Dear manufacturers of clothing for small boys

[monkeymamma]

I am not a dude, or indeed a little man. I may well be cuter than my daddy, or better looking than my daddy, but I do not judge it seemly to declare this publicly. My younger sibling, when he or she arrives, is unlikely to refer to me as his or her "big bro".

My behaviour, within the limits of the capabilities of a two year old, is reasonable if not on occasion exemplary. Therefore I would suggest that slogans which draw attention to it's less pleasing aspects, viz "little but loud", "here comes trouble", "cheeky monkey", "little monster", et cetera, are not appropriate.

I am not in the army, I am not a surfer, a trucker, or a rapper. And I am far too young to have heard of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, or Guns n Roses, whatever they are.

Like most human beings, I don't suit nasty, dreary, washed out colours such as: faded navy, dung brown, sun bleached green or barely-burgundy. Ditto burnt orange and sludgy beige. I know that the idea of using bright, gorgeous colours and attractive, inventive patterns similar to those used by your colleagues in the girlswear department fills you with worry, but I promise that most mums and dads and other purchasers of children's clothes don't share these anxieties.

And that is all.

Yours,
Monkeytoddler

I personally think Next have quite a good selection of boys clothing if you filter through the cheesy slogans and whatnot.

I have 2 boys and the choice of clothes is crap. I too don't like skulls on kids ir adult. No pink dresses for me :(

I got DS plain jeans from morrisons. They're a good weight and plain style, decent dark colour (and haven't faded with washing - but would probably look ok even if the did fade a bit). They have turn ups on the bottom too, so plenty of growing room. Only £5 too! Other jeans have been purchased from Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's and all have been fine - plain and normal fitting.

Most of DS's clothes come from the supermarkets, and are mainly colourful and without skulls! We do have a fair bit of character clothing (Mickey, Planes, Marvel comics) which some people don't like I suppose, but also plain or stripy tops and ones with cars, vans, buses, motorbikes, checked shirts.

So go into supermarkets and have a good look!

DS is 4 and I have never had any issue buying clothes for him (other than small enough uniform)

He has a wardobe full of bright cheerful clothes, not a character in sight and very few slogans. Mainly from supermarkets, next, M and S and debenhams.

Yes I see things in the shops I don't like, so I don't buy them!

I would just be happy to find a pair if trousers to fit my 5 year old that I don't have to pull in 2 meters if elastic to get them to fit.

I once found a pair if super skinny jeans in next, but it's just the legs not the waist that was different.

YY to H&M they do bright colours and loads of un logo'd basics.

I bought their hoodies and joggers in every colour for DC5 to wear to nursery. Bright yellow, lime green, blue, black, beige, orange, red...fantastic and great value.

It is harder for boys though. I love band teeshirts but don't like the 'I'm a cheeky little bastard' ones.

It gets harder as they get older. I pretty much rely on Primark and Sports Direct for my 11 year old.

I have given up on DS being able to wear any trousers without an adjustable waist any time soon. Nexts slim fit school trousers are good but still need pulling in just not as much

I really enjoy buying clothes for ds. I find lots of nice things in john lewis,white company,mothercare & h&m. I generally dislike slogan t shirts,he has one I think. I also buy some second hand bits from a Fb page. He looks better than me.
I am a bit obsessed with colour coordinating him though right down to his socks

Brilliant post OP!

I agree.

Wait til he's 13 and you want to clothe him. Too big for kids clothes in just about every shop; too small for adult men's clothes. You'll be stuck hoping that what H&M have to offer in his size is vaguely acceptable like the rest of us.

I have a hatred of plasticy stuff on t shirts, and jeans for babies (I mean - who in their right mind would wear a pair of jeans to bed?? So why put a baby in jeans to lie down all day!) and I also dislike slogans and Disney characters plastered all over the place.... So I'm afraid that my boys are almost top to toe in m&s... But each to their own. I looked outside the box recently and found some really nice colourful stuff in matalan!

Yes I think M and S is my favourite at the moment, they have some lovely bright polo shirts and bits. Although DS is today wearing checked shorts from Asda and stripy t shirt from next (don't you love it when they pick their own outift!0

Calamitously - couldn't agree more dreading next year when my DS is 13 and outgrows Benetton and m and s the bext choices where I live at the mo - there'll be nowhere to shop . He is tall'ish but quite skinny . We have no supermarkets here accept Waitrose so that's not an option . We do have sports direct but I'm not a huge fan although it is good for basic t- shirts etc may have to look closer .

Wow, so interesting vivipru! Thanks!

I love jojomamanbebe stuff like this but most people would probably say it is too expensive. I think people expect clothes to be cheaper than food these days. I'm sure it used to be the other way around.

I had always wondered why so much Boden stuff is covered with skulls. Yuk. Wonder why people love them so much?

ViviPru

That does not excuse the low rise on bottoms though.

My toddler DS is always decked out in bright colours. I buy a lot second hand and always buy the next size up so I can take my time finding clothes I like, rather than taking what I can get when he has a growth spurt.

H&M, Mini Boden, John Lewis, Sainsburys, Polarn O Pyret are the best for bright colours, but I've also found great t-shirts in Mountain Warehouse and bright, non-sporty clothing in Sports Direct.

I don't get the M&S thing.

I've just looked at the first page of the boys' tops and it is the epitome of bad.

Of course this stuff sells - it's all you can find unless you can afford White Company prices!

whole godawful minime thing

::shudders:: Spare me.

It baffles me, tbh. I think designers must be using old blocks or something, because the proportions just don't fit children. Maybe they're from a terry nappy time where all 0-2 have gigantic bottoms (cloth nappies make them fit; disposable users get weird bulges) and all 2+ are potty trained day and night.

I am still not getting peoples struggle. I am obviosly doing something wrong, no logos, no characters, lots of bright clothes and never struggled to get plenty (too much!) on the high street.