Tailored for tots

Children's clothing brand Tang' Roulou, founded by two young french entrepreneurs, embroiders the enchanting details they see in China into their design elements. [Photos Provided to China Daily]

In 2007 Pierre-Yves Babin (left) met Amelie Peraud.[Photo/China Daily]

Inspired by Chinese culture and their own background in France, Pierre-Yves Babin and Amelie Peraud have crossed cultural lines to create a business making children's clothes. Yang Yang reports.

Chinese culture has become a growing feature in the Western world over the last decade, and in return European, American and other influences now abound in the major cities of China.

Less common is a fusion between cultures, as seen in the handmade children's clothes designed by Pierre-Yves Babin and Amelie Peraud.

The French business partners, in their 30s, are the brains behind the children's clothing brand Tang' Roulou, which mixes Chinese and European elements.

They operate from a 45-square-meter workshop in downtown Beijing, which houses themselves, two assistants and two tailors. The space is small. If large and rapid orders come through, they outsource to other tailors.

The shelves are stacked with patterned and colored cloth, which they search through to show examples of their design, such as a plum chasuble dress sewn with handmade bubbles, a pink jacket with traditional Chinese buttons and a red sleeping bag for newborn babies.

"I got the inspiration for a chasuble dress sewn with little cushions from the Forbidden City," Peraud says. "When I was a French teacher, I passed by the Forbidden City each day. I liked the golden doornails on the big doors, so when I designed this dress, I put the little cushions in different colors onto it and this works, also like a joke."

Their business started in 2004 when one of Peraud's friends became pregnant and she decided to give her a special gift.

"At the time, I was in my second year in China. I wanted to connect my presents with my life in China. Then I started to design some blankets," Peraud says.

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