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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be annoyed that kids' clothes are more expensive in larger sizes ?

50 replies

catsmother · 08/01/2014 11:00

I don't know if this has been done before ? (wouldn't surprise me, and if so, I apologise)

It just gets my goat that when you buy kids' clothes, the price, say for a 6 year old size is £10, and you think "great, I'll have one of those" but by the time you've found the same item for your 11 year old at the back of the rail the price has gone up anything from £1 to £4 IME.

I know - obviously - that age 11 is larger than age 6 and therefore uses more material. However, that's not the case with adult clothes is it ? ..... for the same garment, you pay exactly the same for a size 8 as you do for a size 22, and surely the same "material" argument would apply there.

I fully appreciate retailers may not want to offend or alienate larger customers by charging them more for their clothes - so presumably they work out an average cost that everyone pays. But similarly, it's quite possible to have a younger child - in years - who needs larger/older sizes and you therefore have no choice but to pay more.

Why is there this pricing discrepancy between kids' and adult clothing ?

OP posts:

Lancelottie · 08/01/2014 12:41

Humph. You ever tried the style-free, wallet-ripping zone that is extra-tall sizes, SuperScrimper? DH's clothe costs a fortune, and there's not a lot he can do about it short of sawing off six inches of leg (not that I've threatened that, oooh no).

LaurieFairyCake · 08/01/2014 12:45

If they charged more for larger sizes it would be a tax on the poorer.

In socio economic terms the poorest in society are the most overweight - so they need the larger clothes.

Do you really want a bunch of size 24 women squeezed into size 10's

SuperScrimper · 08/01/2014 12:47

It would not be a tax on the poorer. That is ridulous. It would just be a fairer system. If I buy 2 burgers and you buy one should we pay the same as I'm really hungry and neeeeeeed 2 burgers?

whiteblossom · 08/01/2014 12:56

oh don't get me started on this, my ds is 7 but he wears age 11-12 and it a size 5 shoe (same as me) Ive already been told my a doc that he's going to be the same height as my dh if not a smidge more 6'3 +

I bring myself to pay adult prices in shoes/slippers etc, I struggle to get kid style over adult style. My ds already thinks he's fat, he's not he's just very broad shouldered and tall like my hubby. He's always being mistaken for being older, he's always the tallest in his class by a mile. BUT he's still only 7!! Its like paying for a teenager. I want to scream he's 7 he wants the tshirt with spiderman on and flashing shoes!!

Chewbecca · 08/01/2014 12:59

hoppingmad Yes!
DS is 10 and shoe size 6. My local Clarks doesn't stock non-school children's shoes in a 6, they suggested I went to the adult section. The adult section did have size 6 shoes but they were huge!

Extremely annoying as he has wide feet and high insteps so I do prefer him in width fitted shoes and I would much prefer to pay child shoe prices for my TEN year old!

SPsFifthConyoIsTheBestConyo · 08/01/2014 13:06

What annoys me is ASDA.

18-24 months jeans/chinos will be £5

1 1/2 - 2 years jeans/chinos £7

Its the same size just wrote differently!

Also I wear 11-12 jeans and they legs are always long!

BeeMom · 08/01/2014 13:07

My DD wore "preemie" sized clothing until she was 6 months old, and it can cost upwards of twice the price of "standard sized" infants' wear - even when it is the same design. That was when I got more comfortable with my sewing machine.

Now, I make a lot of her clothing, which suits me just fine, as I am not at all fond of the clothing available for girls these days.

JohnnyBarthes · 08/01/2014 13:08

Scholes34 size 6 is a bit of a black hole, other than at Clarkes. I remember them having precisely no trainers in a 6 in Sports Direct once.

Thankfully his feet were size 8 within a couple of months

Starballbunny · 08/01/2014 13:09

Find a Jones with a children's dept.
DD(15) has had two pairs of size six long boots from there. Ok were still talking £40-50, but far better than the £89-100 ladies long boots are this season and decent practical grippy soles, suited to a big kid who still climbs trees and chases her mates.

CrohnicallySick · 08/01/2014 13:10

Lancelotte- have you tried jacamo? I was pleasantly surprised when we popped into a shop for DH, they do plus sizes/tall sizes at regular prices (like I saw jeans in there for £22)

I'm having a similar problem with DD. she's only 15 months, but I'm buying 18-24 months clothes for her. The problem is, she wears cloth nappies and the trousers tend to not be high enough in the rise.

