At Playtime New York trade show on August 3rd, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jimena Belen Leyria, Founder of Little Italy Kids. Jimena loves Italy…most of her close family members lived there and transmitted their beautiful Italian memories to her. Little Italy Kids is the celebration of her family roots. You’ll find a lovely blend of classic designs, with sparkles of trendy topics, handmade embroidery details, colorful illustrations and a lot of love and dedication.
Read Interview with Jimena from Little Italy Kids
“All my family is from Italy, and I’m from Italy too so we wanted to celebrate our roots. We wanted to capture the essence of the ‘Italian’. We thought about the energy they have and how colorful they are…and we tried to place everything in a pattern. So as you can see the patterns have a lot of colors, they are red, blue, and green, they have a lot of different shapes. They have Italian phrases for you to have fun as you dress your baby.
What are your favorite pieces in the collection?
This little dress that you can use as a t-shirt, as a tunic or as a dress. This is really nice because it has a lot of details, here you have a lot of pleats and you can still enjoy the pattern we developed for the spring-summer 2014 collection. And it’s very wearable.
We also have this onesie that is fully printed and also have the pleated detail. All of our clothes have a lot of details and that’s one of the things that makes the difference between our brand and others.
For the boys, we also have fun prints. For example with this waistcoat is really nice for the boys to ‘go out in the afternoon’. If you open it you’ll see it’s all full print that fun with a lot of nautical prints and good colors. And this is the boy’s onesie. It’s very funny, we love the prints, and that’s why I’ve chosen it. It’s great to play at home, and they won’t get their knees dirty because you have these cute patches that can help prevent dust.
What inspired you to create Little Italy Kids?
I love creativity and the arts. When I did my vocational tests I was told that I should be an art curator, and my parents said, “no, please be an accountant.” Of course, I didn’t do it. I worked in big companies but I wanted to spread my creativity and ideas. And that’s why I decided to launch the line
I live in Buenos Aires, I produce the brand in Peru and I sell in the US and Europe.”
Little Italy Kids Spring Summer 2014 Collection
For Spring Summer 2014 the Little Italy collection is full of energy bringing to life the colors, the spice, and the fun Italians have all the time! You’ll find unique handmade illustrations made by an Italian lover and inhabitant, so they truly reflect the spirits of the country and their people.
Being the best choice for baby´s skin, Little Italy uses Pima cotton fabric that is harvested by hand in Peru. Pima cotton does not peel, is uniquely soft, making it the perfect fabric to touch a baby´s skin. It’s also great for Mom as it’s easy to machine wash, and because of the long cotton fibers, it’s very durable and resistant.
Inspired by the heat of the summer, for the “La dolce Vita” 2014 collection little baby girls will enjoy the flavor of ice creams in harmony with the lyrics of funny watermelons that will sing while sailing and exploring the seaside together with the baby boys.
