Raincoats

Raincoats have always captured the fascination of children. School kids love to get into the warmth of their respective raincoats when it rains heavily and prefer it to umbrellas as raincoats add colour to kids' lives. Raincoats for children are now available in fluorescent colours with many brands such as Duckback manufacturing coats with koala bears, stars, stripes etc. priced from Rs.265/- onwards. These raincoats are in high demand. Since these are priced reasonably, they are selling well. Most shops give access to raincoats from well known brands like 'Duckback', 'Top in town', 'Real and Reliable' and the lesser known local ones that can be got at cheaper rates. A branded item is always a safer option since the quality and material is guaranteed. Duckback raincoats come in standard solid shades of blue, brown, red and gray and are popular for their durability and strength. Priced between Rs.600/- to Rs.1000/-, these raincoats are a bit expensive but are of high quality and worth each of its penny. Material wise in raincoats, varieties such as plastic, cotton-mixed and nylon are available. Nylon raincoats last longer and are preferred by parents for their wards as kept these raincoats keep wearer's clothes dry. The ones with a mix of cotton do not dry quickly and end up becoming sticky.

Umbrellas

Though raincoats are preferred highly by children, umbrellas are still liked when the kids are in a mood to enjoy the rains. Umbrellas are so well liked because it allows them to splash rain droplets over their friends. This explains the reasons for the rise in demand of the exclusive water splashing umbrellas these days. The advancement of umbrellas from a single stick black roof mode to the automatic push button type is one of the most amazing innovations. Some of the most renowned brands in umbrellas are Popy's and John's, which produce exclusive umbrellas for children with colours and cartoon characters as kids form a large chunk of the market.

Colombo Umbrellas is an exclusive umbrella retailing outlet which deals in one-fold, two-fold and three-fold varieties. These can be folded into your child's bag easily and are priced within a range of Rs.99/- to Rs.160/- which is affordable. However the most amazing range is in the fancy section where umbrellas with various cartoons of Dalmatian dogs, parrots, cats, teddy bears etc., beckon. Priced from Rs.75/- onwards, there is something to suit everyone. Umbrellas with special double coated UV protection costing Rs.265/- onwards will protect your child from the harmful rays. The magic umbrellas are also a hit with the children. The magic umbrella which displays different colours when opened and the jingle bell umbrellas with dancing light and music are also liked by children.

School Bags

School Bags are also another reason why kids don't hate going to school for. Children these days have become demanding and their parents have to give in to those demands to keep them happy so that they go to school and study well. Like raincoats, school bags too have undergone various innovations. Apart from the colour, their inner components and space along with their portability make them a huge favourite with the kids. A maximum percentage of school kids hate monsoons not only since the muddy waters that makes their uniforms dirty, but for the havoc it creates inside their school bags. Hence parents provide their kids with waterproof school bags, which have led manufacturers to emphasise this quality in their products. Nowadays, everything from nursery bags to college bags to hand bags carry the 100% waterproof tag.

With movie merchandising coming into the picture big time, huge production houses have put pressure on the local manufacturers as well as brands to create various types of innovative and user friendly school bags.

Brands such as Scoobee Day have come out with bags having many compartments and are priced from Rs.115/- upwards. These bags are both durable and attractive, a combination rare to find in any product. ScooBee Day bags are compactly designed with unique features that make them durable, colorful, comfortable and portable. These bags feature anti strain shoulder padding's and accupressure buds specially designed to reduce the strain on the back and shoulders. Now-a-days school bags have features like imported dinner nylon for durability, shoulder strap cushion to prevent pain, unique stitching using strong nylon threads, quality zip with zip guard to prevent water leaking into the bag, secret pocket to hold chocolate and money, an array of never seen before and attractive color combinations and special leak proof tiffin box pouch. Also, the Harry Potter mania which has caught the attention of kids' big time has led to local manufacturers making a wide range of Harry Potter with various characters from the film being imprinted on them. Priced from Rs.140/- onwards, these bags are produced in bright colours of orange, green, red and black. With the issues of children carrying backpacks with a truck load of books to school being debated all over, many bag manufacturers have hit upon the idea of introducing bags with a trolley to carry those heavy books. Costing Rs.475/-, these trolleys are being counted upon to take the load off the young shoulders. Some manufacturers have also come out with drawstring backpacks exclusively for children to take off the heavy burden from their backs. These backpacks can be used by children to school on Saturday's or other half days when there are a very few sessions of lectures. These also come in various different colours and are also very versatile.

