To be starting to think that girls clothes are shit?

[Sockstealer]

Basically I've been looking at clothes for my nieces, I'm also pregnant so I've been thinking I could be having a daughter this time.

I buy most of my ds' stuff from Next or H&M, there's loads of cool, trendy and practical stuff. Functional coats and shoes, tshirts with Lego, dinosaurs, super heroes and funny pictures or slogans, sensible trousers.

I'm looking at the 'girls' sections and most of what I can find is what looks like somebody has vomited a load of pink, glitter and sequins, pictures of birds and cats, daft slogans like 'think pink'. Leggings and more leggings (I mean they're not going to keep your legs warm), shiny fluffy coats with leopard print or sickly pink that's going to show up every mark. And what characters are there, frozen or hello kitty?

Is there a shop that I don't know about that sells better stuff?

I had to give up looking because all the pink was hurting my eyes, and even the stuff that isn't pink is smothered in hearts or fairies.

I can never understand all these threads that moan about all girls clothes being pink. Yes some of the stuff is but I always find plenty of other colours for DD. She has loads of red, navy and every other colour under the sun. I shop in all the usual retailers.

I've never had a problem finding clothes for my 3 daughters (9, 7, 3). They mainly get from H&M , Sainsburys, Tescos, Asda, Primark, Dunnes. My eldest wears a lot of jeans and now polo necks or long sleeved top, my younger two live in leggings which I've always found very warm, just like tights. I'll be honest I've never had a conversation in real life with any other parents I know about how hard it is to buy kids clothes usually the opposite.

Sorry OP but I disagree.
I have a teenage DD, she has never been interested in pink or sparkly clothing- it has always been very easy to buy clothes.

I have found in general it is much easier to buy clothes for my DD than it has been for my DS.

You may even find that your DD loves the pink sparklt stuff- you won't be able to dictate her taste.

I disagree
I have a dd who is 20 months. I buy her clothes from next h&m asda and tesco. She has a lovely mix.
Your obviously going to find some pink sparkly stuff in the girls sections as that is how some people like to dress their girls but if you look there is plenty of other stuff too
Next do quite a bit of plain denim which you can them team up with other stuff. Also next and h&m usually have joggers in plain colours and plain tshirts

Op- shops I've found that are relatively less "Barbara Cartland inspired" -
Sainsburys (wash/last best of the supermarkets IMO)
M&S (big stores, also good for boy clothes that aren't blue or sludgy colours - come up big though)
Gap (more pricy though)
Next - but the big branches

Re what you actually put them in, for indoors, leggings are very practical, stretchy, flexible, no tight tummy fastener, put tights underneath in the winter for extra warmth.

I also tend to dress dd (18months) on lots of thick tights and shorts, dresses at the moment all seem to be long and she trips over the hem when she's climbing, plus when we are out now I often want to stick her paddle trousers over her outfit (waterproof fold away trousers), tricky with dresses/skirts.

Mine are 2.5 and they make a beeline for the pinky glittery shit... more the glittery stuff actually but most of that is in pink. Luckily some shops (Asda) do a lot of that stuff but actually quite practical and hardwearing. I really don't mind what they're wearing as long as they're warm enough (and they do have some stuff from the boys' section: there's a sad lack of dinosaurs over at the girls' bit). I realise boys' dressing is policed a bit more so we get an easy ride.

One thing I struggle with is shoes. We try and get them properly fitted ones so that limits us to a couple of stores, and in one of them that I will not name, about half the winter range for girls is little pumps. Great if they are going to a party or I don't know, commuting into their office job, but they're 2 and a half, so mostly their days consist of going to the park. We need closed in shoes. On our last visit there were only 2 styles of shoes that were practical for playing outside in bad weather, one was too narrow in the heel for one of the girls, the other they didn't have their sizes in, so I start looking at the boys' section and I'm trying to sell the girls on these shoes ("look! Aeroplanes!") when the woman comes over and tells me, three times, that that's the boys' shoes. Usually my kids are away with the fairies enough that that would go over their head but one caught on and was like "no they're boys' shoes mummy." Now, I could give a shit about gender stereotyping at this age - their model of the world is incredibly simple at this point anyway - but I could really have done with getting those shoes. They were really practical and they love aeroplanes so my mornings would have been dead easy ("want your aeroplane shoes on girls?" "YES!"). Instead we left with some crap with a little fur lined ankle that will look like a dead rat the first time it encounters water. And with toilet training going on, that'll be in about 2 days.

