36905 v3 Lima Tigre Kaneko

LATIN AMERICA 2015 Copyright © ESOMAR 2015
INTRODUCTION: THE NEW BRAZILIAN MIDDLE CLASS GENERATION AND ITS ESTHETICS
Over the last 13 years, Brazilian public policies and access to credit have favored the inclusion of the population from the
lowest tiers of society into the consumption process. There was a significant migration from the lowest classes to B2/C
tiers, and, during the period between 2001 and 2013, our ascending middle class, which accounted for 51% of the Brazilian
population, leaped to 63%. This was especially a result of the ascension from the lowest tiers. From 2001 to 2013, the
participation of SEL B2/C in the Brazilian revenue grew by 5%, going from 43% to 48%.
These families, which were denied access to consumption and credit, made an eager entrance in the market. Brazil
witnessed the rise of a giant consumer – the new middle class.
Through these years, this new middle class has been the object of countless studies and investigations that helped
companies to gain insight on market strategies, consumer behavior and communication, in an attempt to understand its
demands.
However, this social group expanded and we now have a new generation who was already born in a more prosperous and
indulgent time than that of their parents, and who is being raised with a sense of optimism and endless possibilities, fueled
by a significant sense of commitment to society and its origins.
Beyond the growing power of consumption of the last 13 years, this giant has been acquiring a leading role in society,
building its identity, and aiming at ascension and social integration, all the while keeping true to its original cultural
elements. This generation is the purest expression of this giant’s values, behaviors and demands. The forefathers of this
generation strongly encourage courtesy and social decorum as a channel of social ascension and integration, and focus
their demands on education – both formal and social.
Today, this group is an avid and selective consumer in the children and teens’ apparel industry, and may determine the
evolution of fashion retail consumption over the next few years.
“All fashion is, by its own concept, a changing way of living.” 1)
Immanuel Kant2)
This study is an evolutional investigation of the aesthetics of this new middle class generation from childhood to
adolescence, in order to understand the meaning and significances of dress, as a credential and form of expression of
ascension, culture, and a tool of social integration. it is the concept of fashion as a social fact, which embraces social,
economic and cultural layers, and develops into expression and social identity, as it is an industry of meanings.3)
Clothing
is the foundation of fashion material, and it bears in itself a system of social meanings (Barthes, 1983).
“(...) in a world where the deliberately unstable things are the foundation of identities, which are by nature unstable, one
needs to be constantly alert. But, first and foremost, one needs to preserve their own flexibility and speed of adjustment to
keep up with the changing standards of the world out there!” 4)
This new generation’s understanding of the essence of dressing – developmentally, in the universe of mothers, children
and teens from the Brazilian middle class – has created a pattern of values, practices, behaviors, choices, projections for
the future, esthetics and fashion, with the purpose of shaping strategies and product portfolios, and producing efficient
communication for the fashion industry and retail. This new social esthetics in Brazil is a reflection of a type of fashion that
does not follow the principle of consumption acculturation. This new generation seems to refuse to copy higher social
levels, as wealthy tiers of society are of little aspiration to this generation.
BRAZILIANHOOD
A NEWGEN SELFIE
Andrea Lima • Larissa Kaneko • Juliana Tigre

This characteristic imposes a benchmarking difficulty on the Brazilian fashion retail industry, a challenge in replicating
fashion models of success to other social strata. New esthetics is being designed in Brazil today, and for the future!
This paper reveals a profound developmental investigation about the childhood and adolescence phases of the youngsters
in the Brazilian ascending middle class. This study will outline how values such as looks and appearance, dressing and
clothes contribute to the construction of their social identity. The goal is to assist C&A in fashion retail by providing
important elements for strategic planning of children and adult’s clothing for the next few years.
NEWGEN AND THE C&A VISION: A NEW WORLD IN A NEW MARKET, BY LARISSA KANEKO
National and international studies and reports on trends point to a market that is young and promising, but lacking the
appropriate amount of supply. This is not difficult to justify when comparing differences between the babies of today and of
10 to 15 years ago; or children who become entrepreneurs and earn millions of dollars by the time they are 8 or 10 years
old, selling simple but creative solutions and finding their business power in social networks. Or else, when we come
across teenagers who, apart from the dramatic nature of this phase, add many more external influences to this complexity,
both local and international, than one generation ago.
In Brazil, in addition to all of that, this new kids and teens generation is, in majority, part of a social class who is also on the
rise and who has, year after year, been discovering new patterns of behavior, expanding horizons, attaining an
increasingly higher purchasing power and imprinting new cultural, esthetic, behavioral and economic views on society.
Over the years, C&A has increasingly invested in understanding consumers and their desires, in order to make the right
business decisions and track the direction.
