Bernadette Enters Childrenswear With Made-to-Order Baby Knitwear Capsule

Belgian lifestyle label Bernadette launched its first childrenswear line on Saturday, a made-to-order knitwear capsule called Baby Bernadette, with pieces priced between $99 and $165 and sized for children from birth to five years.

The capsule debuted alongside the brand's fall collection and marks the Antwerp-based label's entry into a new product category and production model. Founders Bernadette and Charlotte de Geyter, a mother-daughter pair who have designed the label since 2018, confirmed the launch as a one-off project rather than a permanent category expansion.

What does the capsule contain?

The range consists of four product types in limited variations:

• A cardigan, priced at $165, available in three colorways
• A button-shoulder crewneck at $165, also in three colorways
• A bonnet at $99
• One pair of booties at $105

Intarsia berry and cherry motifs were lifted directly from Bernadette's womenswear, positioning the pieces for matching parent-and-child sets — a channel move that links the new category to the label's existing customer base rather than building an independent childrenswear audience.

Why made-to-order, and where is it produced?

Every piece is knitted by hand in Antwerp. Charlotte de Geyter said producing locally by hand gave the designers better control over the process, which determined the made-to-order model. That structure carries clear cost and lead-time implications: hand-knitted, made-to-order production rules out volume scaling and positions the capsule at a luxury price point — the cardigan and crewneck both sit at $165, comparable to the brand's womenswear positioning.

The founders designed childrenswear for the first time with this project. Charlotte de Geyter identified proportion work and the rescaling of fruit motifs as the main technical challenges, requiring the motifs to be adapted so they read as balanced on smaller garments.

Confirmed launch or long-term category?

The founders have drawn a clear line between what is confirmed and what remains open. The Saturday launch is a completed commercial fact: product is defined, priced and in production. Continuation is not.

"It's a one-off celebration," Charlotte de Geyter said of the capsule, "but time will tell." She confirmed that Susie's arrival in September — her first child, born 20 days before she photographed the campaign herself — prompted the project. "It's not just us two anymore, so it felt natural to share this with our customers," she said.

The campaign production itself followed an unconventional route. Charlotte de Geyter shot the imagery in-house, casting real mothers whose advice she sought during the shoot, rather than engaging an external creative team — a cost structure consistent with the label's independent scale.

She framed the project in terms of the brand's own origin story: "It brings back memories of being little and always wanting to dress like my mother. She was my first muse and, in a way, that's where Bernadette began."

For sourcing and supply-chain watchers, the significance lies in the model rather than the volume: a hand-knitted, made-to-order, single-city production chain with motifs shared across categories, launched without commitment to repeat orders. Whether Bernadette converts the capsule into a recurring childrenswear line — with the capacity and production planning that would require — remains undecided, and the founders say time will tell.