• by Sarah Mahoney , Yesterday

Bugaboo, known for its pricey-but-practical strollers and car seats, is teaming up with fashion powerhouse Stella McCartney for a new collaboration. It’s the company’s first significant brand partnership in more than 10 years, and the new products will be ready to roll down sidewalks in September.

Jeanelle Teves, chief commercial officer, says the multiyear partnership finally gives Bugaboo the chance to work with a brand whose commitment to sustainability and style is as deep as its own. While sustainable materials and good looks have long been part of Bugaboo’s story, the new collection will sport recycled polyester made from plastic bottles, water-free dye technology, recycled aluminum, and bio-based materials. 

“We're very selective with who we work with, and the team at Stella is rooted in our shared values,” she tells Marketing Daily.

Parents and caregivers spend hours every week buckling and unbuckling their offspring into strollers and car seats. For some, they are simply required conveyances, and the market is dominated by lower-cost brands, such as Graco. For others, they’re a bit of a fashion statement. “Here in New York, many people see their stroller almost like a car, a bed, or an extension of the house. It does become part of your life in a very visible way," says Teves.

Teves says that Bugaboo, in many ways, is similar to Nike, where she spent eight years. Each of the company's products' success depends entirely on performance, engineering and design, with an emphasis on innovation.

“Stella McCartney brings an unmistakable creative lens. Bugaboo brings design and engineering excellence,” she says. “Together, we're creating something that parents and future parents haven't seen before.

"And because the Stella McCartney team is equally focused on sustainability, that wasn’t an afterthought but integrated from the get-go. It shows up in the materials that we use, the processes, the longevity of our product – even how often we spin these wheels in testing, over and above industry standards.”

New parents -- even affluent ones -- often feel especially pinched and stressed when they start shopping, and that may be even more true now, given economic pressures and the crushing costs of childcare. Bugaboo’s research shows that when parents start shopping or building their registries, they can be overwhelmed. “But the No. 1 and No. 2 products that parents search for is a car seat and a stroller.”

Because Bugaboos last a long time, they have a reputation for being passed on to friends and family, which helps add to parents’ sense of value: “Happy parents are our ultimate metric.”