The C&A brand entered the Brazilian market via the C&A Institute, whose mission is to “promote the education of children
and adolescents in communities where C&A is present, through partnerships and strengthening of social organizations”. In
addition, C&A provided the first job opportunity to many of its associates, which affords the brand an even greater
responsibility in gaining in-depth understanding of this audience; not only for the business it represents, but for the social
responsibility it holds.
Originally from Holland and with stores in 24 countries worldwide, C&A arrived in Brazil in 1976 and is currently open in
over 100 cities in Brazil, employing over 20,000 associates in its entire base of operation. Having innovation as the basis
of its DNA and focus on the consumer as one of its competences, when the company found itself before the potential
market of children’s clothing worth R$ 28 billion, it decided to make a different move. Quantitative research or data from
internal research alone would not be enough to figure out this new generation. Therefore, the decision was to travel to
four different regions of the country (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Porto Alegre), enter the homes and lives of
these families, and discover their inner needs.
As previously stated, C&A has invested the last years in applying this consumer awareness in its business decisions. This
trend started six years ago with the female target; after all, a revolution and evolution in this segment, which showed signs
of being quite promising, were very clear. And, in fact, it is. Women entered the formal job market, with a stamp in their
employment booklet, and started to provide for their families, take over, make more and more decisions in the household
and expand their clothing options in their wardrobe, in order to fulfill the new role they have taken on professionally and
socially. However, this transformation ultimately changes their views of the world. In fashion specifically, they tend to value
other attributes, which used to either be neglected or go unclaimed, as they felt they did not have the empowerment to do
it. Now, they do, and that forces the company to keep the engines of constant transformation running in order to fulfill
these demands, which was translated into higher quality fabrics, fair prices, more comfortable and organized stores, eye-
catching shop windows and improved garment fit, for instance. The entire store layout has been restructured, and new
collections have been created to match the upgrades. However, although these women are independent, hard-working and
strong, it has been noticed that they were not alone. Men were also there, although not as conspicuously, but they also
wanted to find a place of their own. After all, these new women have stirred men into also wanting to find their new role in
society.
This is how the investigation into men’s world came to be and, as in any other women-oriented market, not only fashion, it
was clueless about how to establish its position. Little by little, this market started revealing its desires and its doubts, and
began to shape the new man to keep up with women. The conclusion drawn is that men are more concerned with their
appearance, more driven to their appearance, trying to really understand more about fashion, although not knowing how.
These are family men, who run their households and their children when the woman is not there.

All of this previous awareness from their “forefathers” gave way to new questions about the new generation that was
growing under their influence. By observing and analyzing this new moment for men and women, the ascension of the
middle class, and future trends in business and behavior, deeper questions started to surface. Now, the key would be to
understand which view of the world these new adults impel for this new generation. Driven by what values, desires and
ambitions are these children and adolescents growing? What impact do influences from international markets, their
families and their community have in their formation? And, of course, what business opportunities are there and/or what
changes should we make in order to meet the needs of this teen target of today, which will become the adult target of
tomorrow?
C&A carried out several quantitative and qualitative research studies on its products, stores and customers. However, it
has learned that going beyond and penetrating further and further into these people’s universe is what will allow it to be on
top of the game and provide them with proper solutions and products. For example, discovering which clothing category
prevails in their wardrobe is a relatively easy job, but understanding what it represents is what allows a company to make
long-term decisions that transcend the next fashion season only. Therefore, this study approach proposes to understand
relationships with the major product categories, situations of use, important attributes, valued aspects, expectations and
even what they represent in each phase of child and adolescent growth and learning.
This was one of the major challenges and, at the same time, one of the greatest marvels of this study, as it provided
insight into what the fashion category represents in each phase of this generation and the kind of impact it has in family
relationships. It has been noticed that, through corporate decisions about pricing, quality, sustainability, fashion, in-store
display, media and others, it is possible to meet the complex needs of parents and children, which takes on many forms.
By understanding this new generation whose market potential in Brazil is in the R$28 billion mark, it becomes easier and
more natural to be in tune with the adults of tomorrow.
Obviously, at the end of the day, the company has a business goal, but this study has revealed that it is necessary to be
aware of this new forthcoming consumption relationship with this new generation. In addition, the company feels it can
only be possible by taking a deep plunge into the minds of these consumers and offering what they are looking for.
Internally, that means revising the business proposition, pricing strategies, more attention to categories and worlds which
may represent business opportunities, negotiation with suppliers, designing of new product ranges and services, creating a
new way to communicate and, of course, shifting the company’s own mindset, once this is also a key outcome which
results from all of this acquired knowledge.
WHO IS THAT CONSUMER BEING?
The human being is also a social being, political being, religious being, atheist being, producer being, creator, citizen,
consumer... For centuries now the human being’s multiple layers have been studied.
Several sciences have focused to understand humans and their several ways of being: the social being (sociology), the
psychic being (psychology), the human being (anthropology), the political being (political sciences)...
