Anyone elses teen only wear nike and adidas?

[Tattooedmama]

I hope im not alone

My 14 year old is now in mens clothes and a huge size 9 feet, he will refuse point blank to wear anything except nike and adidas (that includes socks) and his new obsession is only wearing CK boxers
We havent got huge amounts of money and at just under £30 per pair of trousers i would never afford a full wardrobe of clothes.
He has 3 or 4 trousers and 5/5 tops as he chucked out all his clothes that werent brand named.
He had £110 the other day and all he managed to get was 2 tops, 2 trousers and 1 pair firetrap jeans.
He knows i cant afford these expensive clothes and £170 trainers, but he wont accept primark or cheaper sports brand.
And £20 for 2 pairs of boxers is ridiculous (he used his pocket money for them)
He gets his expensive trainers and football boots at christmas because i refuse to pay that amount of money when every month hes moaning his feet are growing and shoes getting small, he got new football boots a size bigger for his birthday last month and i could have exploded when he said last week they are getting tight and need new ones soon.

I feel cruel he dont have lots of clothes, but what can i do when he will refuse to wear anything without a brand, hes so materialistic its annoying.

What about you, mama, are you picky about the things you buy?😊

I think it's par for the course for teens to want the big brands
I buy a certain amount,anything else they buy from pocket money,birthday money etc or my sister takes pity on them!

Ohhh yes....

Just be grateful it's not Palace and supreme

Just tell him what your budget is for his clothing and if he is happy with less clothing but in the brands he wants then it’s fine.

And in some cases CK pants are worth the extra as my adult son buys them as they are the only cotton truck style pant that doesn’t aggravate his eczema as they are a really good quality cotton. For Christmas I have bought him some bamboo ones to try but these are the same sort of price as the CK ones.

Try the ‘environment/ethical’ argument. Neither of my two will touch either of those brands because of those issues.

What about telling him to download depop? It's a bit like eBay/instagram rolled into one and he could sell any stuff that he grows out of and then buy branded clothing on there. I like a branded item but will simply buy second hand or for much cheaper and get them mostly from depop!

Thanks for the suggestions of depop i will have a look, never heard of it.

Woodhill - I can be but i like primark, new look, h&m, next etc and like to keep costs low on my clothes

I have a 14 year old . Doesn’t give a monkeys about brands because she’s not a sheep and has a brain of her own . In fact she refuses to wear Adidas , Nike , vans because all the identikit teenagers with the sharpie eyebrows wear them .
Does he realise he’s making himself poor trying to look like he’s rich ? Spending hundreds of pounds on tacky branded clothes is very sad when he’s only 14. Is he over invested in how he looks and how others perceive him ? Low self esteem perhaps .

My son’s best friend is 10 😱and only likes Adidas . My son wears what I buy him with some input from him . He can make all the decisions when he’s paying for it all .

Suggestions of places to buy more consumer tat are missing the point. He can get a job at weekends and after school to fund this little fad, a few months loading dishwashers in a restaurant will give him fiscal understanding a bit, instead of waiting for handouts from his mummy. Educate him on basic household costs, he needs to know stuff like this in order to function as an adult anyway.

Dont knock it, we are now on Marni, Ermenegildo Zegna,Jimmy Choo and Paul Smith (20s)

Yes my son, I feel your pain. His favourite is Adidas however he also likes Nike, Superdry and Northface.

It’s a stage. It’s also a huge relief when you have a kid that doesn’t feel the need to fit in with whatever the expensive fad is.
It’s not about money it’s about conforming. Mine wants to wear very utilitarian army surplus that keeps out wind/rain etc. Mostly because it’s what his peers wear. Still a narrow window but at least it’s cheap, And green which I quite like ( can borrow).

I've got literally loads of North face jackets, Lyle and Scott, addidas jackets as well as Fred Perry, top man, zara, god knows what else, in a bag I'm going to end up giving to charity from ds 2 who is now a small man size. I tried to see jackets on gumtree and got nowhere.
Are any of you in Glasgow?

Sell on gumtree I meant

I agree he doesn’t understand the value of money. He needs to have an allowance of be earning money and have to prioritize and then it will MEAN something to him

DD1 is keen on branded clothes and trainers (she's 15) and currently owns one pair of trousers and one pair of jeans that meet her requirements plus 2/3 branded t-shirts and a branded hoodie. Other stuff is plain and combined with her branded items... or she borrows things from friends. Although she's frustrating with clothes in that she'll buy an expensive t-shirt then barely wear it, she's very happy to have clothes from Depop, Ebay or charity shops which makes it more affordable.

If your DS outgrows his trainers and football boots quickly, could they be sold on Facebook marketplace or similar? There's every chance there's another parent who'd be thrilled to pick up a pair of used boots half price and you would then have some money towards the next pair. Perhaps your DS could take responsibility for cleaning the boots, photographing them etc. ready to sell?

My son prefers Adidas trainers, they’re a better shape for his feet than the other ones he’s tried (and we tried a lot). He’s happy enough with the £25 basics from soccer sports though. He couldn’t give a flying fig about brands for most other stuff.

I don’t understand how brands become important to teens, it’s a very odd phenomenon.

I thought young people today were being drawn away from names, names, names!

It's quite depressing, really; the planet is gasping, and 15 year olds are being indulged in their advert/ peer fed desire for Adidas (of all things!).

@ssd have you tried selling them on depop? My DSS gets a lot of clothes from here and sells his old ones on it too.:: people will buy all sorts!!

My son is also 14, size 11 feet that seem to grow another size every week 🙄 buy him what you can afford for every day wear and some branded bits for Christmas if you can. What’s he going to do? Go out naked? They get what they’re given. It’s ridiculous for him to dictate what socks and underwear you buy him.

This thread is a bit of an eye opener! Very different from when I was a teenager (not THAT long ago). Wondering if this attitude is very variable depending on the area? I don't think I have ever owned a designer item and had/have no desire to, despite enjoying clothes and fashion. That was very much normal in my state school in the suburbs.

I think it’s normal teen behaviour (ie keeping up with the joneses) but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t being unreasonable.

To be honest, I am a bit materialistic/bit of a spendthrift. I certainly can be a brand snob, but when I was a teen I was insistent on topshop rather than £100s on trainers every other month so much more affordable! If you can’t afford his tastes, he’ll just have to deal with it because his branded tastes are not a financial priority.

At his age, you can probably just give him the money to do what he wants with and refuse to buy him clothes yourself anymore. (Perhaps aside from basics like school uniform, coats or underwear.). He’ll have to think about his choices more. Maybe tell him that as he’s on a limited budget, it’s better to spend money on more quality basics rather than less trendy/designer bits, and it’s better to splash out on something that will last eg a watch rather than £170 trainers that he will grow out of.

My DS is 19 and will only wear Ralph Lauren, Superdry, Saltrock, Levi's or Hugo Boss

He does work full time though and we get a lot in the outlets. He has a polo shirt exchange with his grandad who is a similar size, they swap when they get bored of their respective tops. When he was still at school, he only got designer clothes for Xmas and his birthday, he understood that we were not made of money (DH wasn't working as he was terminally ill). He got himself a part time job at 14 to earn some money for clothes and xbox games - we only gave him £25 a month pocket money.

Could your son get a paper round or something similar?

Yikes. Be happy you have got off easily. Nike and Addis are not the stuff of my DCs dreams. Be thankful he's not after Alexander McQueen or Balenciaga.