But if I get the next size (2-3 years) then they're part of the children's rather than baby ranges, and are cut for potty trained children and they actually have less room in the bum!

DD wears leggings rather a lot.

TheGirlFromIpanema · 08/01/2014 13:12

What manufacturers and retailers decide to charge for clothing is

a)mostly governed by the laws of supply and demand, and
b) up to them to decide

Its a side issue that some clothes use more raw materials than others.

The issues with kids clothes is the impact of adding Vat to adults clothes only. Its a very often hotly contested issue.

Children are exempt under current laws from paying vat on clothing. So long as they are the size that government decides is ok.

Starballbunny · 08/01/2014 13:13

Also my large size 20 plus DSIS does pay more for her clothes and plus size stuff is often shocking quality.

Lancelottie · 08/01/2014 13:19

Thanks, Crohnic, I've just looked, but he has a 38" inside leg and they only go up to 35". Handsaw it is, then.

NinjaBunny · 08/01/2014 13:27

Can you tell I'm a mother of a size 7 footed 10 year old DS.

Oooo, me too. Hello!!

Are you also buying age 14 jeans because otherwise they hang half-mast mid-shin??

CouthyMow · 08/01/2014 13:59

Oh yes, the character T-shirts that only go up to a 9-10 (fits my boys at 7yo), or a 10-11 at best (maybe 8yo at a push).

Nope, my 10yo is DYING for a Skylanders T-shirt. I can't find him one big enough for love nor money. It really upsets him.

CouthyMow · 08/01/2014 14:03

Y7 for VAT charging uniform I can just about swallow, but Year bloody 5?! DS2 is only in Y5, still has the best part of two school years to go, and I'm already (as of the uniform I ordered this morning) having to pay VAT on his uniform.

TheGirlFromIpanema · 08/01/2014 14:10

Grr yes I know its annoying about character T-shirts etc isn't it!

And Ninja my ds seemed to live in trackie bottoms for a good few years until his height levelled out with his waist again this year He was desperate for chino's for ages! At least he fits again now - even though it means I am buying large 'boys' (ie with Vat as they may be worn by adults )

coco44 · 08/01/2014 14:39

I think it's mostly about what the market will stand.If you go to a zoo or museum say,you expect to pay nothing for under 3s a reduced prices for 3-15 and then full price for 16+ even though it costs no more for an adult to viit than a child .Similarly with clothing there is very little fabric difference between sizes compared to the price difference.It is just people expect to pay less for younger DC

ouryve · 08/01/2014 14:41

They use more cloth and usually fit for longer (though try telling that to my 10yo who has grown through 2 sizes in the past year!)

LaurieFairyCake · 08/01/2014 15:17

SuperScrimper - buying a second burger is not the same as having to buy bigger clothes, larger people can't walk round naked!

If clothes were more expensive according to the size bought then the poorest would struggle to buy clothes.

It's not a contentious issue to say that the poorest in financial terms are the largest size-wise - it's a fact.

The cheapest food like sugary carbs is what the poorest rely on and it makes them overweight and have malnutrition.

sashh · 08/01/2014 15:49

I don't buy the 'it takes more material' line.

It does, but the material is not the expensive bit, making things up is and it is easier to make larger sizes. Well it is for clothes, I've never made shoes.

As for size 8 and size 22 - show me a store that does both.

SuperScrimper · 08/01/2014 15:59

John Lewis does everything from an 8 to a 20.

dawntigga · 08/01/2014 16:05

Sashh a shirt for a 6 year old takes about .75m, the same shirt for an 11 year old takes 1.5m or more dependant on style etc. That's a 100% increase in costs. You may choose not to believe it, that is your choice, the facts do not support your opinion, also, the sleeves take nearly as much fabric as the body in shirts.

Costings tend to go 2 - 2.5 * cost = wholesale
3 * wholesale = retail price

FYITiggaxx

fatlazymummy · 08/01/2014 16:10

It's to be expected really, seeing as larger sizes use more materials. I can't say I've ever been annoyed by it, it's just something I accept reaally.
I'm sure they would like to do the same with adult clothes, but they would probably piss off too many customers. They probably just spread the extra cost over all the sizes to compensate.

SuperScrimper · 08/01/2014 16:11

I also really don't believe poor means fat.

We have pretty much no money and I'm a size 8. I eat a lot of soup etc. I don't sit there eating a 4 pack of Mars Bars because they were cheap.

So basically it seems to be of you are poor you don't have to make healthy life choices as those that do with subsidise your bigger clothes. That does not seem fair.

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