Those sciences are based on the understanding of human interaction with its environment, reflecting our need to be
understood, regardless of our way of living.
Every single one of us, no matter the economic resources we may have, the cultural, historical and social setting in which
we live, the religion we belong to, the ideas we spread, we are all consumers.
We continuously make consumption decisions on food, clothes, leisure, ideology, pleasure, religion… and theoretically,
those decisions derive from a rational behavior strongly susceptible to influences from both internal and external factors to
oneself.
Consume, purchase, have, own, and buy are all actions that end up defining another status of that being: the consumer
being. And understanding that being is a complex and comprehensive study, because we cannot forget that studying the
consumer is to study a human being in action and under continuous evolution.
NEWGEN METHODOLOGY
This investigation was purely qualitative and conducted with two approaches: in-home ethnographic interviews and digital
platform research (AHA!Conversations, RealityCheck,inc.)

This dual approach was considered the most suited to deliver more thorough findings in response to the purpose of the
study, i.e., follow up on children’s development in all of its phases, considering the entire family, social, economic and
cultural context into which they are inserted and which reflect on their personal and dressing behavior.
“The child is not born aware of its identity; the child builds its identity with the relationships it establishes with culture and
society”.6)
THE IN-HOME ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND ITS APPLICABILITY
Ethnographic research provides deeper understanding on how the consumer’s decision process takes place. It achieves
such by identifying the internal variables (motivations, perceptions, personal features, behaviors) and the external variables
(environment, culture, social class, social groups, situation influences) that are part of the process.
Therefore, the originality and efficiency of the ethnographic research is explained mainly by three aspects:
a. The ethnographic research is based on the culture as an organizational concept;
b. The understanding focus of the ethnographic research is not the consumer per se, but the cultural being in a
consumption position;
c. The ethnographic research is a mixture of tactics, both observational and oral, to record the contextualized behavioral
dynamics.
NewGen was structured in four stages, which are frequently used in studies with the ethnographic approach, due to its
efficiency.
Study Structuring
a. Precise definition of the research problem;
b. Validation of in-home ethnography + digital platform AHA! as the most appropriate research tool;
c. Desk research – research prior to the field research. It should be long and accurate on the human variables
(geographic elements, social demographic elements, folk elements, local history elements, esthetical references,
architectural/art references) and market-related variables (market elements, product elements, consumption
elements, business elements) that put the research subject into the problem;
d. Building and validation of the tools for ethnographic research: Interview guide, incentive, support material (pictures,
audio, and video).
THE INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR IN-HOME ETHNOGRAPHIC
The objective of this interview guide was to understand the external and internal factors that would affect the DRESSING
behavior and the selection of GARMENTS. One of the clear goals was to understand the current relations established by
this generation, their concept of FASHION and how they care for their appearance. In addition, the purpose was also to
lead and learn about the steps involved in the process of building personal and social self-esteem through caring for one’s
appearance and esthetics.
Therefore the New Gen Interview Guide for In-Home Interviews was developed on Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4:
Part 1 – Life history about references and esthetic standards based on family and social experience;
Part 2 – History of vanity – appearance and anything involved in baby and adolescent care, considering their social
history;
Part 3 – The dressing style and the garments – Dressing behavior in the mother-child relationship and the process of
selecting clothes, the meaning of dressing and of clothes during phases of development. The conflict of roles –
mothers and children – in dressing and choice-making. Particular regional characteristics;
Part 4 – The wardrobe of this generation: investigation of essential pieces and elements, both must-haves and nice-
to-haves in building this generation’s looks.
AHA! CONVERSATIONS & NEWGEN – DIGITAL PLATFORM
As an addition, the digital platform – AHA! Conversations was elected as the tool that would facilitate the expression of our
participants: tweens and teens (between 11 and 15 years old), and younger mothers. Due to their deep level of
acquaintance with digital language and interfacing, and social networks more specifically, this platform becomes a familiar
setting for them to express themselves in the best way. It also allows the creation of a large image database for the
construction of this target’s general esthetics and dressing.

New Gen activities were developed aiming at favoring future projections, building significant concepts and compiling
image-based content about dressing and occasions on an interface that is friendly for tweens, teens and mothers –
especially the younger ones.
THE TOOL AHA! CONVERSATIONS APPLICABILITY, BY JIM CHASTAIN, REALITYCHECK INC
Aha! is an online platform that was developed by a company based in the US called RealityCheck. The founders of
RealityCheck are highly strategic and conceptual in the way they do qualitative. Aha is designed to combine the best
projective techniques used in focus groups and the best tools used in ethnography, to help uncover amazing stories that
will help brands understand consumers on a deeper level.
