To think Clarks are outrageously sexist?

[BakingEating]

So my dd is nearly one and just starting to walk. I decided to have a quick look online at shoes so that I'd have a good idea of prices and styles before I go shopping.

I'm now seething with rage at the ridiculously sexist way Clarks are categorising their shoes. Shoes for baby girls are either pink or purple, or they're covered in hearts or flowers. A plain green pair of canvas shoes are "for boys". A yellow pair with giraffes on are "for boys". Why?

www.clarks.co.uk/c/babies-walking

I know most baby and children's clothes shops do this to some extent, but Clarks is the worst I've encountered so far. You'd normally expect some overlap between what they market at girls and boys.

Normally I just buy what's nice and get on with life. With Clarks though it's too bad to ignore.

AIBU?

Yes.

Btw clothes are the exact same, surely you've noticed?

I think they have definitely missed a trick in the descriptions. Just omit the "boys/girls" word out and let the parent do the gender stereo typing.

It's the same wiry all shoe shops.

wait til you have to buy school shoes and the flimsy overpriced shoes available then.

It don't change as they get older tbh.. Try buying a warm, waterproof, comfortable girls coats.

Boys play, girls look pretty.

Pisses me off.

But surely you should just choose what you like and who cares whether they're categorised as boys or girls? It certainly doesnt make me seethe with rage and I'm surprised that flowery shoes targeted at girls would make you feel like this.

yabu purely because all those shoes I just saw are hideously ugly.

I recently found a local independant shoe shop near us that sells some really funky and colourful boys shoes, i have three boys and so shopping for them is dull, this shop cheered me right up!

Yeah they deliberately make the boys shoes look specifically like boys though. So you have a choice of putting a girl in clearly boys shoes or flimsy ones. This has only happened to me once and I just went to a different shop (after telling them I thought the selection was awful).

But yes, i am surprised this is the first time you have noticed it be quite so bad, it is terrible everywhere!

Well, I sort of agree. But you can remove the boy/girl filters and just select by size etc.

I think the ability to sort by gender is there for people who are specifically looking for 'genderised' shoes. Some people do.

Loving those cobalt desert boots, and I would buy them for ds or dd if their feet were small enough.

Seething with rage? Calm down FGS!

There's nothing to stop you buying dd "boys" styles it just is a way of narrowing down what you are looking for.

I probably go against the tide. I love boy and girl toys in shops. It helps me to know where to look. Scooby doo toys are in the boy bit so I can finds it quickly when buying for dd.

I would love pink tops with dinosaurs etc. My girls all love pink but also love aliens and monsters etc

YANBU

I was seriously cross with a Clark's saleswoman who initially refused to sell me a pair of navy and green leather sneaker style shoes that dd (2.5 at the time) had chosen, on the basis that they were boy's shoes.

Ckark's shoes are not very good IME anyway, and were always falling apart before my dc had grown out of them.

Start Rite are better quality and fo z nice range of plain colour Velcro strap leather plimsol/sneaker type shoes which both my dc like (dd 3 and DS 6). But Google " Happy Little Soles" for many other alternatives.

Ha its everywhere.

Boys clothes come in blue, beige or horrible sludgy colours with weird twisted seams on jeans & logos saying Here Comes Trouble or Mummy's Little Monster!

I found that I could put both my boys in whatever I chose before they started school. Once they had started then they knew what was for boys & what was for girls & they wouldn't have it differently.

Look at Startrite.com they have great shoes for boys and girls

YANBU I can't understand why it's even bothered to mention girls or boys on any of those descriptions.

The giraffe ones are cute and I would definitely say they were unisex, so why describe them as boys? It's dumb.

Yabvu, 'seething', 'outrageous'? You need to get a grip. What a lot of pointless frustration you are causing for yourself when you can simply just pick whatever you want regardless of how it's labelled.

Seething with rage? Over shoes?

So what did you do, Bike?

Go to an independent shoe shop. Much more choice.

seething with rage? come on

shop somewhere else and reserve that rage for something worthier

really? you are seething with rage?

sorry but I think you need to get a grip. it's only such an issue because you are making it one. if she has only just started walking then she doesn't need shoes yet anyway.

and there are those of us who quite like they girly shoes thanks! and dd (18 months) will actively seek out pink in most shops and I have always bought a good range of colours and styles. although given the choice between white trainers with a cat on in clarks yesterday and the pink ones she did choose the cats

these came up when I selected Girls shoes so clearly they arent sexist.

Wait till she starts school and you have the choice of 50 pairs of almost identical Mary Janes. DD has no qualms about wearing 'boys' trainers but she draws the line at boys school shoes.

Clarkes are particularly bad at the 'pink and purple' only for girls thing (or at least they were when dd was little)