Help needed please from mums of teen boys

[Razzlefrazzle]

I have a 16 year-old DS who will be starting college next month. He is neuro diverse and, as a result, did not attend mainstream secondary school so doesn’t have any friends IRL at the moment. He is a keen gamer and is going to be studying game design but because of his lack of interaction with other teens we are out of touch with what his peer group will be wearing. He takes very little interest in how he looks, but because of the issues he has, I want to help him to fit in as much as possible to make social interaction easier for him. He’s tall and prefers soft fabrics like tracksuit bottoms because he struggles with the sensation of tight clothes against his skin. Any pointers on what your boys are wearing would be really useful, thank you.

Mine love the Uniqlo joggers. He also has some branded ones but the Uniqlo baggy joggers seem to be a favourite. Uniqlo also have t shirts, hoodies etc but at the moment he has plenty of those. He had a white north face T that he wears a lot.

I don’t know if particular peer groups have favourite brands. Mine seems to wear whatever and none. He’s well liked as far as I know but probably not a “cool kid”.

The usual brands from JD/ sports direct are also popular. Shorts and t shirts in mainly black, grey or white. Nike, adidas, air Jordan, puma. Also gym shark.

North Face t shirt and hoodie, shorts or trackie bottoms. He really likes some trackie bottoms I got from Next with pockets.

He sounds a lot like my DS, also starting Game Design in September. It's not Canterbury College is it????

Thank you all so much, this is really helpful. @LadybirdZombieApocalypseis the leg length good on Uniqlo? His long length next ones are only just long enough so I’m hoping to find generous sizing?
@Runnersandtomsno, not same college 🙁

Fairly plain clothes, wide leg tracksuit bottoms from Pull & Bear, t-shirts from there too, also Nike, All Saints etc, grey, white, black. Maybe just get some really neutral outfits to start with and then top up once he sees what others are wearing.

My 16 yo DS is same as yours- zero interest in fashion at all and also has limited friendships, just loves gaming. He wears loose fitting black trackies most of the time with Nike trainers and band T-shirts e.g linkin park, slipknot. He has some loose fitting plain T-shirts too and hoodies.

hi, mum of a quirky going-into-year-13 old. He also hates stiff clothes.

He mostly wears ancient Nikes, some ancient Next kids jeans, and a selection of Ts from North Face, Under Armour, Vans and some unbranded ones. Hoodies of similar branding. He desperately needs new clothes, the jeans are horrid now and he’s worn through the soles of his Nikes. He has no interest at all in clothes, other than them being soft..

Don't worry, more or less everyone on his course will be similar. At DS college the E Sports as they are called who study gaming/game design all seem to wear track suit bottoms and tee shirts with a hoodie if cold. It's a uniform of sorts.

Baggy shorts (jogger material), jeans or joggers - DS gets his from H&M, Uniqlo or urban outfitters

t shirt - DS likes plain ones but others have logos or bands on

hoodie

trainers - new balance or Nike. Some kids wear adidas.

17 year old DS loves Uniqlo
He is 6ft 3 and has a rugby build so prefers trackies. He also games

These are soft and comfortable, my son has a 34"inside leg and the long length are fine
https://www.marksandspencer.com/cotton-rich-straight-leg-joggers/p/clp60618647?intid=mobile_app_pdp_share

I'd suggest buying black or grey clothes
Gymshark is popular with teens who are into fitness

My DS is also ND.

He wears Next clothes. Tracksuit bottoms, shorts and their threadbare round neck t shirts.

He’s a swimmer so has hoodies coming out of his ears and just wears one of those!

In his experience people didn’t worry about clothing at college and it was more about interests.

He did T level computing so was with like minded people. He’s 4 years since leaving and made a friend there who he’s still close to now. They speak daily!

My 15 year old lives in gymshark clothing - it's reasonably priced and good quality. He mainly wears shorts but has a couple of pairs of joggers - he's tall, and the long length ones are a good fit. As pp says, black, white and grey are the only acceptable colours!

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. Very reassuring to see that dressing for comfort is the mainstream choice! I’m so glad I posted - parenting teens like my son can feel very lonely and isolated from the real world. Off to flex the credit card!

Mum of autistic teen boy and lecturer of a games degree course here.

Honestly, just hoodie, t shirt, joggers....that's the usual. As long as he feels comfortable.

Some wear branded stuff but I don't think it's noticeable one way or the other.

I've got one who's had absolutely no interest in clothes, ever. It's made life very cheap for us. He's asda joggers and primark t shirts, although he also likes skinny jeans. I think there comes a point where, if you're not already a cool kid, no one cares. Yr5-9 are the absolute worst times for that bollocks.

He's taking more of an interest now, but still doesn't know what look he wants. Doesn't even have a coat because his blazer was apparently enough. I'm having to hold right back, because I can see what he'd look great in and I'm having to restrain my inner gok.

I'm going to let him do a couple of weeks, then tell me what he wants. The urgency of school uniform isn't there. Istill remember the 6th form 'uniform' the school wanted us to wear being discarded by about week 4,as jeans etc crept in.

Mine also wears joggers pretty much every day. I buy them for him from Tesco or wherever, he honestly doesn't care.
Occasionally he'll buy himself a t-shirt with a band or something but mostly I buy him multi packs from anywhere I see them.

I would suggest that as your ds is starting something new he should wear what he's comfortable with. This is not the time to try anything out of his comfort zone

Good luck to him. I hope he gets on well

My son enjoys his t shirts and has some quirky ones which are fun. I notice that with students sometimes. It can help them click with each other it they like band t shirts or characters or something.

16 year old DS also going to college next month. He just wears baggy jeans, shorts or joggers (all baggy!) and band t shirts. He likes Pull and Bear and Hollister mainly.

Boohoo man (online) do lovely comfortable wide leg plain trackie bottoms, it likely they will do longer length too and fantastic prices. You can get good priced plain t-shirts, hoodies etc from there too.

I think there's been a bit of a shift towards the unbranded stuff. Their favourite t's and joggers are currently from Primark! The branded stuff isn't being worn as much.

Hey! I work in a College in the SEN department and cover the games&media side a lot. You will find a lot of the students in games have SEN and a lot in his class will be un-bothered by brand etc. There will be a mix of fashion choices, so honestly dont go spending fortunes, just what he is most comfy in in will best.

On a positive note, I see so many students blosom in College, when they have previously really struggled in schools. He will be with students who share the same interests as him and they will all be the same starting point. Good luck, im sure he will be great ☺️

I'm glad you asked as my ND 16 y.o. is in a similar situation and it hadn't occurred to me that he'd need more clothes for college. Thanks!

This is really refreshing to read.

My nearly 13 year old (also ND) does not care what he wears but I try to keep him wearing similar to his peers. The only thing he ever wants is nike trainers. He just got the Nike TN for September.

I really glad to read that brands are not the be all and end all in another few years.

Thanks again for the suggestions, I’m very pleased to see that the obsession with labels seems to be fading which will help keep costs down. Thanks also for the encouraging words about transition to college. I hope all the DCs making the move in September absolutely smash it (and look cool, even if they’re not bothered!)