Carter’s currently describes Skip Hop as one of its emerging brands, alongside Little Planet and Otter Avenue, and identifies it as a provider of baby essentials ranging “from tubs to toys.”

Founding — 2003

Skip Hop was established in 2003 in New York City by Ellen and Michael Diamant. The founders were new parents themselves and became frustrated with the lack of diaper bags that could combine attractive design with practical functionality. Their solution was to develop a bag that could work both as a conventional diaper bag and with a stroller.[2]

The company’s early concept was therefore different from simply making traditional baby products. Its basic philosophy was:

Take an everyday parenting necessity and redesign it to work better.

That idea became the foundation of Skip Hop’s later product-development strategy.

According to an account from co-founder Ellen Diamant, the company began with the founders designing a diaper bag for their own needs and then developed that idea into a commercial product line.

Early growth

Skip Hop subsequently expanded beyond diaper bags into a much broader range of parenting products. Its assortment came to include products for:

• Travel
• Baby care
• Mealtime
• Bath time
• Playtime
• Nursery
• Baby gear
• Children’s bags

The company built its identity around the combination of utility and modern aesthetics, rather than treating baby products purely as functional commodities.

Acquisition by Carter’s — 2017

A major turning point came in February 2017, when Carter’s, Inc. acquired Skip Hop Holdings, Inc. from Fireman Capital Partners. At the time of the acquisition, Carter’s described Skip Hop as a rapidly growing global lifestyle brand for families with young children.[3]

The acquisition gave Skip Hop access to the resources, retail infrastructure and international reach of Carter’s, while adding a broader baby-product lifestyle business to Carter’s predominantly apparel-oriented portfolio.

Skip Hop has remained within Carter’s portfolio since then. Carter’s latest corporate materials continue to identify Skip Hop as one of its brands and state that the acquisition occurred in 2017.

Ellen Diamant

Ellen Diamant is one of Skip Hop’s co-founders and was closely associated with the brand’s creative and product-development direction.

Her experience as a parent was an important part of Skip Hop’s original product philosophy: identify problems parents encounter in everyday life and design products around those problems.

Michael Diamant

Michael Diamant co-founded Skip Hop with Ellen. The two developed the original concept in New York and built Skip Hop from a diaper-bag company into a broader children’s lifestyle brand. A company partner identifies Ellen and Michael Diamant specifically as the co-founders of Skip Hop.[4]

“Must-Haves Made Better®”

Skip Hop’s central brand promise is “Must-Haves Made Better®”. The phrase captures the basic idea behind the brand: everyday products that parents already need should be redesigned to make parenting easier, more convenient and more enjoyable.

Carter’s describes Skip Hop’s philosophy as creating innovative, smartly designed and highly functional essentials for parents, babies and toddlers.[5]

The brand’s current positioning can broadly be understood through three principles:

1. Quality

Products are designed around the practical needs of babies and parents, with emphasis on usability and durability.

2. Style

Skip Hop does not position baby products as purely utilitarian. Its products commonly use contemporary colours, patterns, shapes and materials intended to fit modern homes and lifestyles.

3. Versatility

Many products are designed to adapt as a child grows or to serve multiple purposes.

For example, Skip Hop’s current assortment includes grow-with-baby bath products, activity centres, high chairs, toys, diaper bags and children’s bags.[6]

Skip Hop has evolved from a diaper-bag specialist into a broad baby and children’s lifestyle brand.

Baby Gear

This includes products designed for everyday childcare, such as:

• High chairs
• Booster seats
• Activity centres
• Changing products
• Baby chairs
• Developmental equipment

Its current range includes products such as the EON 4-in-1 High Chair, activity centres and other baby gear.[5]

Diaper Bags & On-the-Go

Diaper bags remain one of Skip Hop’s signature categories. Products include:

• Diaper bags
• Changing bags
• Changing stations
• Wet/dry bags
• Wipes cases
• Travel accessories
• Stroller-related accessories

Carter’s reported that Skip Hop was the #1 brand in diaper bags in fiscal 2025, according to its company filing.[13]

Nursery

Skip Hop offers products designed for the baby’s home environment, including changing and nursery-related products. The brand particularly emphasises products that can blend into contemporary home interiors rather than looking like purely utilitarian childcare equipment.