I recall buying bibs and the pink ones had mice and bunnies on, while the blue ones had lions and monkeys on. So girls are all meek and mild and boys are fierce and fun. Where are my pink lions? Where are my blue bunnies?
Other than that, I've never had much trouble clothing my five year old Tom boy in all the blue she desires,with only a very occasional trip to the boys section.

Your OP is based on the fact that you wrongly imagine that leggings are impractical, when in fact they are wonderfully practical - warm, stretchy, good for most activities.

You are inventing a problem by defining "practical" in a way that immediately excludes all clothes specifically aimed at girls.

I have never had a problem getting clothes for my x2 boys. I don't buy anything with any slogans on either. They also wear leggings and tights when suitable and have found both easily, can't say they have been in 'girls' section. I use a few high st retailers but mainly smaller stores as I don't like the huge amount of 'polyester' clothing in most high st places

Try looking at these, some just sort by age rather than gender also:
Polarn o pyret
Pigeon organics
Joha
Cambridge baby
Petite bateau
Lana bambini
The white company

I bought my dd some lovely shoes from clarks
Blue. Enclosed. Goes with most things. And yes from the girls sections

The fact is that you shouldn't have to shop in the boys section for your dds because the 'girls' stuff is so crap. You shouldn't have to buy a size up because the girls tops are tight or the shorts too short. There shouldn't be gender sections and if there has to be then they should be better and more neutral.

^this!

yes, we can shop in boy or girl section or shop online but sometimes size and shape does matter and then you're wasting time returning goods. We have bought a lot of clothes for DD from Sainsbury but now we're looking at age 2-3 in boys clothes and 4-5 in girls clothes and the girls are not so well made.
We've even bought boy's briefs for her as she wanted Spiderman knickers but there really is an age where that's going to stop being possible simply because of the shape.

i think there's far less variety in boys sections. There's a lot of brown, navy and khaki colours and stripes seem to be on everything.

gingee I have exactly the same issue with the whole "pink stinks" idea/campaign. I used to be a scientist and I left and got a job in finance because my job was so specialised that when I got made redundant/made to relocate (as I did, frequently, with there being a global market for jobs in pharmaceuticals) I would have had to move across the country or the world. Every time that happened a few of my colleagues would leave the industry, more women than men usually, but some of both. Some of my male colleagues with families would have to up sticks with the whole family and move abroad, or else live away from their families, usually when their wives had chosen to be SAHMs and therefore there was no option but for them to continue as scientists. For us anyway that was the explanation for the "leaky pipe", why so many women study science but so few eventually work in it. I don't know what pink has to do with that, really. To stay in the industry as scientists, the only gender stereotype we needed to overthrow was the one where women with children care for them and mostly want to live near them and not make them move school and country every couple of years.

Here are some super warm leggings. How can wool against skin be colder than a pair of jeans? Ds (age 3) will be wearing the green pair today

www.cambridgebaby.co.uk/catalog/0-2-yrs/cloth-nappy-clothing/trousers/merino-trousers-or-leggins-by-disana?

Ginger, I like your style. I totally agree. It's like some sort of moral superiority to dress your dd is boys clothes.

Dd has worn loads of pink glittery shit in her 8 years. She lived it when she was little, but doesn't like it now. Why would I deny it to her when she was small?. She hates pink now. I don't think it has affected her intellectual capability in anyway

And, as an ex childrenswear designer, girls stuff is full of pink glitter, because it sells. It's as simple as that.

And, going on my technical knowledge here. Knitted fabrics are warmer than woven fabrics, as they tend to hug the body more, and trap air in between the spaces of the fabric. Therefore thick leggings will be warmer than jeans

Personal taste I guess but I've really struggled getting DS decent clothes over the years. I don't 'do' tractors, cars, diggers, football or any of that stuff. I also am not keen on blue or the forbidden brown so I've really struggled in high street stores to find him decent stuff. H&M have definitely always been about best, his jeans are ALWAYS from there or Next (huge fan of jeans with braces!) But most of his clothes are from online stores like Vertbaudet, Jojo maman bebe, polarn o pyret, smafolk etc. Tk maxx can be good too, always dependent on the day in there though. Also Gap is alright for basic striped tops.

There's so much more choice for girls. Agreed on the vomit pink shit but pushing that aside there's still a lot of choice. Leggings and thick tights do keep your legs warm ftr, as a woman who wears them regularly I can confirm it . Once again I buy from the same online retailers as DS's clothes and Boden too. I could go crazy buying pinafore dresses tbh. All of these retailers aren't overly fond of pink, they sell love duffle coats in a variety of colours too.

