Keep Your Cool Start your own teen clothing and accessories business.
By Pamela Rohland •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Hey! Did ya just hear that kaboom? That was, like, the explosionof the fashion and beauty market for teens. All these geezerdesigners--they're, like, 25 or 30!--are coming out with theseway-cool products just for us: hair stuff, makeup, handbags,accessories, clothes . . . and, hey, we've got mucho dinerofrom our part-time jobs-and, like, maybe a little help from theparental plastic. Let's go shopping!
Thankfully, you don't have to talk like teens to sell tothem. Nevertheless, a growing number of Gen X entrepreneurs aregetting in touch with their inner teen and communicating with thejunior market using the sweet language of commerce. And there are awhole lot of kids listening: By 2010, the number of teens in theUnited States alone will swell to 35 million, more than at anyother time in history, according to Teen.com, a Web site cateringto the interests of 42,000 young surfers each day. A Rand Youthpoll estimated that teen girls spend $21.8 billion a year onclothes and beauty accessories. The children of the boomers aregrowing up, and they have been well-schooled in the joys ofconsumerism.
"The teen market is growing immensely; they'resurpassing the baby boomers as the prime target for companiesbecause they have so much disposable income," says KeriSinger, Teen.com's fashion and beauty editor. Kids between 13and 19, especially girls trying to define themselves, have anendless appetite for new fashion and beauty products--and testingout new looks helps them satisfy it.