For NewGen, we used Aha! to help us expand our live ethnography sample and to give us the opportunity to utilize some
interesting projective techniques into the study. As you can imagine, how we dress has an impact on how we feel about
ourselves, who we are now, who we want to be and how others perceive us. These are sensitive and nuanced topics that
are not always easy to put into words.
Through Aha, we were able to have respondents of all ages tell us all of these things online in a way that was – perhaps –
even more honest than telling us in person. Much of what they told us was through pictures:
Of themselves in situations where they feel good and bad about the way they look;
Of their homes and what influence their home has on their sense of style;
Of their family’s influence on who they are;
Of specific wardrobe situations that were most relevant to them.
We were able to “see” them in so many more situations and have them tell us honestly how they feel in a way that would
have been much more difficult and expensive to achieve live.
BRAZILHOOD - NEWGEN – PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS
This study involved four strategic markets for the C&A business, namely: Porto Alegre (RS), Recife (PE), Rio de Janeiro
(RJ) and São Paulo (SP). We have conducted 96 in-home ethnographic interviews and run 72 cases on the AHA!
Conversations digital platform for seven days.
Progressive Cuts in the Sample: The fashion industry and retail in Brazil, and C&A itself, segments its children’s sector into
three age groups: Baby (0 – 3 years old), Kids (4 – 10 years old) and Teens (11 – 16 years old). However, in NewGen, we
have decided to subdivide age groups into smaller cuts, to reflect the main phases of child development. These
subdivisions range from early childhood to adolescence, and consider the construction of cognition, motor skills and
bonding, which articulate and develop together, in response to cultural and social settings, thereby shaping the individual’s
personality.6) According to developmental psychology, the evolutionary leaps towards the shaping of one’s personality are
much more subtle and require closer age brakes.
Consequently, in NewGen, we considered five age groups through which one can track the entire developmental process
and its characteristics:
Baby (0 – 2 years old): Pre-verbal
Petit (3 – 5 years old): Walking and talking!
Kids (6 – 8 years old): School and friends
Tweens (9 – 10 years old): Growth and transition
Teens (11 – 15 years old): Identity
Distribution of in-home ethnographic interviews: 96 ethnographic interviews
Porto Alegre 24
Recife 24
Rio de Janeiro 24
São Paulo 24
Distribution of AHA! Conversation cases: 72 cases, during a seven-day period
Porto Alegre 18
Recife 18
Rio de Janeiro 18
São Paulo 18

Our sample profile was defined as following:
Women: mothers of children between 0 and 15 years old
Boys and girls between 12 and 15 years old
Five age groups: Baby, Petit, Kids, Tweens, Teens
Socioeconomic class: B2C (Brazil Criteria), the equivalent to the Brazilian ascending middle class, whose income as
per classified by the 2013 Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (National Home Sample Research – PNAD) is
between R$ 951.00 and R$ 4,700.00 per household (total sum of the income of all household residents)
Main person responsible for choosing items of dressing
C&A Clients: people who have done most of their children’s clothes shopping at C&A. Have shopped for children’s
clothes at competitor brands in the last 12 months.
Competitor clients: people who have shopped for dressing items at Renner, Marisa, Riachuelo in the last two months
and made an occasional purchase at C&A children’s department in the last 12 months.
AN EVOLVING SCENARIO – FROM BABY TO ADOLESCENT – AND THEIR MOTHERS, ON THE ESTHETICS AND
BEHAVIOR OF DRESSING
NewGen: the Mothers
Overall, the mothers were young, with median age of 35 years and an average of two children. The families are smaller –
which reflects the Brazilian reality of the last 13 years – and the number of children for 0 to 15 years old dropped by 7%,
especially in higher-class families in the country.
In the ascending middle class, income has increased and the number of children has decreased. There are fewer children
per family in this climbing middle class. This has allowed mothers to place more focus on each child and the possibilities of
care and of a promising future have expanded.
In our sample, a large share of respondents had a life partner with whom they shared both financial responsibilities and
parenting decisions, especially in the cities of Porto Alegre and São Paulo. However, there is quite a significant number of
families whose head of household is the woman. They were the sole people responsible for raising the children and could
only count on the assistance of their mothers to help with the children.
On the other hand, the community plays a very important role in child raising. Extended families are quite common in
Recife and Rio de Janeiro, where grandparents, parents-in-law, uncles and aunts share the same roof and help mutually
and financially, also providing support in bringing up and caring for the children. In these cases, there is community
interference in mothers’ parenting decisions, especially in Recife, where fathers are less active in raising and caring for
the children, but their contact with the family community is very intense. In Rio de Janeiro, families, neighbors and friends
from the local community play a very important role in supporting and exchanging ideas about the children: exchange of
experiences with issues related to health, education, nutrition, behavior, leisure time activities, shopping, etc.
The largest portion of mothers are in the job market or has some kind of paid activity to contribute to the family income.
