To think boys clothing in high street shops sucks?

[Squareroot]

Two boys, 10 & 7. Am a firm believer in using our high street shops - use it or lose it and all that. But on a trip to Exeter this week (John Lewis, H&M, Next, Debenhams) I couldn't find anything COLOURFUL for my boys. Everything is drab - black, grey, brown, grey... there is NO colour. Contrast that with the girls sections and it just seems wrong. Girls get pink, red, yellow, blue, green, multi colours! I want to support our high street retailers but really struggled to find anything fun and just ended up coming home & going online. A friend recommended Five Boys & St Berts. Anyone got any other suggestions - apart from Boden, which I love but can't justify...

I have a girl and a boy, and to be honest I’ve not found this. H&M usually have pretty bright things on. I actually find the girls’ market less inspiring!

The joules stuff is usually unforgivably colourful but very good quality and will last a two children. Saw some bright stuff in fat face the other day.

Children’s clothes generally are a bit shit.

Boys are covered in crap slogans about being cheeky.
Girls are fucking glitter and unicorns.

I also loathe grown up clothes on little kids.

Where the hell do you buy nice kids clothes?

I think H&M are good and GAP is always colorful. I get a lot in polorn y pryet on line which is good scandi stuff and very gender neutral.

Most girl stuff is foul, tbh. Try Benetton, lots of brights.

God yes. Boys - mud colours only. Girls - tiny lace and glitter covered princess clothes.

I like scandi brands that don't often even divide kids' clothes by sex. They're just tops and trousers etc.

I definitely shop online instead of the high street! I've not found bright colours a problem. Next does multipacks of long sleeved tops in a variety of colours. Recently bought some for my boys.

I do despair at all the skinny jeans for boys. Even trousers and Joggers everywhere seem to be tapered. They just look ridiculous! My boys still prefer elasticated waists to a zip fly and the only place I've been able to find decent jeans and trousers that tick all the boxes are Tescos!

Littlebird by Jools Oliver (in Mothercare) does lovely bright clothes up to 6 in the UK and 8 in Ireland

I find this for my 3yearold ds too. I can't agree with sainsbury either and there is a big one near us.

M and Co did well surprisingly but otherwise I buy multi coloured / not pink girls leggings.

YANBU. The boys section in most shops is half the size of the girls section and totally boring and twee. There are very few nice colours or fun prints. I buy Scandi kids clothes online (Duns and Maxomorra). Or handmade clothes from Etsy. Or I order Bonds Wondersuits from Australia. High street kids clothes are crap, the only shop that ever has anything decent is H&M.

Not as much as the girls clothes which are all festooned with glitter and tasteless embellishments

Girls isn’t much better though, pink and frilly and completely impractical

Agree - ploughthrough all that lot and you are left with bigger all!

Thank you PrivateParkin and those who feel my pain! Tho the husband's just got in from work & said "Maybe he doesn't want to wear colourful things..." Ahem. The colourful, fun stuff definitely disappears once you get into the 8 above age group, but I think that's so sad. Maybe it's cos we're heading into winter after such a lovely summer that I'm feeling SAD. Still thanks for your recommendations!

I tend to buy tops from the boys section for my girls. They detest frills, not keen on pink and won't wear any kind of slogan. They hate sequins as they are too scratchy. They like comfy clothes - with pockets preferably.

I got some lovely colourful t-shirts from Gap's boy dept.

Age 12-13

Another vote for Sainsburys!
DS (10mths) was in loads of bright colours from there all summer!
Really cute age appropriate stuff too.

My boys wear stuff from h&m, Sainsbury's, and they've had some lovely bits from m&s and john lewis-John lewis in particular have some great things in their unisex/boygirl range (or whatever it's called)
I find the most frustrating thing is that the boys section is always so much smaller than the girls

YANBU

If you're in London, the children's Abercrombie shop off Piccadilly is good. Not cheap though.

Polarn o Pyret are great for funky clothes, though definitely not cheap!

I mainly kit my DD (4.5) and DS (18 mths) out from the supermarkets - Sainsbury’s have their regular 25% off everything this week so mine are more or less kitted out for winter 😂

Surely they are just clothes. So what if they have signs that say 'boys' or 'girls'. They are just clothes. Don't buy into this. Buy what you like.

Totally agree, it’s just so dull shopping for boys. I want more than navy, grey & black and dull.

I’ve found H&M to be ok, I love Boden but it is expensive so only buy when I have a promo code or in sale.

Its not just boys clothing but I agree with the OP.

I found H&M great until my eldest grew out of the younger boys section (which to be fair does go up to age 10 so it lasted him a while). When I was looking in the older boys section for him in the summer it was all navy/grey/black. When I was leaving the shop I walked past the men’s section and they had loads of colourful t shirts!

And what is with t shirts with American cities named on them?! My kids have never been to America, why would I want them to have a t shirt with Chicago etc emblazoned on it?! I did get some ‘London’ t shirts in Debenhams - we have actually been there!

Sometimes Primark has decent coloured t shirts but sometimes they’re terrible for ‘America’ shirts!

The girls stuff, while colourful, is not practical. I went through the girls aisle at Sainsbury’s yesterday, wanting to get her some trousers. All I found was leggings and one pair of jeans, labelled as ‘skinny’. I went to the boys aisle and found at least 10 different types of jeans, one of which I bought for her.

But I do agree about the muddy colours. I considered a pair of comfy trousers for her (boys section), but was put off by the hideous ‘speckled concrete’ type colour.

Have you tried Vertbaudet? I have a daughter but buy my nephew the odd bit from there

H&M is my favourite for my 3-year-old son. I like GAP but expensive for dressing a preschooler.