With Neon Rebels, Maisonette is Taking On the Tween Market

When Sylvana Durrett and Luisana Mendoza Roccia co-founded children’s shopping site Maisonette in 2017, they aimed to fill what they saw as a major gap in the market: an online destination to shop for high-quality, unique children’s clothing. Or as they called it, a Net-a-Porter equivalent for kids.

Almost a decade into founding Maisonette, Mendoza Roccia and Durrett (both Vogue alumni) are now mothers to tweens. Here, they encountered a new, not dissimilar problem: no destination catered to the ‘in-between’ phase when tweens and teens are too old for kids’ clothing but too young for adult pieces. Today, Maisonette is debuting its solution: Neon Rebels, a marketplace for children ages seven to 14.

This age range is often overlooked because it falls between traditional children’s and adult retail, the Maisonette team says. They believe this makes it the biggest opportunity in kidswear. “Most retailers force families to make an awkward choice between products that feel either too young or too grown up, which creates constant friction between parents and kids,” says AJ Nicholas, president of Maisonette. “That’s the exact pain point we’re solving.”

For Maisonette’s founders, watching their own children grow — alongside their customers’ kids — made this launch a natural next step. “Over the past decade, we’ve built this deep trust with millennial parents who first came to Maisonette when their kids were babies. But as those children grew up, we started seeing an organic surge in demand for tween products on our platform,” Durrett says. “Neon Rebels is our response to that transition; a dedicated space that gives tweens room to discover who they are, while giving parents full confidence in what they’re discovering.”

The Maisonette and Neon Rebels founders with their tween children.

Maisonette has seen the demand firsthand in its children’s business. The marketplace has grown its tween and teen brands by 30% over the last three years, Nicholas says, and now includes brands such as New York-based denim brand DL1961 (which has a robust kids’ offering) and tween-focused brand Summer Loving. As the offering grew, the team felt this category needed its own dedicated space. “What’s been missing in this market is a trusted, curated lifestyle destination built specifically around this unique stage of life,” Nicholas says.

Neon Rebels is launching today with over 100 brands across apparel, shoes and accessories, home and electronics, and beauty and wellness, with plans to grow. Brands on board include LoveShackFancy, DL1961 and Pleat, and Montana Maple, the new tween extension from kidswear brand Marlo, will debut exclusively on Neon Rebels. Maisonette’s existing infrastructure will underpin the Neon Rebels platform, including its marketplace technology, fulfillment channels, vendor relationships, and established customer base.

Neon Rebels’s multi-category curation also borrows from Maisonette’s approach. Historically, apparel has made up about 60% of Maisonette’s business, reflecting healthy growth in non-clothing categories. Billing Neon Rebels as a teen lifestyle offering, rather than solely fashion, is key in 2026, the team argues. “Kids today don’t separate the clothes they wear from the water bottles they carry or the tech they use; to them, it’s all one seamless form of self-expression,” Nicholas says.

The biggest difference between Maisonette and Neon Rebels — aside from the age range — is who will browse the site. While Maisonette is geared exclusively towards parents shopping for their kids, Neon Rebels is designed to cater to both parents and the kids themselves.

It’s in the name. While Maisonette’s nod to European and French heritage was designed for the “modern parent”, Durrett says, Neon Rebels was named for the kids. “We liked that the name lent itself to both an entirely different color palette than Maisonette — because we want this to feel more grown up — while also being playful in acknowledging that this age range likes to assert their style independence and autonomy in a way that can feel rebellious to them.”

Neon Rebels is launching with over 100 brands across categories.

Gone are the days of parents filling their pre-teens’ wardrobes with clothing of their choosing. Now, kids in lower and middle school are more adept than ever at curating their own wardrobes, thanks to their brand exposure via social media. But the rise of algorithmic feeds and short-form video has instigated a collapse of tween culture, as kids’ exposure to styles, trends and brands typically relegated to adulthood has upended the tween market.

Now, as young teens express interest in going offline and countries enact social media bans to limit tween use, brands and platforms have an opportunity to recapture this tween market share — and they need to speak to both parents and their kids to do so. This creates friction for parents, Durrett says. “They want to encourage their child’s emerging style, but they’re also trying to navigate age-appropriateness, quality, safety, and a fast-moving trend cycle that can feel overwhelming.”

“Social media has completely changed how fast tweens discover trends, brands, and aesthetics. Kids are developing opinions about fashion and personal style so much earlier today, and they’ve become real co-pilots in household purchasing decisions,” she adds.

In a recent study of Gen Alpha from research firm GWI, a “clear majority” of eight- to 11-year-olds have a say — sometimes the final say — on purchases in their home, while parents say their tweens influence up to 50% of their spending. “We’re addressing that shift by intentionally taking a much more editorial approach: offering fewer, better choices that have been carefully vetted for quality, design, and age-appropriateness,” Durett says. The real opportunity is giving kids genuine agency over their style without asking parents to give up their role in the process. That’s where the power of co-shopping really comes in.”

The Neon Rebels site is designed to appeal to kids and parents alike.

This co-shopping ethos is embedded in the site’s design. “Rather than leaning into traditional ‘kids’ branding, we wanted it to feel much more like the visual world Gen Alpha is naturally drawn to — and millennial parents grew up with,” Durrett says. To her, this meant a mix of ’90s youth culture, vintage catalogs, zines, bold color, raw typography and collage. “There’s a real nostalgia there for parents, but we’re reinterpreting it in a way that feels fresh for this generation,” she says.

Neon Rebels is leaning into nostalgia for its marketing, too. Though it will target parents via traditional social ads, it’ll reach younger users offline. It’s a smart move, as more countries enact social media bans for under-15s and -16s. “We feel strongly that this age group shouldn’t be on social media, so we will reach tweens primarily offline with events and analog catalogs,” Nicholas says.

For parents keen for their kids to dress beyond the confines of Brandy Melville and new tween-favorite Edikted, Neon Rebels wants to provide an elevated multi-brand experience, as sites like Moda Operandi and Mytheresa are to the Zaras and Aritzias of the adult clothing market. But will the kids buy in?

The founders are confident that, given the right destination, tweens will be keen. “Social media certainly drives awareness for brands and trends, but what tweens are really looking for is inspiration and individuality,” Nicholas says. “They want to mix, match, and customize their looks rather than just wear a mass-produced uniform. Neon Rebels delivers that same sense of cool discovery, but through an intentionally curated lens.”

How to Pull Off an Influencer Trip in 2026

How Jeanerica Is Taking Scandi Denim Global