Minor Edition Review

Minor Edition is an online shop that sells unique dresses; Founded by Ipshita, she designs all the dresses herself, so, I was really pleased when I was offered a dress to review, unfortunately the dresses are in sizes 2-6 so a bit too big for my baby princess, so I was going to have to pass the dress to someone else to review from a 'using' perspective!

When the dress arrived it was beautifully wrapped and I felt like I had received a pressie! I opened it up with the anticipation of a child on Christmas morning to reveal a very pretty dress from the new 'Tomato and Olive Collection' which filled me with a 'it's so not fair' vibe at the thought that my little girl was too ickle and I was having to give it to someone else!


So, all I could do was look at the dress from an observation perspective and then pass it on.

The dress was lovely and the uniqueness shines through, I certainly haven't seen anything like this on the high street! The only minor worry I had was how it would fair being worn by a two year old as it appeared to be very delicate!

If I am honest I am not a big fan of the colour green, but this green suited the pattern and style of the dress perfectly, it had a beautiful shape to it and was topped off with some very cute bows!

Now how did the testers like it? Well on receiving the dress the dad had the same thought about the delicateness of it, he worried that the bows may get pulled off or the dress wouldn't fair well with two year old playing!

After little M had worn the dress they said "When putting it on, it fits well, as it is a fitted style and the right size for our girl. Unlike her other clothes, however, there is no 'give' or stretchiness to the material, so I would imagine that she'll grow out of it pretty quickly" and after wearing the dress there were no signs of bows dropping off or the material wearing or tearing, so although delicate - fit for the job!

This is a beautiful dress, make sure you pop over to Minor Edition to see what other items they have in their new collection and as an added bonus, every customer (the child) gets a birthday surprise on her birthday – they just need to register here.

Information from Minor Edition:

Prices of the Tomato and Olive Collection:
The price list is now ready. I am very happy to offer silk dresses meant for special occasions, at such a bargain price.

Green and Maroon dresses with two small bows  - £19.00

Green dresses with large bows - £19.99

Red dress with white sleeves - £23.99

I always mention the sizing because every child is different and do not always fit the British Standard size. I am a first-hand ‘sufferer’ as Anusha, my daughter always need two sizes larger than her actual age. So would it be worth mentioning that Minor Edition recommends that they check the size chart

Very interesting comment about stretchiness of the fabric and totally agree with M’s daddy. Well, as parents, we all hunt for the regular stretchy clothes for the nursery or toddler groups where messy play and suchlike are involved and those that are resistant to a zillion washes. To be honest, organic silk fabrics do not really stretch like a jersey dress for example. The Tomato and Olive Collection is a collection of dresses that are meant to be delicate and special but without the price tag. This can be compared with the special satin dress (that do not stretch as much too)  that we would have bought for our little ones for any special occasion like a wedding or a birthday. Just that these are not white or pink nor are they pricey.

Two Women, a Website and a Baby – The KiddieBase Story

Back at the end of 2009, 2 good friends were having a coffee (this will be a recurrent theme in this story!) and talking about their lives.

One of them, Antonia, had just decided not to go back to her corporate job quite yet and the other, Karen, was debating whether or not 3 children was enough   Both of them were talking about a need to do something useful and hopefully earn a little bit of money to help their families along.  Karen used to work in retail and Antonia in technology so quite quickly the idea of a shopping-related website emerged (after a few more coffees!).

Exclusive to Kiddiebase - Sold by Piddley Pix

The debate then ensued for some time (for far too long if you were to consult the KiddieBase husbands!)  Then as with the inception of most good ideas, it came back to the general idea of finding a problem and fixing it.  And the problem identified was the huge volume of choice out there online for bumps, babies and children, the time it took to shop and hunt down all the websites and of course, what about the wonderful products that were out there and no-one even knows about!? The KiddieBase ladies really don’t like to miss out on anything you see...  How good would it be if there was a site that brought all these great products together to give the shopper the best choice possible but still let the sellers retain their own brand, individuality, descriptions, pricing etc.  Light-bulbs flashed and an idea was born...

So now the coffee shops of one small town in Buckinghamshire have significantly higher takings, two ladies have an idea and two husbands and 5 small boys have breathed a big sigh of relief.  What next?  A company name you say, that won’t take a minute – let’s just jot a few ideas down.  The greatly abridged version of this chapter is that after a few thousand online searches and many spreadsheets of potential names, KiddieBase – the base for all your kids needs – arrived!

So the idea is here, the name is here, now just a lot of hard work to do.  Plans were put in place, action lists written, logo ideas discussed and then over coffee one morning, Karen said to Antonia, “There’s just one little thing I need to tell you....” and that’s when “Baby Arrives” became a new line on the project plan!  Much debate was had over timing, how quickly could the idea be brought to life from the technical perspective, how much marketing should be done pre-launch, need to be out before Christmas and however many times the plan was cut, September 2010 ended up with two major milestones – “Launch of www.kiddiebase.co.uk” and “Baby Arrives”!

Months of hard work later and the many jokes about the PR potential of the baby and business coinciding became reality!  On 24th September, www.kiddiebase.co.uk went live and early on 25th September Karen’s baby arrived.  The full story of the latter can be found on our blog!  So what’s the situation now?

Poppy Sparkles on Kiddiebase

http://www.kiddiebase.co.uk is live with more than 50 retailers on board, 1000+ products and some sales under its belt.  Antonia and Karen are delighted that KiddieBase is to be featured in a Guardian supplement in October and in a number of local publications and are really looking forward to exhibiting KiddieBase at the Earls Court Baby Show.  They are especially proud of the fantastic group of stores that have joined them and that make the site what it is.  There are some truly amazing products there and the range covered is fantastic – gifts, toys, clothes, art, slings, maternity, nursing, furnishings, travel, accessories, personalised items, totally new products and much, much more...

And Baby KiddieBase, well he’s happy, healthy and just gorgeous......

So, make sure you head over to Kiddiebase and check out all the great products, you will find some one off pieces by Piddley Pix there too!!

Thank you to Antonia and Karen for a wonderful post, Congratulations to them both on the launch of the website and to Karen and family and the arrival of the new baby!!