Since the Euro and Franc are near parity and after spending a few weeks up north recently, I started looking at end-of-season sales around the EU for a few brands of Scandinavian clothes I like and found one place that might appeal to anyone else of similar tastes: http://www.knotsknetter.nl/

I just picked up four dresses for next summer for 77 EUR/80 CHF (including tax and shipping) which is what you'd pay for one dress around Zurich much of the time (if you could find the selection). They do direct bank transfer so don't worry if you don't have an CHF/EU-based visa. I hate being such a Yankee and love getting a good deal so much but...there it is.

Thanks - I'll check that out.

Back at you - try www.finnishdesignshop.com. I have a mild obsession with anything Finnish, so I love this online store, especially anything from Marimekko. There's not a great deal of kid's clothes, but some designers do kids toys which can be cute.

Plus, they're Swiss-friendly - they pay the Swiss tax duties on anything you order!

Well, the other half is Finnish so...there aren't many places to get good deals on Marimekko clothes, even in Finland and even in the outlet shop. If you have something specific in mind, though, I can probably help you find something cheaper. I'm particularly fond of Finnish Arabia dishes/ceramics which are both expensive and difficult to stuff into a suitcase. The majority of clothes are Swedish, though, and they are so adorable. Even the Finnish kids wear them.

I have bought from this store

www.barnyardkids.co.uk

and in ch there is http://www.funkybaby.ch/de/

Thanks for the above links I'll check them out. I have a bit of a fetish for Scandinavian kids clothes

page not found on that link

I came across barnyard kids (and funky baby) but they're much more expensive in pounds. The same dress is 14 eur on the dutch website where it's 29 pounds on the uk site and 45 chf on the swiss site. Now that the euro is almost 1:1, it's even cheaper. Hard to argue with prices like that.

And good to know I'm not alone in my fetish.

Oops, sorry Nicky - try this instead: www.finnishdesignshop.com

For those with time on hand or itchy fingers for sewing, Lotta Jansdotter does very simple Scandinavian designs books, for kids and adults, home stuff, etc. I like her things, plus sewing her stuff is super primitive, her patterns fool proof.

That Dutch site is awesome, it's worth ordering, clothes here are murderously expensive and can be pretty boring.

EmpressJo, have you found the Scandinavian design store yet in Nyon? It's close to the Place du marche. They are now having sales, too.

EAT - It is called Lumiere de Lune.

Pity my daughter is too big, but her stuff looks interesting. I'll have to keep an eye on her. Thanks for the pointer.

I've ordered a few patterns from http://modkidboutique.com/, e.g. the penny dress, that I think I can manage, but the difficult part is finding knit fabric that I like. fabric.com carries the fabrics that she designs but I've not found anything particularly scandinavian in jersey knit. I did find Monaluna which I might wind up using for a dress sometime that doesn't need jersey.

Although, if you wait for the sales, given how expensive fabric is and the amount of time required to sew a dress, it might be more expensive to make your own dress which is somewhat ironic.

It is more expensive to make your own, these days, I love buying old linen table clothes in flee market just to recycle and get a cheap, well used fabric to make authentic looking clothes, for this reason.

Modkid sounds fun, hahaha. Monaluna has fab fabrics, gota check that out.

I just saw a great fabric here, though, a local sewing shop imports Rowan cotton, soooo nice. Polka dots in not very usual colours I liked the most.

These are patterns I am going crazy for these days, French are translating these Japanese books by dozens.

I found another brand, Liandlo at http://shop.textalk.se/en/shop.php?id=9498 that has adorable stuff including jersey fabric by the meter. I need a 12-step program to help my fetish.

when you find the programme I'll join you

wow these prices are dangerous!

Aren't they though?! And when you check out they strip off the Swedish VAT (22% iirc) and add postage. I don't know if Switzerland will apply tax or not, but, still...great prices.

Dutch VAT is 19% but usually it is already included in the price (when you order off a dutch site)

Oh and the best dutch dresses are "Jottum" expensive but too cute, www.kleertjes.com

Just an update - I received both the Knottsnetter and the liandlo dresses in the post today and neither of them needed extra tax or shipping charges so, it's an extra bargain considering they strip off the EU tax from the purchase. Six adorable dresses for ~125CHF is a pretty good deal in my book.