that her older child Alex used to wear only one brand as a baby - 'Pooh Bear'.
"Alex used to dress in name brand clothes when he was a baby, but now he doesn't go to the name brand section (when shopping). It was wasted," she says.
Additionally, she says, "they grow so fast. Why would you want to buy expensive stuff for someone who is going to grow it out in a little while?".
But while she admits that brand name clothing sometimes lasts a bit longer, she questions the necessity of that attribute to babies. "For one, they don't know how to care stuff; they don't appreciate the value of it," she says. "People a go put their children in brand name when it tear? I don't think so," she says. "Financially it don't mek sense you buy that type of clothes for them. Them don't reach the age to appreciate things like that yet."
SETTING A BAD PRECEDENT
Nicola says she chooses her children's clothes based on how well they fit and how good they look. "I choose shapes and colours that children would like to wear," she says. She believes that buying only brand-name clothing for children may also be setting a bad precedent.
"They might grow up and think that if it's not brand name they won't wear it," she said.
At four, she says her daughter Jade is aware of the clothes she wears, but is not concerned at that age about brand names. "We walk into a store and Jade picks her clothes out. But Jade just want to know that it probably has a butterfly or a flower on it something colourful," Nicola said.
"When I go to Miami mi nah pay nutten more than US$40 for Jade clothes and if it's US$40 it have to look like something she'd wear to a wedding," she said. According to her, she has bought Jade an entire outfit at the May Pen market for $300. "It doesn't have to be brand name to look good," she said. "My kids don't wear brand name and they still look good in what they wear every day."
Kerry-Ann Simpson, a hairstylist from Spanish Town and mother of three, agrees that brands do not always matter, though she has already spent almost $30,000 on clothing for her three-month-old baby, Brehanna. "As long as it's cute I'll buy it. I just want it to be cute. It don't have to be a popular brand name," she said. The most she has spent on any one item of clothing for her daughter is $2,000 for a Baby Gap dress "for when she's going out."
"In Jamaica to buy brand name is very expensive," Kerry-Ann said. But the appeal of the brand name still pervades. "When I do go away I will buy it because of sale and so on."
However, Kerry-Ann believes that a brand does not make a 'nice' baby make. "Unless something wrong with their child, but my baby looks good in anything," she said.
