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Cocalo, a manufacturer of moderately priced baby bedding collections since the late 1990’s, first became known for its nursery decor sold under the Baby Martex, OshKosh, and Kimberly Grant brand names. More recently, Cocalo has been introducing new crib bedding patterns under its house brand. Alphabet Soup is one of these new Cocalo brand collections, first made available for sale in early 2006. Alphabet Soup has quickly taken the baby market by storm, becoming one of the most sought-after crib bedding patterns available today.
The Alphabet Soup baby bedding collection is sold as a 4-piece set, consisting of a comforter, dust ruffle, 4-sided bumper, and fitted sheet. Additional nursery décor accessories are also available, including: musical mobile, lamp base and shade, wall hangings, wall border, hamper, pillows, rug, night light, valances, and diaper stacker. Consistent with its focus on themed nursery bedding collections, Alphabet Soup portrays an “educational" jungle-safari theme, with the alphabet and numbers featured prominently and creatively throughout the collection along with jungle animals. A wide variety of fabrics is used in this collection, including chenille, corduroy, faux suede, and felt, making it very touchable as well as colorful.
Consumer reaction to Alphabet Soup suggests that it is the vibrant colors as much as the theme that has made this pattern so popular. It features a healthy dose of primary colors – red, orange, green, and blue – in comparison to many crib sets today that emphasize earth tones and more subdued colors. This color combination can sometimes confuse consumers who are trying to decide what colors to use on the walls. Stick with off-white wall colors and let the colors in the bedding standout out – deeper colors on the walls may conflict with the bedding.
Consumers should note that a number of subtle changes were made to the Alphabet Soup collection just prior to release – and these changes are generally not reflected in the images that are made available by most online retailers. A blue with white polka dot fabric that was originally planned for the crib bumper was replaced by a blue chenille fabric – I personally preferred the polka dot fabric but believe the replacement was acceptable. The orange gingham fitted sheet originally planned was replaced by a sheet that is a printed pattern of jungle animals and letters on a background of printed orange gingham – I believe this was a step forward..
Close-up examination of the Alphabet Soup baby bedding collection shows the workmanship to be of high quality, more than justifying the retail price of the collection. The fabrics appear to be of reasonable quality, the stitching is neat and well done for durability, the embroidered appliqués are cleanly rendered – as compared to other products where the appliqued fabric often “bleeds" past the surrounding embroidery.
Robert Meier is President of Baby Supermall, an online retailer of crib bedding. Baby Supermall’s crib bedding collections include all those made available by Cocalo, including Alphabet Soup Bedding. |
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