
If you're raising small children you'll know just how quickly they grow - and how fast they outgrow their teeny little outfits.
It's a problem aeronautical engineer Ryan Mario Yasin encountered firsthand when he became an uncle, often finding that the clothes he bought for his nephew Viggo no longer fit him when they arrived.
"Children outgrow their clothes in a matter of a few months, yet we clothe them in miniaturised adult clothing, as opposed to designing them from the ground up," Yasin, a graduate of Royal College of Art, told Dezeen. "With 11 million children in the UK, I thought it was time we redesigned children's garments.
And that's precisely what he did.
Yasin founded Petit Pli, a clothing range made of waterproof pleated shells, which grows as your kids grow.
They're windproof and childproof and designed to fit kids from four months to three years old. How? The pleated fabric extends bi-directionally, to accommodate up to seven sizes.
"The structure deforms with the movement of the child, expanding and contracting in synchrony with their motion," Yasin explained, adding that if the idea was going to enter the market, he couldn't focus on using technology "that was too far away from being market ready". Using pleats, therefore, was a simple solution.
Along with being more cost-effective for parents, Yasin's aim is to reduce the amount of waste produced by fast- fashion.
On Facebook, the clothing has been met with a mixed response - with many questioning its aesthetic appeal.