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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think Selfridges have got it wrong, here?

92 replies

SpaceForAll · 20/03/2015 17:09

DD1 is 6 and loves space.

She was given a pair of fab astronaut pyjamas. She thinks they are great and loves wearing them.

She liked them so much, we recommended them to a friend and went to send them the website link. DD was SO put out to read that the PJs are supposedly "for him", i.e. boys' clothes.

So I emailed Selfridges to point this out, hoping they might consider changing the wording on their website to something less sexist. They replied "sorry for the inconvenience, we've passed your email on..."

No change was made to the website, so I emailed again.

In the light of their "agender" gender neutral campaign that they are running at the moment, I think they are being short sighted and somewhat hypocritical.

I've had no response, and DD has decided to put pen to paper and write to them herself...

I know IANBU, just wanted to raise a bit of feeling... Wink

OP posts:
Springtimemama · 20/03/2015 17:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
SpaceForAll · 20/03/2015 17:13

Thanks, springtimemama Grin

OP posts:
happygirl87 · 20/03/2015 17:15

YANBU

HatieKokpins · 20/03/2015 17:16

Customer services and the website will be run by different departments. It'll take FOREVER to get them to change the website, I guarantee you.

vestandknickers · 20/03/2015 17:16

Why was your DD put out? My DD has always loved space, dinosaurs etc and we often shop from the 'boys' section. She doesn't care which department they come from.

Shops have to organise themselves some how. As they get older obviously, their shapes change as well so the boy/girl divide does matter.

Would you or your DD expect men's and women's clothes to all be listed together?

MrsTerryPratchett · 20/03/2015 17:19

YANBU. DD is currently sporting Superman we say hero and dinosaur ones, both from the 'boys' section of H&M. Bloody stupid.

VelvetRuby · 20/03/2015 17:20

It's pathetic that they do that isn't it? My DW isn't girly, to put it mildly and most of my presents for her are from the "him" range!

Original poster
SpaceForAll · 20/03/2015 17:21

vestandknickers She was put out because the implication (or should that be inference?) was that these pyjamas were not for boys. They are not actually in the "boys" section, they are listed under "pyjamas" but the description says they are "for "him.

hatieKopkins My huff with them is that they have not even responded to my email. Total radio silence. Surely good customer service would be a relevant response, rather than "sorry for the inconvenience..." There was no inconvenience!

Thanks for the bump happy!

I'm thinking I might sign up to twitter just so I can tweet DD's letter!

OP posts:
itsbetterthanabox · 20/03/2015 17:21

I used to work at serco. They have been given the customer services contract for selfridges and with no warning agents were pulled off other campaigns to answer selfridges emails. I recognise the wording they've used as we used to say this on the easyJet campaign! They are probably easyjet agents usually.
The staff have had almost no training and are just filling in. It's ridiculous and yaNbu but you won't get anywhere with this sadly. It's a complete shambles as is the whole company.

Original poster
SpaceForAll · 20/03/2015 17:22

Oh, vestandknickers the Selfridges current "agender" range is all about men's and women's clothes being listed together!

OP posts:
Theycallmemellowjello · 20/03/2015 17:25

A big Hmm for the poster who can't see why a little girl might be put out at spacemen pajamas being marked as for boys only....

Original poster
SpaceForAll · 20/03/2015 18:56

bump

OP posts:
kojackscat · 20/03/2015 19:05

You could try contacting the group Let Clothes be Clothes. I think they will be able to support you by either giving you son advice or taking up the issue for you.

NeedABumChange · 20/03/2015 19:14

YABU to blame selfridges. They didn't make the pyjamas or, I'd guess, write the info. It's by a company called play n wear. Selfridges is just the seller, they can't change the info given by the actual maker. I'd think they meant they would pass the email onto the other company and that would take time for the other company to decide what to do.

DoJo · 20/03/2015 19:59

Selfridges is just the seller, they can't change the info given by the actual maker.