You have to look around online. The high street is pretty shit, either shit choice or quality. Swedish kids clothing companies are gender neutral and WONDERFUL.

As for girls shoes and boots, I usually buy my daughters from Tescos, (the same place I buy mine from). There's plenty of choice and never had any problems with getting the right fit, or problems with our feet.

Worra you have a look at Next and H&M, there's little exception to the rule. Although I may just be looking in the wrong places as that's where I usually shop.

OP I think you are deliberately looking to be disappointed and ignoring the good stuff. I keep looking out for the sea of pink in girl clothes sections and i rarely see it. Have you actually looked at the Next website, there are a huge range of colours. Nothing wrong with being girly looking either, leggings are comfortable and no more colder than a pair of jeans.

You wait until you have a 10- 14 year old boy, escpecially if they are tall, there is virtually nothing for them at all.

sorry but whoever recommended the pylorn.o pyrat website, their clothes are horrible!

I think some people are missing a lot of what I am saying, that or I'm not explaining well. I'm not just saying it's all pink, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with pink. What I'm saying is that on the whole if it's not pink it's dripping with hearts or cats, or fairies with bits of lace hanging off. Someone's else hit the nail on the head by saying it's as though girls are meek and mild and boys troublesome and playful. I mean where's all the superheroes for girls, where's the cheeky monkeys and dinosaurs? The others colours and designs tended to be plain.

I also think that tights are another hideous invention aimed and women and girls, and leggings under tights sounds horrible, I'm not saying leggings aren't soft and comfy or that jeans are the only other choice, or that jeans are warmer, ds rarely wears jeans but canvas trousers with elasticated waists or joggers. I could not find much nice trousers for girls it was either leggings or jeans, girls joggers wear mainly horrible colours or velour tat.

And I reiterate I know I can shop in any section but I don't see why it can't be mixed up a bit.

I guess it's down to personal taste and as most seem to like the girls selection, and in rl most people complain that there is less choice for boys. I don't find this though so I guess it's just my taste, perhaps an unusual one though and that is why this stuff sells.

I think it's a case of grass is always greener - I have one boy and another due tomorrow :-) and I've felt especially disappointed by the clothes available for boys this time round - as someone said above, it's bunnies and mice for girls and really ridiculous stuff for boys - robots? Monsters? Dinosaurs? It'll be years before they understand what those things are.
Luckily with the little baby stage there's always plain white baby gros and my mum knits gorgeous jackets for them. But the toddler section is even worse. Especially now we've got to the 3+ size (if not quite the age!). The slogans are crass. Ds has no interest in any movies or Disney characters (and I'd gladly buy him those things if he did!), the whole superhero thing leaves him cold. He does like vehicles but gets cross if they're not 'correct', technically speaking :-) I hate all the khaki etc as it is really draining on ds's (also my) colouring.
I quite like the Hatley patterns but Boden/JL drive me nuts putting dogs all over everything (I realy dislike dogs, sorry! Also to me it's a bit of an obvious bid to look posh) and ds has so many striped garments (stripes being the only acceptable pattern for boys, natch) that it makes my eyes go funny, also we have real problems finding a pair of trousers that go with a top (there are so many a stripes we end up double striping).
It's also annoying because I think parents can dress girls in boys clothes without comment really (it's more practical etc) but if you put your boy in girls clothes I think there's always a sense of 'oh I bet you'd have liked a girl' which really annoys me, there are so many pro-girl attitudes (and anti-boy comments) out there as it is that I can't bear to fan the flames. That's a whole other thread though I suspect!

Monkey mama good point though. I guess ds and I love all the robots, dinosaurs, superheroes stuff, we like the colours so appreciate all that stuff. Although it's true it's far less frowned upon to dress a girl in boys stuff, ds would be laughed at at a party full of his peers if he were to wear a my little pony tshirt or something.

To be a bit more positive, I do like the colours and patterns for boys in Zara kids/baby section (the quality isn't great though - not at 60degree washes etc), and full props to mothercare for little bird - I love the 70s rainbow range and retro feel (interestingly dh in the 70s had some fab wee outfits... We've really gone backwards in terms of gender neutral clothes/toys IMO).
Tesco are the worst at the moment which is annoying as they're the most affordable, their baby boys section is all braces and flats caps (surely the least practical item for a baby ever - as the point of hats is to keep their ears warm??) and as another poster has said, is about 30% the size and range of girls equivalent.

Thanks sock! I can totally see it from the other perspective too - all the lace and sequins must be a bugger when they hit the washing machine...