Despite the many activities, they are able to negotiate more flexible working hours, and tend to leave any job that keeps
them from being in close contact and committing to the needs of their children, even if they are single parents. When they
have life partners, they many times choose to be at-home mothers to care for their young children, especially until they
reach the ages of 8 or 9 years. These women have placed motherhood as their priority, as a milestone in their lives,
regardless of their being their first or third child.
This generation of mothers views their children as the best project of a future and is very focused on anything related to
them. They describe themselves as mothers who are there for their children – very committed, dedicated and caring.
However, focusing on life projects, caring and raising children assume different predominant forms in the four surveyed
cities:
The mother from Rio de Janeiro defines herself as fun and always there for her children. This fact suggests a linear
relationship between mothers and children, characterized by friendship and involvement.
The mother from Porto Alegre defines herself as ever-present and overprotective. This mother is always very present and
fully aware of her children’s needs, being rather lenient and permissive with them at times.

The mother from Recife defines herself as disciplined, controlling and serious. These women have proved to be very
influential in their children’s lives up to their adolescence years. Their focus is to help their children to achieve social
success. They are highly focused on education, social engagements and rules.
The mother from São Paulo defines herself as protective and formative. Their primary concern as mothers relates to the
safety of their children in the city of São Paulo. For them, education and personal development are key tools for their
children to be able to experiment other less violent environments. Urban violence in São Paulo is the greatest concern for
local mothers.
Regardless of the prevailing child-raising characteristics, mothers of the ascending Brazilian middle class have as a
common goal of motherhood the success in preparing their children for the future, i.e., for them to have prosperity and be
more integrated and socially engaged than they once were.
“My greatest accomplishment is that my children are properly raised and have a better education than I did!”
“My son needs to be a good-natured person!”
“I want him to get along with everybody, be polite and dear to all, and to have a good circle of friends!
The aspired prosperity and education do not reflect only a better financial situation than the mothers used to have, but
mainly a better social condition. Their best efforts are dedicated to raising a more ethical, honest, hard-working generation
that is happy, independent and content with what they do. That explains why education is a priority; it is a very strong
characteristic for this generation of mothers. Over the last 13 years, in our ascending middle class, SEL B2/C almost
doubled the number of children who completed high school education (from 15% in 2001, to 27% in 2013) and literally
doubled the number of students who received a degree in higher education (from 4% in 2001 to 8% in 2013).
However, formal education and schooling were not considered the only tools to help them achieve excellence and
ascension. Rather, social education, through values like sense of community, family, ethics, honesty and respect to
differences, and social etiquette, such as the ability to adapt to the different social situations they will be exposed to
throughout their entire lives, also played a major influence to that outcome.
These mothers have a strong bond with all of the elements and instruments that may represent a social interface for their
children. To that end, clothes and dressing are important social interfacing tools for their children during all phases of their
development. The clothes they wear and all the personal care they learn – which is taught by these mothers – may play a
key role as a boost or an obstacle in their social integration, success and happiness. Therefore, mothers are very careful
and conscientious about the clothes and the way their children dress. From a very early age, they tend to instill in their
children a sense of care and style appropriateness for various situations. Nonetheless, from ages six or seven, mothers
lose their prerogative of choosing their children’s clothes as far as attractiveness goes. However, the mother still has
power over choosing price, models and stores where the shopping experience is considered comfortable for both mother
and child, up to their teenage years.
Mothers are always mothers, but their children grow in a thrilling evolutionary journey which we were able to map in
NewGen.
NewGen – Onset of the Journey: Babies (0 to 2 Years Old)
Whether they were planned babies or not, mothers always anxiously expect the birth of their child. In the early phases of a
baby’s life, mothers play the leading roles and their main concern is to protect the baby and ensure a healthy development.
Babies are completely dependent on its parents and find in them their first contact with the world.
In addition to protection, the baby’s appearance is very important. A woman’s satisfaction is discovering that her baby
matches what she and society expects of herself as a suitable parent. The expectation of the birth is followed by the
expectation of whether it will be a baby boy or baby girl, as if it were an event, as the family starts to increasingly
characterize this baby according to its gender: male or female. Therefore, the mother starts to care for the baby’s
appearance by shopping for nice, comfortable clothes, and signals the baby’s gender by a color code. The way the baby is
dressed visually communicates what the mother wants to say about herself and her family to her social group.
Babies have sedentary lives, and are confined to their homes or closed spaces for long periods of time. As a result, going
to the pediatrician or to a relative’s house are the main occasions when this child is exposed to the world. Mothers’ care
with their baby’s clothes is intense: they try to provide variety and quality, and try to focus on elements which

communicate gender and cause delight. Beauty is key! Mothers of babies own a great variety of clothing items, shoes and
accessories, and feed the diversity of models, colors, and styles, so as to extend options in creating the most appropriate
look to each situation the child is showcased. In this scenario, the mother is the owner of any and all child-related choices.
