Orange County Register

After launching a boys line about 18 months ago, Hurley International, the action sports clothing label based in Costa Mesa, will start selling a girls collection in late June.

Like the boys line, the girl’s collection targets newborns to kids 10 years old. A girl’s plaid wool skirt decorated with buttons, pictured right, will go for $22 for an infant. A studded hoodie, pictured below, will sell for $36 for an infant. The girls line will initially sell at Nordstrom, Macy’s and Dillard’s, retailers that currently carry the boys line.

Sales for the boys clothing grew about 50 percent in the past year, Bob Hurley, the company’s chairman, said Thursday at the Action Sports Retailer trade show in San Diego.

There’s a need for kids clothing that isn’t plain, Hurley said. “Why can’t kids have really cool clothing that’s not a replica of what their parents are wearing?” he added.

Hurley’s expansion of its kids line has company. Last week, American Eagle Outfitters announced that it will launch a new children’s apparel brand and stores called 77kids.

Amid this weak economy, kids clothing overall continues to do well because parents typically cut back on spending on apparel for themselves rather than for their kids, said Mitch Kummetz, retail analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co.

However, earlier this month, Talbots said it’s exiting the kids business and closing the South Coast Plaza shop.

Related link:

• Talbots Kids at South Coast Plaza to close

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