Bath

The bath category includes:

• Baby bath tubs
• Bath toys
• Bath accessories
• Growing-with-baby bath products

The brand’s current positioning specifically highlights grow-with-baby bath tubs.[7]

Playtime & Toys

Skip Hop has developed a substantial developmental-toy business, including:

• Activity gyms
• Activity toys
• Activity centres
• Walkers
• Musical toys
• Developmental toys

Its current assortment includes products such as the Silver Lining Cloud Baby’s View 3-Stage Activity Center and Explore & More 4-in-1 Grow Along Activity Walker.[4]

Mealtime

Products include:

• Feeding accessories
• Snack containers
• Cups
• Bottles
• Lunch-related products
• High chairs
• Feeding accessories for toddlers

Kids’ Bags

As children grow, Skip Hop extends its product ecosystem into children’s bags, including:

• Backpacks
• Lunch bags
• Bento sets
• Preschool bags
• Toddler bags

Its current range includes children’s backpacks and backpack/lunch-box combinations.[8]

Skip Hop primarily targets:

Expectant parents → Newborn parents → Parents of babies → Toddlers → Preschool-age children

The brand therefore has a relatively broad customer lifecycle. A simplified customer journey looks like:

Pregnancy / baby registry
↓
Diaper bag & newborn essentials
↓
Bath & feeding
↓
Play & developmental products
↓
Toddler gear
↓
Kids’ bags & school-related accessories

This “grow-with-baby” approach is an important part of Skip Hop’s current positioning. Carter’s describes its products as award-winning, grow-with-baby essentials designed to accompany children through different milestones.

Skip Hop occupies a distinct position in the children’s-product market. It is not primarily a fashion brand, like Carter’s or OshKosh, and it is not primarily a safety-equipment brand, like some traditional juvenile-product companies.

Instead, it sits in the space between:

Baby products + lifestyle design + parenting convenience + children’s development

A simplified positioning map would look like:

This is why Skip Hop is often better understood as a baby lifestyle brand rather than simply a baby-equipment manufacturer. Carter’s itself describes Skip Hop as a global lifestyle brand.[9]

One of Skip Hop’s most distinctive characteristics is its emphasis on design-led functionality. Traditional baby products often prioritise function first and aesthetics second. Skip Hop attempts to combine the two.

For example, its design approach commonly asks:

• Can the product solve a genuine parenting problem?
• Can it be easier to use?
• Can it adapt as the baby grows?
• Can parents carry or store it more conveniently?
• Can it look attractive enough to fit a modern home?
• Can one product perform multiple functions?

This is particularly visible in its diaper bags, activity products, bath products and convertible/grow-with-baby products.

Skip Hop’s product development is closely associated with problem-solving. Rather than creating products solely around a particular visual style, the company has historically emphasised identifying problems in parents’ everyday routines and creating solutions.

Carter’s says Skip Hop maintains in-house design and creative teams dedicated to its “Must-Haves Made Better” positioning.[10]

This design-led approach is one reason the brand has been able to expand from one category—diaper bags—into a large portfolio without completely losing its identity.

Today, Skip Hop is part of Carter’s, Inc. Carter’s is primarily known for children’s clothing through its Carter’s and OshKosh B’gosh brands. Skip Hop complements that portfolio by giving the company a substantial presence in non-apparel baby and children’s products.[11]

This creates a useful portfolio relationship:

• Carter’s → baby/children’s apparel
• OshKosh B’gosh → children’s apparel
• Little Planet → organic/sustainable children’s apparel
• Skip Hop → baby gear, toys and lifestyle essentials

In other words, Skip Hop allows Carter’s to participate in a much wider portion of the parenting journey.

Skip Hop products are distributed through multiple channels. According to Carter’s, the brand sells through:

• Carter’s retail stores
• Carter’s e-commerce
• Wholesale channels
• National retailers
• Specialty stores
• International distribution

Carter’s reported that wholesale represented the majority of Skip Hop’s net sales in fiscal 2025.[12]

The brand therefore operates differently from a purely direct-to-consumer startup. Its visibility comes from a combination of retail presence, e-commerce and wholesale distribution.

Although Skip Hop originated in New York, it has developed into a global lifestyle brand. The brand has been distributed internationally through retailers and specialty channels, while Carter’s has used its larger corporate infrastructure to expand Skip Hop’s reach. Carter’s continues to describe Skip Hop as a global brand serving families with young children.