Depending on the region, Brazilian mothers vary from making predominantly functional choices with embellishing items, to
selecting garments that are more beautifying, although not as functional.
NewGen – Kids: from the world of fantasy to energetic heroes and heroines (3 to 10 Years old)
Retail fashion defines KIDS clothing as that designed for children between 4 and 10 years of age. This segment
corresponds to 43% of the children’s clothing industry in Brazil. However, our option was to study children’s universe in
its evolutionary sense, according to the development phases. Therefore, the KIDS segment comprises two major and quite
distinctive (although complementary) child development phases: pre-school children from ages 4 to 6 years, known as
petits, and children from 7 to 10 years old, known as kids.
Petits (3 to 5 Years Old): My world of fantasy...
From ages three or four years, the child is able to turn their focus to their own image and elaborate a more narcissistic
version of their physical self. This view results from the way their parents project themselves into their children’s clothes,
which is the beginning of the ideation of their own self-image. Children relish in pleasing and parading their looks, and are
happy to realize they are consistent with what their parents want for them. This is where an individual’s character starts
taking shape – from an image idealized by others and by their parents – until they acquire the ability to make their own
choices. However, they still hold the outer environment as parameter, as it has such influence on them.
This is the phase when children start to gain certain autonomy – walking and talking are already more developed. In
addition, the ability to express ideas and put their points across assertively is quite present. From a very early age, mothers
are able to see determination in their children, which, on the one hand, they admire, but on the other, they fear, as it would
indicate the loss of their leading role in their children’s lives.
The family is a child’s frame of reference and, with the start of pre-school, new icons and rules become part of their lives.
Therefore, sharing experiences with another social group other than the family, encourages them to explore other
possibilities, exercise a few choices, express their ideas, and that is when they start building a positive self-image, provided
it is reinforced by their parents and peer group.
They play a lot, and getting dress and taking care of their appearance can be entertaining! Dressing is playful! The
experience of getting dressed involves fantasy and imagination. Costumes are key clothing items for petits, as they allow
children to experience femininity and strength through their impersonation of princesses and characters – and even
acquire super-hero powers. They also like to play mommy and daddy and are encouraged by their parents to do so. They
are attention-seeking, opinionated individuals who are drawn to their own looks.
Furthermore, income increase in the last few years has allowed easier access to technological devices: tablets, cable TV,
laptops and broadband Internet connection. This generation is very connected and is highly encouraged by their parents.
Particularly in markets with a prevalent indoor behavior, mobile technological devices are already a part of petits’ day-to-
day lives.
Although children have become more autonomous, mothers are still the decision-makers – but they already have to face
the manifestation of some of their children’s wants, and usually give in to requests that belong to the child’s world of play
(toys, characters they like, etc.)
Kids (6 to 8 Years Old): A very energetic super hero...
This is the moment when the body reflects the energy that is so characteristic of growing-up: they are restless and active.
They explore several intellectual and physical possibilities. They are highly driven to sports and exercise. Parents try to
follow their children in every moment and activity. They develop a strong bond of companionship. Especially in Rio de
Janeiro and Porto Alegre, the relevance of outdoor activities for parents and children is high. In São Paulo and Recife, they
value mostly parks and health clubs.
Sports and leagues have great value to these children. Family and school are the social nucleus of the kids. School friends
are the reference, but family is still at the core.
This is the time when their personality and self-image are formed, and this turning point, which marks and symbolizes a
group identity, becomes more important in kids’ wardrobes: soccer teams and leagues, sports modalities, TV and movie
characters they share at school or among friends.

The mother tends to respond to the demands of this kid in order to see their child “beautiful and happy” – kid’s clothing is
the one that makes them comfortable to move around and it makes a stand before their peer group. Special attention is
also given to avoiding very short, tight or revealing clothes for girls, especially in Recife, where concerns with female
sexuality are relevant. To accomplish that, mothers have started to allow their children to go shopping with them and make
their picks, and mothers attentively listen to their requests. At this time, children’s power of choice expands, but the
mother is the one who makes the ultimate decision.
Kids Tweens (9 to 11 Years Old): The transition... lost between the universe of childhood and adolescence....
Friends play important roles in their lives and their participation in group activities with family and friends grows largely.
The circle of friends expands and the “eroticized friend” comes along – someone close with whom the individual shares
experiences and explores a little bit of seduction.
They are always in groups. They spend a lot of time with their families or group of friends, with supervision, and keep
constantly connected, so as not to loosen any ties with their significant peer groups. The majority of the sample in this age
group already owned a smartphone, and content communication and sharing between them is quite intense.
