Many people now consider childhood the best period of their lives, when life flowed smoothly and measuredly, and the world around was full of discoveries and new impressions. Nostalgia for those carefree days often influences taste preferences when shopping, especially when the long-awaited firstborn appears in the family. Not surprisingly, retro styled strollers for newborns are now becoming increasingly popular, reminding young parents of their own childhood.
What is retro style?
Usually, the retro style refers to any thing, the design of which imitates the fashion trends of the past, especially the times of the late 19th - mid-20th centuries. Most often, from the point of view of practicality, such things are inferior to modern counterparts, but they look much more beautiful.
Clothes, cars, music and furniture in retro style are gaining more and more popularity now, as they distinguish their owner among the crowd in our age of “soulless plastic”, when all design is subordinated to practicality, and fashionable flagships of smartphones from different companies look exactly the same.
Reasons for the popularity of retro style strollers for newborns
Most of today's young parents grew up in the 80s and 90s of the last century and managed to live in the USSR or find things of those times in everyday life. In times of shortage, it was considered special chic to "get" something imported, so most young families then by hook or by crook tried to get the Zekiwa strollers produced in the GDR. In addition to prestige, those strollers were trite lighter and more comfortable than their Soviet counterparts. When the children who rode in the "convicts" grew up and became parents themselves, they bought strollers for their newborns, which reminded them of their own childhood as much as possible.
And demand, as Adam Smith proved in the 18th century, invariably creates supply. Unsurprisingly, the number of retro strollers on the market is steadily increasing. Strollers for newborns are especially often made in retro style, because strollers with a sitting seat appeared much later than cradles and already bear the imprint of mass production in their design.
Interestingly, from the children's transport industry, the fashion for vintage has spread to children's toys. For example, there is a toy stroller for dolls Wakart Monica, made in retro style.
Benefits of retro strollers
Retro-style strollers are almost always more beautiful than their modern-style competitors, so young parents may not be afraid that an ugly stroller will ruin their image while walking, and the child will learn to be beautiful from an early age. But it was not only the aesthetic qualities of the vintage baby transport that determined its success.
Most often, such strollers belong to the middle-high price segment, which means that the materials and technologies used in them allow providing the baby with comfort and safety, which is especially important in the first year of life. Often, such strollers are produced by companies that have been on the market for more than a hundred years.
Along with modern materials, classic materials such as wood and natural fabrics are often used in retro products, which will delight connoisseurs of eco-design. Another important advantage of vintage strollers is the classic chassis shape and large reliable wheels., which provides good shock absorption, stability and safety for children in this style.
Retro budget strollers
The concept of budget is poorly applicable to designer items, but, as in any assortment of goods, there are models whose cost is much lower than that of analogues. Prices for children's retro strollers in the relatively budgetary segment start at $ 400, and are produced by their manufacturers from China and Poland.
Among the variety of such models, it is worth noting the Polish Lonex Classic Retro with a grapevine cradle trimmed with natural linen. Such a model is not much more expensive than ordinary strollers for newborns, its main two drawbacks are the weight of 18 kg and poor insulation.
Another Polish stroller DorJan Retro Irys also looks stylish, the model with 17-inch wheels is especially good.
The Reindeer Retro line of strollers, designed in Germany and assembled in Poland, is very interesting. Such strollers, despite their environmental friendliness and vintage style, are already quite warm and adapted to the harsh Russian winters. And the 3 in 1 format combines high modern technology with classic reliability.
Chinese competitors are not lagging behind the Slavs - the Geoby Katarina model is a typical 2-in-1 version with a stylish fabric cradle and a comfortable walking block.
Retro - modern
Among all the vintage models of children's transport, the products of the Portuguese company Bebecar, made of grapevine and textiles, stand out.
The "trick" of the series of retro models of this manufacturer is the ability to independently choose the color of any of its parts and even use your own pattern for it.
With the proper taste of the customer, this option allows you to create eclectic combinations of retro design and modern color solutions. The cost of such a truly designer stroller ranges from $ 500 to $ 1000.
Elite retro strollers for newborns
Most of the popular now retro strollers belong to the high price segment and combine fashionable design and the highest quality workmanship. A considerable part of such children's transport is still assembled by hand. Such strollers are produced by firms from old Europe - Great Britain, Germany and Italy.
The main manufacturer of retro strollers can, without a doubt, be called the English company Silver Cross, which has been on the market for over 130 years. The Silver Cross Balmoral stroller is a real children's royal carriage with huge 50 cm wheels, weighing a solid 37 kg. In such a carriage you can go straight to the ball. Such a masterpiece costs from $ 3000.
Prices for models of German and Italian manufacturers are much more modest. So, the price of a classic vintage cradle from the Italian manufacturer Inglesina Classica will range from 700 to 1000 dollars, depending on the configuration. The Italian model sports cotton trim, a large hood, adjustable backrest, the option of installing a stroller module and impeccable design.
Made in Germany
Most German products are distinguished by a less pretentious design, slightly better reliability and a large selection of finishing materials. Thus, the Eichhorn Senator can be supplied with a textile, natural leather or leatherette finish. The famous German quality in this model is complemented by shock absorbers on the belts. Depending on the configuration, the cost of the "senator" will be up to $ 1000.
Another German retro stroller, Teutonia Elegance, has a bottom made of eco-plywood, which improves ventilation.
Finally, the Hesba Kinderwagen boasts handcrafted assembly and a wide array of included accessories. It will not be an exaggeration to say that German strollers are analogous to German cars in the children's transport market.
The stroller comes from childhood
One German company stands apart from all manufacturers of vintage strollers - the same Zekiwa, whose products are associated with so many warm memories of modern parents. Over the past more than 50 years, the company has only strengthened its position in the world market and now offers, among other things, the Zekiwa Senator retro stroller.
Its features are a body twisted from a willow vine, a lightweight relative to competitors weight of 17 kg and a budget price of $ 500. Therefore, modern kids can ride in an improved version of the same stroller in which their parents once rode.
Nevertheless, when choosing children's transport, you do not need to focus only on the brand. It is worth carefully reading the reviews for each of the models and making a choice based on your own needs and capabilities.
The advantages of an antique stroller can be seen in the following video.
