The products for this review were provided by Hailey & Sarah, Squamish, BC-based Peekaboo Beans Stylists, to facilitate my review! You can shop from them directly via their Peekaboo Beans website, and from Nov. 10-18, you can shop via my “Virtual Soirée” link!
I first heard about Peekaboo Beans from the owner of kids’ consignment store, Not For Long Boutique, in my hometown of White Rock, BC. Cub and I were visiting my parents out west, and a Maman Loup reader mentioned we should stop by. I got to talking to the owner, Laura, about the amazing resale value of certain cloth diaper brands. She asked me if I’d ever heard of the Vancouver-based kids’ clothing brand, Peekaboo Beans. I had not!
From what she told me, it sounded like Peekaboo Beans clothing was the equivalent of AppleCheeks cloth diapers: a high-quality, Canadian brand with a community of devoted followers and an exceptional resale value! Beans’ fans are called Beanaholics, and I think they could give even a hardcore AppleCheeks Mama a run for her Samoa!
Any time parents can resell items their children have outgrown and earn a good chunk of their initial cost back (and in some cases, turn a profit), I’m eager to find out more.
Out of pure coincidence, when I got back to Montréal in June, Hailey and Sarah approached me for a review. They are Peekaboo Beans “Stylists,” and earn commission and discounts on sales made through online and in-person parties as well as via their website. (Think Jamberry, but for kids’ fashion.)
With my curiosity already piqued, I was psyched to review Peekaboo Beans outfit for Cub.
Peekaboo Beans Children’s Clothing Review
Cub’s new Peekaboo Beans outfit includes:
- Run Wild Pants in charcoal ($38)
- Lazy Dayz Tee in lime ($35)
- Night Wolf Tee ($36)
Exceptional Quality and Style
The first things I noticed when I opened our Peekaboo Beans parcel was the quality of the material, the workmanship and the extra detailing on each piece. Cub’s normal bottoms are sweatpants from Joe Fresh or Old Navy. His Run Wild Pants put all the other pants in his wardrobe to shame with the detailed stitching, thick, soft waistband and stretchy material. The Lazy Dayz Tee has the ingenious addition of thumb holes in the sleeves, meaning sleeves don’t get bunched up when putting on a jacket. Both the Night Wolf Tee and the Lazy Dayz Tee have contrast ribbon detail on the inside bottom hems, and the back of both tops is slightly longer than the front, so when Cub bends over to play, his bare back isn’t exposed. (Also great if you need to tuck the shirts in.) I like the look of the Beans logo on each piece, and I like that it isn’t enormous or overbearing: my kid is not a billboard (but trust me, once you’ve become a Beanaholic, you can spot Beans a mile away).
Although I’d like to believe that Cub would look cute even in a paper bag, he looks particularly cute in his Beans:
Clothes Built for Play
The Peekaboo Beans mission of “Providing the ingredients for a playful life” really appeals to me. The company explicitly and actively promotes children’s need for free, unstructured physical play with their community initiatives and their products.
Cub is a rough-and-tumble kid, he loves to run, jump, climb, dance, sit, squat, balance, roll, kick and crouch. Since I cannot stand to do any of those activities wearing restrictive clothing, I avoid dressing him in the children’s equivalent of “office clothes.” I never want the clothes I choose for him to restrict his movement or discourage him from playing. If I’m wearing yoga pants or leggings, Cub shouldn’t be in jeans! Every clothing item in the Beans catalogue is designed to allow children freedom of movement, and to keep them comfortable so that all they have to think about is play.
Visiting my parents again later this summer, it was finally cool enough (at least in the shade) to wear long pants and long sleeves, so we took our full Beans ensemble for a test drive.
Do they live up to their mission?
We got down to some serious play during a morning-long nature walk and playground session on his second birthday. Papa Wolf was doing a variety of stretches and exercises using the benches and picnic tables, and Cub did every one alongside him. The thickness of the pants material protected Cub’s knees as he crawled over playground equipment. The stretchy but secure waist band (which allows for a perfect fit over his cloth diapers) never slouched. (I find a lot of his other stretchy pants start to stretch out as he plays, and his pants start to slide down!)
The sleeves on our Lazy Dayz Tee are too long for him to use the thumb holes, but they stay rolled up just fine.
Beans are perfect for nature walks, and even for discovering Fairy Doors!
Are they worth the extra cash?
Although I try to purchase the majority of Cub’s wardrobe second-hand for both environmental and economical reasons, I recently found myself in a quandary as I prepared to go shopping for some brand new items.
Where do I find affordable, ethically-made clothing for him?
Peekaboo Beans are definitely more expensive than Old Navy or Children’s Place. In terms of quality, however, there’s no comparison. I will grant that children outgrow their clothing (even the bargain brands) often times before there’s any wear and tear, so it can be hard to justify spending the big bucks even if the quality is superior. But let’s just consider that a sweater you spend $20 on at Joe Fresh will either be given away to charity or sold at a garage sale for $1… while a Peekaboo Beans sweater (even with stains) that might have cost you $50 can be resold for at least 40% its original price! As long as you can afford the initial investment, you can rest assured that your Beans will still hold value when they’ve been outgrown.
In terms of ethics, which is also an important consideration for me when buying new items, Peekaboo Beans maintains a stellar Manufacturing Code of Ethics. Furthermore, when purchasing your Beans, you’re also putting money back into the pockets of parents like you rather than a faceless (and often unscrupulous) multinational brand.
I really, really love our Peekaboo Beans outfit. Papa Wolf is usually very indifferent to the items I receive for review, but he has made multiple comments about how much he likes Cub’s new clothes, and even correctly identified a little girl at the playground who was also wearing Beans. It is hard for me to justify spending $30 on a t-shirt, although for the reasons explained above, if I’m going to splurge on clothes for Cub, it’s going to be on Beans. Since finding pants that are such a great fit and so functional (yet stylish) is a challenge, I am most definitely going to add more pants to our Peakaboo Beans line up. I don’t hesitate to recommend the Run Wild Pants as a worthwhile investment! The same goes for the Lazy Dayz long-sleeve shirt, since it can be worn so easily under t-shirts or on its own, and I hate how sleeves get rolled up when putting a jacket on!
If I can offer a slight criticism of our Peekaboo Beans (because no review is complete without it), it would be that I would love to see even some of their line up manufactured here in Canada. (They have a manufacturing partner in China.) I suspect that, unfortunately, local manufacturing would increase the price of Beans to make them simply unattainable for the target market: young families.
If you’d like to shop for some Peakaboo Beans, check out Hailey and Sarah’s website and Facebook page!
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