They are growing and their bodies are experiencing new measurements and sensations of which they were once
unaware. They are not ready. It is a time to build their personality and shape their body identity. Self-image crises. They
feel insecure about their bodies and looks. Getting ready or dressed for an event is a lengthy ritual when one tests and
experiments, and the result is not always satisfactory.
The goal of caring for one’s appearance is to reinforce either femininity or masculinity and “hide” the imperfections of a
body that is still a work in progress. In this case, dressing means feeling self-confident and stylish. They start to look for
pieces and accessories, which reveal their personality in elements that communicate a sense of belonging, as well as
singularity. Friends, celebrities and brands are now considered a reference of style and behavior, and the passport these
children hold to feeling like they belong.
The mother tends to help in choosing and putting together looks, which favor children’s self-confidence, and that
sometimes means giving up their personal taste or wish. This is a time when mothers take on the role of counselors and
negotiators. This child wants are highly respected by his or her mother, who starts to lose the power over what they
dress.
NewGen – Teens (12 to 16 Years Old): Me, in the world...
These children are in process of maturing and building their identity. Peer groups are now the frame of reference, and that
causes one to become attached to group social norms – community ambience. They are very focused in building their
social self. They are highly connected, and technological devices – smartphones, mainly – allow them to be constantly
aware of the developments within their social groups, and guarantees they remain present and active in them.
Friends are a source of identification and reference in terms of style and behavior, but, although the peer group is their
main point of reference, this generation looks up to parents and shows deep respect for family struggles. They are fully
aware of their roles as children of parents who have strived to achieve their current condition. Their parents are an
example of effort, ethics, presence and care. There are few signs of rebellion or conflict with parents in this new Brazilian
generation. This relation of respect and admiration for one’s parents starts to be established as a bond of partnership
between two generations. That reflects on the active participation of these teens in every-day family life. Most teenagers of
this rising middle class share tasks with their parents, such as doing chores around the house, helping look after younger
siblings, and some even contribute with a source of income, which they spend on themselves and thereby relieve parents
of some of the burden.
In the majority, parents of teenagers seem quite pleased and confident about the values they have passed on to their
children; they trust the effect of this partnership and act mainly as counselors and role models for the future.
However, they still have issues. They experience phases of uncertainty about the future, their bodies and peer relations.
Despite that, this generation’s core values lie on joint development, sharing, plurality and logic of inclusion. They struggle
with the concept of prejudices of ethnic or economical natural, and resist to setting labels.
In this phase, dressing is part of expressing; it means communicating their personality and social identity. They express
their ideas and opinions by putting together an outfit. Dressing is the way teenagers send a message. Therefore,
depending on their cultural context, as per the different markets in our sample, their expression may have different
meanings. Brands, pop stars and celebrities are strong references to the Brazilian teenager, especially Brazilian

personalities who have risen from social classes adjacent to theirs. They have achieved success through art, music and
sports.
Now, the mother offers guidance and is their partner in making decision about what to wear, but she no longer owns the
right to the final word.
DRESSING AND THE MEANING OF CLOTHES FOR CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS OF THE NEW GENERATION
IN THE RISING BRAZILIAN MIDDLE CLASS
“Dressing is an act of creating social meaning; there is virtually no other way of socializing but through visual esthetics,
ruled by a fashion system.”7)
(Cidreira, 2005)
Mothers favor certain aspects of dressing:
Preservation of their children’s physical and emotional well-being: playing, exercising, imagining and comfort. Clothes
should enable a pleasant development.
Gender characterization and encouragement to the development of male and female qualities. Clothes should signal
the gender of the child: boy’s clothes and girl’s clothes.
Independence to select and mindfulness about their appearance. Clothes should promote children’s autonomy in
dressing, and should enhance their esthetic features by making them “pretty”, “cute” and “stylish” to other people’s
eyes.
From these basic principles of dressing, mothers tend to teach aspects of beauty, good appearance, socializing, courtesy
and clothing appropriateness. The focus is clearly to help their children integrate socially and achieve success, which is an
ultimate indication of her own success as a mother.
For the ascending middle class, clothes are key for the personal welfare and integration they aspire. Clothes play two
major roles in their lives: functional and operational.
Functional role of clothes: comfort, “body coverage”, warming/ cooling, protecting the body;
Operational role of clothes: appropriateness for going out, playing, staying home, playing sports, sleeping and studying.
The combination of these two territories awards clothes the meaning of a social interface. However, this social interface
may sustain different meanings according to the setting where children are inserted and their development phase.
Based on the four surveyed markets, our study was able to identify two distinctive urban settings with very particular
sociocultural characteristics with very different esthetics, and which have a direct effect on the relationship mothers and
children establish with style and clothes:
Solar Urbanity: these are situations where inhabitants establish a lighter and more exploratory relationship with cities
and their communities. They experience city life very intensely: public spaces, community areas, cultural scenery and
nature. These people have sociable and gregarious personalities: they enjoy being with around other people,
regardless of differences.
