We recently spoke to Rob Walker, co-owner of Little Star Jewellery, to find out more about the business, ideal Mother’s Day gifts and plans for future releases.
Can you give a brief background to Little Star Jewellery
Little Star was launched in 2017. It came to life as a project between my wife Vicky, whom a lot of people will already know through her design experience in the industry and I. We’ve always thought our skills sets matched perfectly, with my background being in Production Management/Merchandising in the fashion industry and were at a point where we wanted to do something together. With Vicky’s background we could have very easily decided to launch a ladies brand, but we wanted to give the market something it didn’t already have by way of a more sophisticated approach to children’s jewellery. Children’s jewellery is often cheaper and lower quality or can be quite twee. We decided to make a commercial, quality silver jewellery brand that just happens to be aimed mainly at kids.
What do you believe sets you apart from your competitors?
Firstly, our very reason for coming into being was giving the market something we don’t think it has. We’re not about a ‘pink is for girls and blue is for boys’ approach or one that you might historically associate with the handwriting of children’s jewellery. Our recent brand overhaul has further added to this and is seeing us move in much more fashion forward direction, after all most 5 and 6 year olds we meet these days feel like they are going on 20!
In addition, a key difference is our adult offering within the range, primarily with our Mummy & Me pieces where we sell matching sets, but also as we’ve evolved many of the pendants have had extenders added and earring posts have been lengthened so that most pieces can be worn by all ages. We’re a jewellery brand for the whole family.
What are your best-selling products/collections with independent retailers?
There isn’t one defined answer to this. Our entire range is one that is kept tight and what we’d consider a collection of commercial pieces. Different retailers sell different things well and it can even drill down to things like geography. Though it would be safe to say that traditional children’s keepsakes like baby bangles and lockets do very well for us everywhere. Personalisation is a very strong factor in our offering, as it lends itself very well to the gifting nature of Little Star. As such we offer a free engraving service to all our stockists and this is something that is very popular, particularly as we do it with a one-day turnaround for those fulfilling orders for last minute gift buyers.
With Mother’s Day coming up, tell us some pieces that retailers might love to sell and what makes those pieces stand out?
I can’t imagine anything more perfect for Mother’s Day than our Mummy & Me collection. It’s all about celebrating the bond between mother and child and the special milestones in life together. Or just having a bit of mini fun. The collection comprises matching bangles, necklaces and bracelets, most of which are ideal for engraving, meaning you can keep piling the sentiment on. In fact with perfect timing, we’ve just launched an adult size version of our best-selling Gisele Diamond Heart Bangle.
What jewellery trends do you see on the horizon?
We keep hearing the phrase Modern Heirloom a lot and would like to think we are very much therefore already bang on trend. The keepsake element of many of our pieces aligned to our primary focus of quality means that our jewellery is built to last and to be enjoyed for years to come.
Are these trends something you will look to build into your future collections? What can we expect from these collections?
As such products are the backbone of our offer it’s a continual thing for us and every new range in Little Star will always be focused on pieces that kids or adults can wear, keep safe, come back to and enjoy forever. But specifically in relation to our newly released products they do very much reflect the fact that we have recently started working with a number of high-end kids fashion retailers. Evolving to operate with them sees us taking more notice of wider fashion trends, with higher price points and more regular drops. In particular boys’ jewellery is something we’re very keen on expanding and think has great potential.
What sorts of retailer partners are you looking to work with?
Cue the stereotypical answer, but everyone. We offer something a little more niche and it’s therefore likely that a lot of people don’t currently offer what we can do for them. It’s those people with shelves full of more diamond rings and watches than you could shake a stick at that I’d say give up a tiny bit of space, try something new and work with us.
If retailers decide to work with you, do you offer marketing, such as images and campaigns they can promote?
Absolutely, the first thing we’ll do is give stockists access to all our imagery and assets that we use ourselves in order that they can also push us online. For a growing brand like us it’s great that we can work with partners to open new areas of business for them whilst growing awareness of Little Star. Further to that we’ll do as little or as much as stockists want to help, whether it be banners for websites, content for social media or running competitions together.
Why did you join the CMJ and what do you think the benefits of joining the CMJ are?
We feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity, and at a time when we continue to grow year-over-year the timing couldn’t have been better to become part of such a network for us. We’re at a stage where for us primarily distribution is key and the CMJ provides a great opportunity for us in that regard. But away from that working with nice people and a sense of community in what feels like difficult times are also a great pull.
Would you recommend joining the CMJ to other suppliers?
In challenging times who wouldn’t want to be part of a group of people all pulling together in the same direction.
For more information on Little Star Jewellery, visit its website or contact rob@litttlestarjewellery.com.