Strong recognition in diaper bags

Diaper bags are historically important to Skip Hop and remain one of its strongest categories. Carter’s reported that Skip Hop was the No. 1 diaper-bag brand in fiscal 2025.[13]

Design + function

The brand’s most important competitive characteristic is probably its ability to combine practicality and attractive design rather than competing purely on price.

Broad product ecosystem

A customer can encounter Skip Hop at many different stages: Diaper bag → bath → feeding → toys → activity centre → toddler bag. This provides the brand with opportunities to build familiarity beyond a single product.

Grow-with-child philosophy

The brand increasingly emphasises products that remain useful through multiple developmental stages, rather than products designed for only one short period.[14]

Skip Hop’s visual and commercial identity can broadly be described as modern, playful, practical and parent-friendly. Compared with traditional baby brands, Skip Hop tends to use a more contemporary lifestyle aesthetic.

Its products are often designed to appeal simultaneously to:

• Parents, who care about functionality and appearance
• Children, who respond to playful shapes, characters and colours

That dual audience is important to the brand.

Skip Hop competes across several overlapping markets rather than one single category. Depending on the product, competitors can include brands such as:

• OXO Tot — feeding and baby products
• Munchkin — baby care and feeding
• Tommee Tippee — feeding and baby care
• Lässig — diaper bags and children’s lifestyle products
• Stokke — premium baby/child equipment
• BabyBjörn — baby equipment and accessories
• NUK — feeding and infant products
• Done by Deer — design-oriented children’s products
• 3 Sprouts — children’s storage and lifestyle products

However, Skip Hop’s combination of diaper bags, baby gear, toys, bath, feeding and children’s bags gives it a relatively broad positioning.

Skip Hop itself is essentially a master brand. Rather than creating completely independent brands for every category, Skip Hop places numerous products under the same name. For example:

• Diaper bags
• Baby gear
• Bath
• Playtime
• Toys
• Mealtime
• Nursery
• Kids’ bags
• On-the-go products

This creates a strong opportunity for cross-category recognition. A parent who first encounters Skip Hop through a diaper bag may subsequently consider the brand for a bath product or toddler backpack.

The brand’s success can be explained by several factors.

1. It solved a genuine parenting problem

Its origins were based on a real frustration experienced by its founders as parents.[15]

2. It made baby products more lifestyle-oriented

Instead of treating baby products as unattractive necessities, Skip Hop incorporated contemporary design.

3. It focused on functionality

The brand’s products are designed around practical everyday problems.

4. It expanded intelligently

The company moved from diaper bags into adjacent categories where its design philosophy could remain relevant.

5. Carter’s provided scale

The 2017 acquisition gave Skip Hop the backing of a much larger children’s company and retail organisation.[16]

As of 2026, Skip Hop remains a Carter’s brand and continues to be positioned around baby and children’s essentials.

Carter’s latest corporate filing says Skip Hop is focused on products for expectant parents and families with young children, particularly diaper bags, kids’ bags, home gear, playtime, mealtime, bath time and travel. It also states that Skip Hop was the No. 1 diaper-bag brand in fiscal 2025.

The brand continues to introduce new products and campaigns. For example, Carter’s reported a July 2026 Skip Hop launch called “Clean Slate Rescue,” showing that Skip Hop remains an actively developed brand rather than simply an acquired legacy label.[17]

[18]

1. Skip Hop – Baby Items, Products & Gear | Carter’s
2. Gate 8 Limited | packaging | display | space | display manufacturing | shop fittings | retail furniture | retail design | product displays | merchandising pos | gondolas | FSDUs | store concepts | pos marketing materials | brand communication tools | Skip Hop
3. SEC
4. Skip Hop Playtime & Toys | Carter’s
5. Skip Hop Baby Gear | Carter’s
6. Skip Hop Kids Bags | Carter’s
7. cri-20241228
8. nwl-20241231
9. Skip Hop, Inc. in New York NY – Company Profile
10. cri-20240330
11. cri-20240330
12. SEC Filing | Carter’s, Inc.
13. cri-20221231
14. Skip Hop’s founder talks 4 roadblocks to success, and how to overcome them
15. skiphop.com
16. cri-20220101
17. cri-20210102
18. bizjournals.com