Do all teenage boys dress the same in your area

[pastypirate]

Firstly this is not a personal dig at any child. I only have dds. Also there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the clothes I describe as in they are neither offensive nor inappropriate.

I live in the south west in a city. All the teenage boys I see out and about dress the same. They wear matching tracksuits mainly in only black, navy, dark grey or v occasionally sort of beige. They wear black puffa coats usually north face. They wear air force ones mostly or v similar looking trainers.

I haven't seen a teenage boy deviate from this in a few years now. No jeans, no colours unless it's a football strip, no dms or even converse.

They all have v similar haircuts too shirt on the sides and longer on the top with a kind of side floppy fringe.

There are some themes with the girls - baggy 90's clothes but it's nothing like as uniform as the boys.

I know fitting in with trends is a teen thing - I was one but can't help feeling the 2020's is more conformist than ever.

A friends ds who is about 17 told us he occasionally wears a t shirt to school with anime stuff he likes on it. He is told by his peers this is really 'out there' for style. He feels weird about it.

My nephews came down from the midlands at half term. They are also dressed like this. They are year 6,8 and 12.

Is this a down here thing or is rest of uk like this?

The so called 'roadman' look is one of the mainstream fashion trends for teens. Joggers/leggings(for girls), hoodie, puffer jackets, trainers.
I do not really like that term. I prefer casual sportswear.
To those referring to normal teens as roadmen and chavs you need to stop buying into the media image that sportswear equals bad person. Fashion has changed.

I went to my partner office once and it was like a sea of men in jeans with check shirts.

There was a lot more variation in colours & hairstyles in 90's teens even if many wore similar style of clothing they weren't the clones see now. Sure there were more fashion subsets than now and one was the trackie roadman look, weird to think of it as a timeless style 😂

I''d love to see the end of the stretchy waistbands as see far to many males with their hands down their pants.

I think the reasons why the "uniform" has become more ubiquitous and across the country is due to social media & internet shopping.
As a teen of the 90s, you simply didn't have as much information about what other people were wearing. When you did go shopping, you were restricted to what your local shops stocked and what sizes they had in stock. If you wanted a particular look and it was sold out, well, that was that and you had to go for the next best thing. This meant that there were natural variations on a theme.

DS (16) doesn’t dress like that. He likes jean-style slim fit trousers (not denim) and smart T-shirts or shirts.

That’s extremely unusual. I’ve not seen a teenage boy not dressed like op describes for some time.

All those saying “chavs” the lads Dd knows from a top name public school dress like this only in v expensive versions from Cortes or similar.

Actually these lads are hideous so Dh and I trying to police that she socialises with boys from the local comp who are far better mannered.

DS is 14 and yes, same look here. Nike Air Max trackie bottoms, the stupid hair cut (short at the back and sides but long at the front dangly in his eyes). He’s a cross country runner though so hoodies are usually ones bought from various competitions and trainers are proper running, performance ones. His AF1’s are for when he wants to look smart. He did put some smart black jeans on and a white shirt/black tie on for a funeral this week though (and looked much better in my opinion).

Yep my nephews all dress like this. It kind of looks a bit childish? But I can see it is practical and easy to move around in. I find the coats a bit depressing, I see the high school boys buying their lunch in town during the day and it’s like a sea of black/grey north face coats.

This does seem to be the fashion around here too.

I do wonder if the people who are calling these kids 'chavs' actually know any of them. Of course there are some youths out there getting into trouble in their tracksuits but many will just be normal teenagers. I know a load of teens who dress like this through my younger children's hobbies and they just normal, nice boys. Possibly not middle class enough for many Mumsnet snobs.

From reading this thread it appears that many posters think their boys are superior to others because of their love of chinos or stonewashed jeans. They'd grow up into much nicer adults if they didn't have that belief pushed into them. Of course if someone is a nobhead then avoid them but tracksuit and north face jacket isn't the indicator for that (and if the attitudes on here are anything to go by there'll be plenty of chino wearing nobheads out there).

Also in the SW and yes the roadman uniform is very common round here, lots wear the balaclavas too, on their bikes in the dark, usually hanging around a bin, smoking/vaping and shouting 😂

Yes. And?
It's not my preferred look, but it's ok.
All the girls look the same aswell, mostly. Doesn't bother me. Why does it bother you? The bit about tracksuits only being for sports makes you sound very silly.

It's a uniform but there a plenty of boys that aren't wearing it- but they may be the ones that are less out and about. My own has very different styles for home /school/ leisure.

I bought some skinny chino type trousers for DS a couple of years ago ,(so I think he was 12 rather than teen) because we were going to a wedding and I didn't want him to wear joggers! . So he wore them with a navy polo shirt. He complained and said he looked like a golfer and thr only other time he wore them was for a funeral. (I didn't expect them to become regular feature!)

Adults always criticise teens whatever they wear. They literally can’t win. Guess it’s kind of the point.

I do think it is that boys who dress like this are also more likely to be the ones hanging around in groups in town or parks so they are the ones people see. My DS is more likely to be home on the PC talking about maths or gaming with friends, or they meet at each others houses or go out for lunch.

You do tend to notice groups of boys, seemingly not doing anything, and all dressed the same. DS seems wary of them, like they are not his 'tribe'. He is working class.

Yes. Some colour on trainers is allowed, but just as you describe. My son doesn’t like navy, but camouflage pattern is ok. The other thing is that goes with it is a certain face expression, hard to describe it really 🤣
i don’t have a problem with it, he is doing well academically and the clothes don’t make him behave like a gangsta

Yes this is the main look. I cant spot my own son out in a group.

Although he does have a polo shirt, chino, quaterzip look for certain events.

My other son has autism and is at a special school. They are a bit more individual in their clothing. Tends to reflect a special interest and a sensory issue

My boys wear jeans mainly, although will wear joggers for sport. Still loving the hoodies. Most clothes are black or grey.

Mine don’t dress like that they wear jeans, joggers, t shirts, hoodies. They don’t have that awful permed mullet either.

tbh I think girls dress more identikit than boys here. I don’t tho j I have seen a single one wear anything other than black converse to school, for example.

Exactly. It’s just clothes! They want to fit in with their peers, it’s old as the world

White tee shirt, black jeans. Occasionally a black metal band tee shirt.

Jogging bottoms or jeans mostly I think. With t-shirts or hoodies on top. I can't remember the last time I saw a kid in a full tracksuit.
I think they wear trainers but I don't know about brands.

Cornwall - and yes they do here too. I absolutely hate it. I have a 10 month old little boy and I really hope this fashion dies out by the time he gets to secondary school

The trend to look like a drug dealer has gone on way too long.

Yes generally they do.

Although it's always a matching tracksuit or branded . But most wear sports wear.

However I think it's a teen thing. The girls all seem to wear Nike pro leggings and crop tops with waist length puffs jackets and big white trainers.
Or they wear leggings and jumper that isn't branded.

I don't think it's solely teen boys. I just think it's normal teen life where everyone dresses the same because it's fashion peer pressure.

We just all wore the same but different clothing when we grew up!

It will be something worse 😀. That’s the point of being a teen - you pull away and reject your parents which includes their clothes. Remember mine eye rolling about henna droopy skirts and DMs.

Not sure I’d be feeling particularly smug if my teen was dressing like a mini me or Dh.