Jeggings

First came jeans diapers. Now, parents are scooping up skinny jeans for their babies and toddlers.

Children’s apparel, including mini-skinny jeans, has been a rare bright spot in the beleaguered apparel industry even during these troubled economic times, according to this piece in the WSJ. Even though many parents cut back buying clothes for themselves, they have continued to spend on their kids. (Children’s clothing sales are up 5.3% year-to-date, over the same time last year, according to MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse. Total apparel sales are up just 1.4%, the article says.)

And the jeans don’t come cheap. At babyGap and GapKids, for example, prices for skinny jeans range from $19.50 to $39.50.

Besides skinny jeans, parents are also buying other adult-styled kids’ clothes, like motorcycle jackets and ankle jeans, under the theory that trendy clothes simply become more adorable the smaller they get. Soon Gap says it will be unveiling jeggings (leggings that look like jeans) for kids.