Baby and toddler clothes are super expensive!

[MooseBreath]

DS is nearly a year old and is growing like a weed. Obviously I want to clothe my child. We don't have friends with children and family with children live overseas, so hand-me-downs is not an option.

Everywhere I look for clothes is so expensive! Surely children's clothing should be cheaper, given that it will only fit for a few months? I've tried supermarkets, but a a pair of trousers is like £10! The only affordable things I have found are the likes of PatPat, and I don't like the thought of using what I can only assume is fast fashion and child labour. It's horrible for the environment and human rights.

DS loves messy play and will typically wear 2 outfits per day (there is mud, paint, and food on everything...I don't mind stains, but draw the line if he's wet and sticky!), and we haven't got a tumble dryer, so need to line dry everything.

Where do you buy clothing for your kids?

eBay is your friend. If you have time to comb through the rubbish, you can find some great stuff for a fraction of the original cost. Bundles work out better as it works out better on postage.

When my first DC was a baby, I bought second hand clothes bundles from eBay. I'd get a huge pile of clothes for £20-30 or even less. Even paying postage, that's loads loads cheaper than buying new, and they don't have to be local to you that way.

I think TU at Sainsbury’s will have a 25% off towards end of May. They often coincide with half terms/bank hols.
I have a few things in my basket but holding off to see if they do first.

I buy a few nice bits from frugi as always sell on for a good price (and I have a second to hand them down to now also!) then I “pad out” with stuff from Asda. Also love the next sale and get a decent amount from there (I find clothes wash really well from next too)

M&S do a 3 for 2 range, which when coupled with the £25 off when you spend £100 type offers, is one hell of a saving.

I also buy out of season for the next size up.

I dread to think how much worse sweat shops would get if clothes became cheaper.

100% Vinted and EBay for bargains posted straight to your door.
Bundles are great value
Charity shops
H & M online - join their club you get free delivery and they do basics starting at 2.99 for t shirts ,nice plain non logo items too which I prefer

Have you tried car boot sales ? These are also amazing for second hand clothing and can get items for as little as 10 p 20 p a t shirt etc

Tesco multipacks and eBay here

I get bundles from eBay.

I bought a few nice, more expensive items that I liked from “ethical” retailers, the rest comes from friends hand me downs (the vast majority of her clothes) and Christmas/baby shower gifts. Going forward, Facebook bundles and second hand are where I’m planning on getting the bulk of her clothes.

Name change because outing, but Sistine chapel, Korean Lady, Penis Beaker etc..

There’s a small local business near me who makes brilliant clothes. The rompers, in particular, that I bought for my child just before their first birthday still fit them a year on, and are still good quality and bright colours. The rompers are about £20 each, but cost per wear over the year make them ridiculously cheap! I’d recommend checking them out. Austley’s Handmade Colourful Clothing

Primark and Tesco seem to be fairly cheap

The rompers are about £20 each, but cost per wear over the year make them ridiculously cheap!

Surely the baby would have outgrown it long before the year is up?

@mainsfed

The rompers are about £20 each, but cost per wear over the year make them ridiculously cheap!

Surely the baby would have outgrown it long before the year is up?

@mainsfed no, I don’t know what it is about the pattern of the fabric, but the rompers that fit my child at 11 months old (and didn’t look like they were drowning them) still fit well now at 22 months.

I was dubious when I first read the reviews, but my child still runs around happily in them now and size wise they’re great. I’d post photos of my own child if it wasn’t outing! I’m fairly certain she’ll have some on her social media pages though.

Pattern or the fabric*

@NCWeeDonkey sounds good!

Most of DS's clothes come from eBay bundles and charity shops - saving money AND saving the planet. It also means I can put him in nice quality stuff from Jojo Maman, John Lewis etc. that I'm far too parsimonious to pay full whack for

On Facebook, find your local mums group and try there. Also join kids clothing groups on Facebook - there are generic ones and also you can search by the brands you like. I get loads of clothes this way, from decent brands like Frugi, JoJo and Boden.

