One of the things I’ve loved doing since Roo was born is finding beautiful outfits for her to wear. It’s lovely to find something online or in a high street boutique that won’t be worn by the masses at every birthday party and I often find that many of the high street stores fabrics are so harsh on toddlers and babies skin that they are not only uncomfortable but also impractical. That coupled with them being overpriced, often made in third world countries where workers receive little wages and falling to bits after just a few washes led me often to buying organic cotton and fairtrade outfits.
One such brand that I have bought for Roo is Piccalilly clothing who specialised in organic cotton children’s clothes catering from babies through to boys and girls up to 5 years of age. Piccalilly is a UK company based in Settle close to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales run by people who love the environment they live in and who want to source in a socially responsible way. As an ethically conscious brand they have been leading the way producing stylish ethical baby clothes and ethical children’s clothes that are colourful and modern in design since 2006.
They are a forward thinking business committed to trading fairly with suppliers throughout the supply chain whilst also working towards environmental best practice. All Piccalilly’s organic clothes are coloured and printed using low impact environmentally responsible dyes and at no stages of processing have formaldehyde, solvents, silicone based softeners, toxic chemicals or azo-dyes been used.
These are all things that are important to me when choosing clothing for Roo as I want to avoid harsh chemicals and over processed fabrics on her skin. So when they contacted me asking if I would like to run a competition with them and review some items from their clothing range I jumped at the chance as I hadn’t bought any of their toddler clothing yet and had been wanting to try them.
Their girls clothing range is fantastic. Timeless colours such as raspberry and cornflower blue adorn beautiful dresses and t-shirts and there are cute details like applique fruits and smock dresses that make their children’s clothing range fashionable, practical and fun. It was a hard choice about what to go for but with a holiday approaching for us all I prompted for a t-shirt and one of the fruity twirl skirts.
I eagerly awaited the arrival of my box of goodies and wasn’t disappointed when it arrived. The box alone that the product arrived in was beautiful, coming in brown cardboard and stamped with the Piccalilly bird logo and their slogan. The clothing was wrapped in tissue paper and when I opened the items up it was easy to feel the quality of the organic cotton.
The t-shirt was really soft and had a good amount of stretch to it. I had gone for age 4 in size and it was refreshing to see that it wasn’t overly big as some commercial age 4 t-shirts are as their sleeves come half way down Roo’s arm! The colour of the t-shirt in the cornflour blue with the beautiful applique pear on had lovely attention to detail with two different types of fabric being used to contrast the blue of the t-shirt.
The fruity twirl skirt was a sensible length, not overly long but not short enough for Roo to display her undies for the world to see. I went for age 3 in the skirt as Roo has a tiny waist and I particularly liked the elasticated waist of the skirt rather than buttons as this meant it was easy for Roo to get on and off herself. The magenta trim around the edge set off the colours beautifully and tied in with the magenta stitching on the skirt.
Applique T-shirt – Pear
Soft & dreamy pear applique t-shirt featuring fluttery cap sleeves – perfect for floating about on a summers day! Team with a Piccalilly twirl skirt or yoga leggings!
Available in sizes: 6-12, 12-18, 18-24 months, 2, 3, 4, 5 years
100% organic cotton interlock surced through CHETNA Organic
lovely fluted cap sleeves with embroidered edging
Designed in the UK and manufactured to the highest ethical standards
Fruity Twirl Skirt
An impossibly pretty summer skirt and essential summer Piccalilly kit! Team with matching or contrasting t-shirt
Available in sizes: 2, 3, 4, 5 years
100% organic cotton poplin sourced through CHETNA Organic
Trimmed with strong magenta ribbon detail
Elasticated waist band
Additional information -
The first time we wore the outfit out was to a party with some of Roo’s friends. Many of the girls were dressed in the usual party dresses adorned with Hello Kitty, Dora or Peppa Pig. It was nice to see Roo in what I call proper girl’s clothing. She looked really pretty and several mum’s came to ask me where I had got the items from – oh to have had some business cards or flyers to pass out at this point! As per usual at every party there was lots of naughty food around and Roo managed to get chocolate ice cream and jam down the outfit much to my worry.
Never fear however, as a good soak in our Fairy washing powder for a few hours and then a cool 30 degree wash had both items sparkling clean again, still very soft, no horrible bobbling to the t-shirt and both items ironed absolutely beautifully. I have delighted in putting both items into the holiday suitcase for our trip to America tomorrow as both items will be comfortable and cool in the heat being 100% cotton and nice and loose around Roo’s skin so no nasty sweat or heat rashes.
Piccalilly clothing is designed in the UK and manufactured the highest ethical standards. Piccalilly are shortlisted BEST ECO DESIGN in the Junior Design Awards 2012 & nominated for BEST ECO BABY & TODDLER FASHION in the Prima Baby Fashion Awards 2012.
Piccalilly.co.uk have a gorgeous range of clothing for babies and children as well as a lovely range of accessories. I’ve got my eye on a few things, particularly the applique sun dress, sun hat, the pyjamas and for something magical the violet flower fairy costume for Roo’s birthday this year!
If you want easy-to-wear, comfy, stylish, organic and ethical clothing and accessories for your kids, I’d definitely point you in the direction of www.piccalilly.co.uk, I am sure that you will love it like we do! Plus the nice people at Piccalilly have given us a competition to win a voucher up to the value of £20 to spend on any item of baby or children’s clothing on their website. To enter simply complete the Rafflecopter entry below.
Piccalilly Clothing Competition
Fab comp lovely x