Water Bottles & Lunch Boxes

Two things that are part and parcel of every kid's routine school plans are water bottles and lunch boxes. School children look forward to getting their hands on their respective brand new bottles and lunch boxes before joining school again. Most children usually love the sight of colourful lunch boxes and water bottles but there are some who also use simpler ones. The price of water bottles ranges from Rs.25/- onwards. However, the insulated water bottles from leading companies, which cost upwards of Rs.120/-, seem to enjoy good sales in the recent times. Hot pack lunch boxes ranging from Rs.85/- onwards also are in great demand these days. Many film production houses have taken advantage of water bottles and lunch boxes too for marketing their respective films and hence these days, we see a lot of lunch boxes and water bottles with some popular film character. Such tactics lure children in buying those products.

Eco-friendly products

Combining 'going green' with back to school shopping is a great idea. What better way to teach your children to care for the environment? By purchasing earth friendly products for your child, you will be helping the earth and educating the next generation. There are many types of back to school products that are more earth friendly these days. The Recycled Paper Products are the perfect back to school products. 'Navneet' is one such renowned brand offering various types of eco-friendly notebooks. Recycled writing instruments such as pens and pencils are also in demand. Eco-friendly backpacks and bags such as a hemp backpack or a knap sack are very famous these days. These are made up of strong, durable and earth friendly fabrics. Every child going back to school should use one of these.

Not only will your child be totally earth friendly in their back to school wardrobe, they will look pretty decent too. Organic cotton and hemp clothing is popular for the environmentally conscious. These fabrics are sturdy as well as long lasting. They can be dyed in a wide variety of biodegradable dyes that are also earth friendly. In India, the trend of using eco-friendly back to school products hasn't started in a big way yet as there is very less awareness due to lack of awareness in villages and small towns. But in years to come, all that might change and parents will start buying eco-friendly back to school products for their kids.

Education through technology

Educational CD ROMS are the most enjoyable ways of learning for children. With the advent of this innovative learning tool, children no longer get bored of studying as these ROMS have very attractive content package such as colourful images, charts, illustrations, animations etc. These also consist of voice-overs and hence students no longer have to go on reading the content. They can just listen to the voice-over and prepare for the examinations. Apart from that, these ROMS also have important examination tips and tricks, glossary and formulae. For relaxation, these CD ROMS also contain crosswords, jumbles, memory map quizzes etc. Although, it has been a few years since their introduction, the packaging of these CD ROMS has changed and manufacturers have brought in various innovations over the past few years. 'Navneet' again is one of the few top brands in the market, which supplies educational CD ROMS and has been one of the market leaders in doing so successfully over a period of time.

Education through entertainment

What better way for a child to learn than through toys and games? Indeed, through educational toys a child can learn and grow more than he ever can through studies. Educational toys are created with a view to teach children about a certain subject or aid them in learning a skill as they enjoy themselves playing any toy. The development of a child can be raised by everything he/she interacts with including toys but certain ones can be better than others for an enhanced learning experience. More parents are moving towards looking for toys and games that are more educational. But children these days make their own buying decisions and usually in the past they used to go in for fun toys but educational toys too have started to gain popularity amongst children in the recent times. These days, it is found that children above three years decide on their own. Amongst the various products, puzzles are hugely popular amongst children. There are numerous types of 'puzzles' in the market which have captured the attention of children. 'Puzzles' helps in a child's mental growth. Toys like 'building blocks' help develop physical skills. Others such as 'white boards' and 'magnetic boards' help make subjects such as Maths enjoyable. 'Construction Toys' also aid in stimulating ideas in children. At an early school level, the Memory Games help in building a child's memory and improve hand and eye co-ordination. There are other fun games like 'Trivial Pursuit' that aid in updating a child's knowledge on various facts about the world.

Some things never change

School Stationery products such as pencil boxes, scales, pencils, erasers and sharpeners with interesting exteriors are still catching the attention of kids. A few years back, Chinese items were not that common in the school stationery supplies. These days though, the Chinese items are being imported in plenty to India and those have made their mark immediately. These items have been designed uniquely in various different colours, sizes and shapes with an intention to attract the attention of kids. Most of the school stationery products have been designed with a popular cartoon character like Pokemon or a superhero like Batman or Superman in mind as kids idolize these characters. To compete with the Chinese manufacturers, their Indian counterparts too have started innovating and experimenting with the school stationery and allied products by creating products on the lines of popular Indian characters such as Krrish. Thus, merchandising, coupled with the creativity of the manufacturers has played a huge role in attracting the kids, thus resulting in profits for the manufacturers. Also, back to school kits are also very popular with kids today as these sets contain various stationery material such as pencils, erasers, sharpeners, scales, art material, and pens.

Thus, the industry of Back to School products is an ever inclining one, which has a massive scope for growth and innovation. With China entering and dominating the fray, the domestic manufacturers have a tough task on their hands if they have to resist the competition and dominate the scenario. This intense rivalry is going to benefit the market as several new, innovative and durable back to school products will be introduced in the market in the upcoming years.