Once things return to normality you need to go to nearly new sales. Go to the poshest place locally for them (for example, I live in South London and travel to the Wimbledon one, the stuff tends to be better quality than my local one). Stuff is incredibly cheap there. I usually come home with several bags of stuff for less than £10.

If you think baby and toddler clothes are expensive, you’re in a for a shock when they’re teenagers and suddenly you’re buying an adult sized wardrobe of clothes every year because they’re growing like a beanstalk.

have you tried all the supermarkets, and Primark.
also B&M type places, Poundstretcher.
maybe you are going for posh type clothes. most of them are made in the same places, just fancy names and packaging and inflated prices.

I always buy stuff in the sale, sometimes I buy a year ahead so just work out what size you need for what season but I usually get Joules, John Lewis and M&S stuff at pretty good prices.

Yabu op Dressing a baby or young child is super cheap. Don't bother going to Asda, look at Asda online...click and collect is your friend.

Mine are 13, 11 and 3. I love dressing the youngest...i can kit him out for a season for £50.

My 13 year old is now is small man sizes, he's grown out of even the largest child sizes. Now THAT is bloody expensive. Buying him new shorts for the summer was flipping eye-watering, no more two pack of canvas shorts for £10. School trousers this year were £25 each instead of an ASDA pack of 2 for £12.

Make the most of it!

Next sales are brilliant you just be prepared. Asda and f and f primark and dunnes stores you need to catch sales. Had to go to a charity shop today to offer new books for them to sell. Bought new toys in boxes never opened. The amount of kids clithes with tags on really surprised me. I have never set foot in a charity shop before but the stock amazed me.

@MintyMabel

Well cheap cloths will have been produced in a cheap (and possible unethical) way. If you want to have morals you have to be prepared to pay more for something that had cost more to produce

Expensive brands use the same factories as the cheap ones

That's not necessarily true and is too simplistic
You can aim to ensure the companies you buy from have a decent ethical policy by reading their policy online. Sadly Primark is well known for being shit. There will be higher end stores using the same factories as Primark and there will also be lower price ones that don't go anywhere near them.

All of that said the OP is talking about clothes being too expensive so I'm not sure that the pp who makes her feel guilty for not being able to afford expensive clothes is really very kind or helpful.

I would agree with posters saying eBay bundles are the way forward also car boot sales, NCT sales and Facebook. H&m does a 3 for 2 on basics like joggers. I still buy their joggers for my DS who is nearly 11. They are great. They also do all kinds of other basics in 3 for 2 and you used to be able to take in a bag of old clothes for charity and they'd give you a £5 voucher. Not sure if that's still happening but worth looking into. Sainsbury's have 25% off now and then I think they might do one around the bank holiday weekend.

It's also worth looking on Debenhams website at the moment.

That's not necessarily true and is too simplistic
You can aim to ensure the companies you buy from have a decent ethical policy by reading their policy online. Sadly Primark is well known for being shit. There will be higher end stores using the same factories as Primark and there will also be lower price ones that don't go anywhere near them.

Ahh, you've swallowed the "primark are unethical" bullshit.

Perhaps actually look in to that.

The reality is, there is little correlation between the price you pay from any high street retailer and how cheaply their clothes are produced.

Ahh, you've swallowed the "primark are unethical" bullshit

Perhaps actually look in to that

What an arrogant comment. I've actually done a ton of research on this looking at lots of high street companies and can confirm that Primark do not meet the ethical minimum standards I expect before I shop somewhere. It has little to do with the cost of their clothing (although some prices are so ludicrous they couldn't possibly be produced ethically) and far more to do with their record on things like the factory working conditions, their use
(Or lack of use) of sustainable fabrics, Their scrutiny of their supply chain and their green credentials.

Second hand is best by far for small children as my post states. Nowhere have I said that the OP should buy expensive clothes.