Functional Urbanity: these are situations where inhabitants have developed a more functional relationship with their
cities and what they have to offer. They do not use or share urban and public spaces very heavily, and limit their
interactions to the family nucleus and their neighborhood. These people are less sociable and more interested in
establishing a functional relationship with other people, as opposed to sharing and taking pleasure in the exchange.
These two distinct situations, which are actually the foundation of this new generation, also affect the prevalence of the
different meanings of dressing and clothes:
Solar Urbanity: the Expressive, Functional and Fashionist meanings prevail, i.e. clothes should distinguish and
underline the personality of the individual, reflect comfort, match the situation and display traits and elements of
fashion and trend.
Functional Urbanity: the Reflexive, Functional and Belonging aspects prevail, i.e., clothes should express the
individual’s present moment and introduce him or her socially; it should reflect comfort and fitness to the situation,
and vouch for this person’s acceptance into certain aspirational groups and social settings.

NEWGEN – THE FIVE TOP LEARNING DIMENSIONS
Brazilhood – a generation that aims at financial, social and cultural ascension, without losing its community and Brazilian
identity: people value products that come from abroad – like England and the United States – but they live and identify
themselves with local behaviors and personalities.
Social and financial ascension are only justified if they feel good about themselves, and get along with other people, their
families and their community: this generation is very sensitive to life (animals, human beings, environment, neighborhood,
community), and are committed and engaged in community causes from a very early age.
For these parents, dressing and caring for the appearance of their children are key elements in their upbringing: beyond
the meaning of dressing and clothes, care and dedication to one’s own image serve as instruments of social positioning,
according to the surveyed sample. Aside from formal education, other aspects, such as social etiquette, the sense of
community, dressing and caring for one’s body and facial appearance, are tools that enable social insertion and the
expression of ascension. Mothers teach children about references of image from a very early age, as our ascending middle
class finds personal appearance a vital complement to formal education. Caring for one’s body, hair and hands starts as
early as babyhood, and these habits are reaffirmed through the whole course of their development.
Mothers are the primary educators in the process of building their children’s sense of esthetics: parents serve as esthetic
inspiration, based primarily on their values and experiences in the Brazilian urban universe where they live.
Selfie Phase: Tweens and Teens – these are phases when self-esteem and body image are built. These are the times
when they dedicate more time and spend more on products, beauty care and image solutions. Clothes represent the
highest share of expenditure for families with children in the 11-to-15-year-old age group. It is a pulverized market which
the retail fashion industry does not explore enough.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to deeply thank C&A Modas Brasil, which made possible the development of this study and supported the
initiative to present it at Esomar. From C&A team, we would like to thank particularly: Paulo Correa – Commercial VP, C&A
Modas Brasil; Thais Lima – Marketing Director, C&A Modas; Fátima Cristina – Head of Buying, Children Sector, C&A
Modas; Ana Fritoli – Marketing Intelligence, C&A Modas; and Cátia Oliveira – Marketing Intelligence, C&A Modas.
We would also like to thank the efforts, sensitivity and competence of MC15’s partners in the development of this project:
Jim Chastain, founding partner, owner at RealityCheck, inc; Ray Fischer, founding partner, Aha! The next Generation online
Qual Platform; and Interviewers: Alex Frenkiel, Gabrielle Lima, Monica Gurjão, Cristiane Gick.
We would like to thank the entire team at MC15, especially Nelsom Marangoni, President, and Paula Deróbio, Operation
Manager.
ENDNOTES
1. Translator’s Note (TN): Free translation
2. Svendsen, 2010, p.13
3. Translator’s Note (TN): Free translation. Moda: Um fator Social. Talita Souza, 2013.(
4. Translator’s Note (TN): Free translation. Bauman, 2001, p.100.
5. Translator’s Note: Free translation. Fontenelle, 2011 apud Mesquita e Castilho, 2011, p.76.
6. Santos; Xavier; Nunes, 2009, p. 68.
7. Free translation.
REFERENCES
Bergamo, Alexandre. A experiência do status: Roupa e Moda na trama Social. São Paulo. Editora UNESP, 2007.
Cidreira, Renato Pitombo. Os sentidos da moda. São Paulo: Annablume, 2005
Oliveira, Talita SouzaTalita. Moda: Um fator Social, 2013, São Paulo, EACH-USP
Philippe Laburthe-Tolra and Jean-Pierre Warnier; Etnografia e antropologia – Editora Vozes
THE AUTHORS
Andrea Lima is a Senior Consultant, MC15, Brazil.
Larissa Kaneko is Intelligence Senior Manager, C&A Modas Brasil, Brazil.
Juliana Tigre is a Consultant, MC15A Modas Brasil, Brazil.

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