EXCLUSIVE: Pokémon’s Pikachu Is Baby’s Best Friend With Bonpoint Collaboration
CATCH ‘EM YOUNG: It’s never too early to start a career as a Pokémon trainer.
The Japanese children’s entertainment property is teaming with Bonpoint to offer pajamas, T-shirts, sweaters and denim jackets featuring the rabbit-eared Pikachu character for newborns, toddlers and children up to age 14.
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Retailing between 65 euros and 240 euros for a limited time, the line will launch on April 23 at a selection of Bonpoint stores globally and on the French label’s e-commerce site. It will also be sold on the Pokémon Center website, which sells the franchise’s branded merchandise in the U.K., U.S. and Canada.
The collection with Bonpoint spans six styles, including baby pajamas with a front closure and hidden snap buttons at the inseam, a ribbed sleeping set comprising a long-sleeved T-shirt and matching pants, a jersey sweater, two organic cotton T-shirt styles and an embroidered denim jacket. A cap and tote bag are included in the lineup.
Special editions of the French brand’s “clean” skin care for parents and children have also been dressed in stylized versions of the character, including a face cream, a body cream and a cleansing cream, as well as a set of four travel-sized face creams featuring different versions of Pikachu on the lid.
It is one of the first appearances of the Monpoké maternity, baby and toddler range on the European and North American markets, after its 2019 launch in Japan. Characters revisited for this line, which ranges from apparel and plush toys to picture books and bedding, are depicted in softer tones and more rounded proportions.
Monpoké made an appearance in Uniqlo’s UT T-shirt range in Asia in 2020 and had a two-year pop-up in the Toys’R’Us store in the seaside town of Odaiba near Tokyo that ended in February.
Characters and items from the media franchise have also cropped up in luxury houses’ offerings, including the recent Fendi x Frgmt x Pokémon collaboration, and at jeweler Tiffany & Co. as part of its hookup with artist Daniel Arsham.
Bonpoint has been burnishing its fashion credentials through collaborations with buzzy womenswear label Khaite or tapping Vanessa Seward for a womenswear capsule set to bow for fall 2024.
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