Bugaboo certainly got things right when their Frog jumped out at us in 2001, but will the new Joolz from Mamas and Papas, which shows a striking resemblance, hit the same spot for interchangeable colour? It's not all one way. The interchangeable nature of folding pushchairs and prams was something Mamas and Papas developed from their creative core way back, and today modernised Silver Cross offers every new mum a choice of chassis and pram or seat unit, and Jane offers any of their pushchairs in any colour with any or no accessories under the banner of Build Your Own.

There are visual themes evident in market leaders and their lesser rivals. The Quinny family has found success with a limited number of products showing bold lines and modern styling. Soft curves in anodised metal can be found on the Buzz, Speedi and Zapp.

Andrew Ratcliffe, MD of Dorel Uk Ltd says: ‘Premium pushchair sales are going from strength to strength, even in this struggling economy the demand for Quinny is still very high. Highly stylish urban pushchairs continue to be extremely popular and the Quinny Buzz has been endorsed by many A-list celebrities recently. Consumers have always been influenced by the fashion styles of celebrities and we can now see this happening in the baby product industry.' Myleene Klass, Jamie Theakston,Frank Lampard, Heidi Klum, Gwyneth Paltrow and Gwen Stefani to name but a few to embrace Quinny to its UK sales advantantage.

Stokke too has benefitted from the same desire to copycat well-known faces. It's Xplory pushchair, which struggled to find it's feet in the UK initially in 2002, especially with competition from the Bugaboo Frog, has since found its form and been snapped up by Claudia Schiffer, Courtney Cox, Rachel Weitz, Louise Redknap, Tori Spelling and Russel Crowe. Today sales are at an all time high. It's a statement pram, with an eco-dimension bringing children up and away from nasty car fumes to where they can interact with their carer at a reasonable height.

There's certainly a strong market for such ‘Look at me' styles, but what about most families who are now trying to cope with increasing fuel bills and rising inflation? For them smaller firms that tend to pick up on some of the design features of the larger brands, with slightly less expensive products, are very attractive. ICandy offers the Cherry, Apple (in three or four wheel options) and Pear (double), which all have curved metallic seat frames, small wheels to the front and larger ones behind. In look Petite Star's wider range has strong similarities, which are also reminiscent of a ‘Quinny' feel. Only Maclaren continues to resist the pressure to make any flighty changes, maintaining it's strong range of real ‘buggies' with confidence.