Squeezed parents are still managing to set aside up to $1,500 a year to spend on their children's clothing, according to a new survey from Shelia' Wheels.
A poll commissioned by the ladies' insurance firm found the average child's wardrobe is worth $1,677.
Nearly two-thirds of children own at least one item of designer clothing, while 39% of kids are bought their first labelled apparel before their second birthday.
British parents are scraping together an average of $764 a year to spend on the latest attire for their children with 6% spending up to $1,500 annually, more than the average cost of households' spiralling energy costs.
The average child has more than 154 items of clothing in their wardrobe, a shoe collection valued at over $190 and a toy collection worth $1,676.
More than half of the parents questioned said they had bought clothes for their kids they had never worn, while two-thirds admitted to splashing out on items that had only been worn once.
Some 36% of parents said they worried their children would be bullied if their wardrobe were deemed to be not sufficiently up-to-date. A quarter admitted to feeling guilty if they did not buy their children the latest fashions, while nearly 40% declared it their “duty” to keep their offspring on-trend.
Jacky Brown, a spokesperson at Sheilas' Wheels, said: “It used to be kids who followed in their parents' footsteps but now it seems children are leading the way when it comes to keeping up with expensive fashion trends.
“Designer clothes and shoes for kids have become an increasingly popular purchase but parents must make sure they tot up the value of their child's wardrobe to ensure they have ample contents insurance, as it's crucial not to underestimate the cost to replace a little miss fashionista's designer wardrobe.”
Walk before you run. Or, if you're a presidential hopeful in New Hampshire, march while you run.
In a state where presidential politics is as much a part of the 4th of July as fireworks and barbecues, Republicans seeking their party's nomination were well represented across the state Monday.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman both marched in the Amherst parade Monday morning, along with supporters of Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum.
Though Romney was wearing running shoes, Huntsman kept up a quicker pace, sprinting back and forth across the parade route to greet voters, often with his two young daughters scrambling to keep up.
"Get some stickers," he told his staff when he stopped to buy some lemonade from two young girls wearing Romney stickers.
"Aside from the politicking and the handshaking and the enthusiasm that our campaign is determined to generate in this state, we're going to reflect on what it means to be an American," Huntsman told reporters. "To share inalienable rights, to share our Constitutional privileges."
The two former governors crossed paths just briefly as the parade began, exchanging pleasantries before taking their assigned spots in the lineup. Romney's campaign was first, with the only float sponsored by a candidate — a large, three-dimensional model of the New Hampshire state seal featuring a warship built in Portsmouth in 1776.
As the parade wound through the village, Romney led his supporters in a song his father used when he ran for president in 1968, beginning, "Hooray for Romney! Hooray for Romney! Someone in the crowd shout Hooray for Romney!"
None of the onlookers took him up on it, but they at least knew who he was. Several parade watchers remarked "Jon who?" when hearing Huntsman's team shout "Jon 20-12! Jon 20-12!"
Bob Burke, 50, of Amherst, had heard of Huntsman and counts himself a fan.
"I like his energy," he said. "And the fact that he showed up makes a big difference."
Further along the route, fellow Amherst resident Robert Rendall, 57, shouted out to Romney as he passed, asking him to protect American jobs and stop outsourcing them overseas. A two-time Romney supporter, Rendall said he appreciated getting to see the candidates participate in the parade every four years.
Bethenny Frankel sat down with Piers Morgan last night to talk about her brand and her new book "A Place of Yes." In the book she describes 10 rules "for getting everything you want out of life." Piers went through a few of them with her. "Break the chain is living your own life," Frankel said. "You have to decide the life that you want not what people say your supposed to want."
Piers also sat down with Linda Hogan where the conversation turned to her young boyfriend...
Hogan thought her new boyfriend Charlie was 23 at first but then she found out he was lying: "I said OK as long as you're 19 and not 17, we're good, you're legal!"