10 Minutes With...

Welcome to another 10 Minutes With interview from the land of online fashion! This time around let's pack the bags and head for Europe, more specifically Holland! Sit back for a new interview with the founder of hip webshop SpringStof, Christel Jansen. With a background in fashion and as an experienced photographer, she has an excellent feel for exciting kids clothes, combining a mature and youthful look. 

Can you tell us a little bit about how SpringStof started? What is your inspiration, and how did you come up with the name?

After working as a freelance photographer I had the chance to work as a product manager in the fashion industry and worked for several labels. When my son Mees was born, I noticed that a lot of children’s wear was so standard, so uncreative. I decided to start selling the labels that do have a specific style, that are fun, bold and original.

Inspiration can be found everywhere. I get my inspiration mostly out of magazines, movies and online. But I find it also in the little things in life, like going outside and spending time with friends.

It took quite some time before the name SpringStof came up. We were looking for an English name but the Dutch word SpringStof was perfect. The English word for SpringStof would be “Explosive”. Besides that in the Dutch language you can find two separate words in it 'Spring' and 'Stof'. 'Spring' means jump and 'stof' means fabric, so we sell fabric made for jumping.
1. Eagle Tee by Finger in the Nose / 2.  Icon slim fit jeans by Finger in the Nose / 3. Jacket by Finger in the Nose / 4. Trainers by  Tip Toey Joey / 5. Backpack by Herschel / 6. Plush/pillow by Lion of Leisure / 7. Belt by Shampoodle.  


The sort of labels a shop carries almost describes the soul of a shop, how would you describe the style of SpringStof?

Springstof is the fun, stylish and a bit artistic webshop for little fashionistas and mini hipsters. Clothing is an important tool to show who you are and what your style is. Children are so imaginative, so original and creative, it is only logical for me that they can express themselves by what they wear, just like grownups do.

When you receive a package from Springstof, it should feel like a special present that is selected and wrapped with lots of attention and care. I want people to experience that when they visit the webshop as well. That’s why we put a lot of effort in the look and feel and do our own photo shoots, design our own posters and postcards. This season we even made a video lookbook, which we are pretty proud of.
1. Dress by Popupshop / 2.  Stockings by Popupshop / 3. Elastic bow by Soft Gallery / 4. Poster by  SpringStof / 5. leopard sandals by Pom d'Api / 6. Swimsuit by Popupshop / 7. Bag by Bobo Choses


What are some of your favourite pieces coming into the shop this season, and is there any specific trends you have spotted?

Some of my favorites are LOUD Apparel Gabs Vampire tee, the Cat dress from BANGBANG Copenhagen and the Thea Ape tee from Soft Gallery.  I’m also happy to have Bobo Choses, Mini Rodini and Mói the shop, I really love these authentic and creative brands.

Prints are still it, you see them in several collections. Especially animal prints are hot. And nowadays you can combine prints and sometimes that might be a little bit over the edge, but mostly it looks fabulous and kids totally love it.

What is the best thing about owning your own children's wear shop?

The luxury of combining three things I love; fashion, photography and graphic design. It also makes my day when I receive e-mails from happy customers.

 I love your new commercial video for the new collections, tell us a little bit about how it came about and the message behind the video?

We always work hard on a lookbook and the presentation of our website. This time we had the chance to make a commercial to present the spring summer collection of 2014. The commercial is called Don’t grow up!

Kids always want to be bigger and do grown up things, as a grown up you sometimes wish to be a kid again and enjoy life without any worries. The commercial is about having fun and enjoying life, being a kid forever and never growing up.



A big thanks to Christel for taking us behind the scenes of her great webshop SpringStof, and letting us find out more about what makes it unique and so popular among both kids and parents.  

:: SPRINGSTOF ::