I imagine they probably can - it's their website after all!

mommy2ash · 20/03/2015 20:52

how did your six year old end up reading the few lines at the bottom of the page? seems a bit odd to me. people on here leave boys wear dresses all the time and they are always labelled for girls, if that is the consensus then there is nothing wrong with girls being ok with wearing something that is labelled for boys.

mommy2ash · 20/03/2015 20:56

also it can't have been that much of a shock to you that they are labelled for boys to get to them on their website you have to go to kids, all boys, and then pajamas. you would have seen who they were marketed towards before your dd ever read the words he and him.

Lipstickandlashes · 20/03/2015 21:38

YANBU

But Selfridges' customer service department is notoriously dreadful so sadly I don't think you'll get a response worthy of your time.

It's a shame that such an iconic brand hasn't done a better job of adapting to a) online retail and b) modern (ie post 1920) gender identity.

madreloco · 20/03/2015 22:50

They are under the boys section though. Kids>boys>pyjamas and underwear. There are no dress up pjs under the girls heading.

trixymalixy · 20/03/2015 22:52

Yanbu

nocutsnobuttsnococonuts · 20/03/2015 23:06

I don't understand the problem. ..

if she was happy to wear them before why does it matter that it says boys on the website? bit different if it said it across the front if the pjs!

my dd's have boys tshirts and dressing up. even a coat for dd2. they like it and are comfortable who cares? im currently wearing a mens captain America tshirt and have quite a few mens tshirts and hoodies shock horror from the mens and teen boys section. my very mascine dp wears a poncho from the womens section as its comfortable and warm in the winter Grin

DamselNotInHerDress · 20/03/2015 23:13

Total non issue. They are pyjamas. Anyone of reasonable mind will be able to see that you can wear them as a boy or as a girl.

Buy them or don't buy them. I don't expect selfridges will care, plenty of people can see beyond labels and will continue to buy from them even though your dd was put out at the advertising.

Original poster
SpaceForAll · 21/03/2015 11:51

I think some of you are missing the point.

DD is totally happy to wear the pyjamas. She thinks space is for everyone. They are huge on her as she's a titch, but she loves them.

She was telling her friend (a boy) about the PJs she'd had as a gift, and wanted to email his mum the link to show him what she'd been given. We looked them up on the Selfridges website (we knew they had come from there), and DD thought the website was sexist. She can read, she read the whole page.

She still wears them, she thinks Selfridges are wrong to be sexist about pyjamas. (well, about anything, really!)

I (obviously or I wouldn't be posting) think it's more than a "non issue". There are no dress-up pyjamas in the girls section - why not? Why aren't the space ones in there? Or the doctor ones for that matter, which are also only in the boys section? (I'd googled them rather than gone through the page as madreloco says)

Play-n-wear don't have "for boys" or "for girls" on their own website, so it's nothing to do with them.

I am in touch with "Let Clothes be Clothes" as they are running a similar campaign where a little girl was told that the dinosaur shoes sold by Clarks are for boys!

It's great that some people likenocuts don't see it as a problem, but SO many people are so swayed by gender stereotypes. It's a massive problem. I am 35 and when I was a child there was so much more "unisex" clothing available. Time after time on here we see people complaining that there is such limited choice in clothes "for boys" or so much pink "for girls"...

OP posts:
YouAreMyRain · 21/03/2015 11:59

My DD (6yo) wears Clarks dinosaur shoes, we got them from brantano and the assistant didn't raise an eyebrow, even though their whole shop is female shoes on the left, male shoes on the right.

In Jones's my other DD (8yo) wanted some black kickers that were in the sale, she liked them, she wanted to try them on until the assistant pulled a face and said they were for boys. That put her off.

I agree that space pyjamas shouldn't be just for boys but many people shop by boy/girl and unless online shops adopt a third unisex section, that's how it will be.

NoSquirrels · 21/03/2015 12:02

If you're on Twitter you might get a speedier response...