To think all older boys clothes are Marvel, Minecraft or mud-coloured

[FishfingerFlinger]

My big-for-age 4yo has just tipped over into needing 7-8 t-shirts.

I still want him to wear bright coloured, cute designs (and he still likes them too) but 7 seems to be the cut off point where (unless you’re willing to spend a fortune on Boden or scandi) everything turns into a sea of sludgey coloured designs or a walking advert for PlayStation.

Is there a secret place I can buy nice bright coloured designs on a reasonable budget? It’s depressing.

@Baystard

Yes I agree OP. Trying to find pyjamas for DS that aren't Marvel, Spiderman, military camouflage (which i find seriously distasteful for kids), or XBox. It's actually really sad, he loves his old pyjamas that had cute penguins, or jungle animals etc and the ones in his size are now so dull.

Try The White Company.

I feel your pain. I have an 8 year-old who has learning difficulties and is really tall. He is in 10-11 years clothes. I find fat face is good as well as gap and boden. All bought on ebay.

FatFace, and they have a sale on right now.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Having checked all of them out I’m going to vote H&M the winner for having a range of bright, fun, child-friendly designs that often go up as far as size 8-10, and without breaking the bank (although if you don’t like dinosaurs that does limit your options substantially!).

Just to add to my list of moans - why is surfing such a recurring motif on kids clothing? Are kids more into surfing than I am aware?

My 13 year old is sitting next to me in a very bright yellow t shirt with green sleeves - he's definitely an older boy The T shirt he's wearing is just fruit of the loom - they do little children's sizes as well as older child and adult sizes in pretty much every plain colour including brights or basic patterns and are cheap and wash well.

There is a lot of non-sludge, non-cartoon stuff out there, but it needs some hunting down.

Land’s End (pricey new, excellent sales)
Sainsbury’s
Morrison’s
Boots (up to age 6)
Next - online had much better selection than the shops
Odd bits from TK Max
H&M
Boden in sales and preloved

It’s now he’s 12, but 5’9” and still skinny I am really having problems.

I think the surf theme is because it’s fun, outdoorsy, brightly coloured and reminds parents of those carefree days of endless summer they used to have 😉

Ds is 11 now but his outfit of choice has been polo shirt and smart trousers for as long as I can remember. We mainly get bits from next where we have no trouble finding things.

I think the surf theme is because it’s fun, outdoorsy, brightly coloured and reminds parents of those carefree days of endless summer they used to have 😉

It does just seem to be projecting adult interests onto kids though - I can’t really imagine mine ever saying ‘mum can I wear my surfboard t shirt today?!’

It’s not too hard to find bright coloured plain t-shirts. My holy grail is finding prints and motifs which are bold, child-oriented, fun and not tied to a particular franchise.

Boden does this really well and they do have a great size range - but the £19 for a t-shirt is more than I’m willing to pay for something that will be stained or out-grown in a matter of months. Even second hand prices can be steep.

I just got 9yo DS a load of colourful bits in the Next sale. I hated walking into shops and seeing black, grey and khaki when he moved into the 7+ range.

Mountain warehouse is definitely worth a look. Spiders anyone?

www.mountainwarehouse.com/tarantula-organic-cotton-kids-t-shirt-p33152.aspx/yellow/

There's a huge market for second hand Scandi.

I buy new in the sales or second hand but o know that anything I buy new will have a market when I sell it on. And doing that works out about as cheap as the supermarkets anyway.

Wow he must be so tall! My 5yo ds is slightly tall for age and is still sometimes wearing 4-5.

Have you tried gap?

Regatta do some nice t shirts as well.

www.regatta.com/kids-bosley-iii-printed-t-shirt-glowlight/

I miss those days, he is now a walking advert for Minecraft and PlayStation. (Though I actually have the opposite problem as at 13 I am struggling to get what he likes - autism)

My DS wears next age 7 and I found loads of plain bright tshirts, great value on there. Asda/ Tesco/ salinity s do packs of unbranded patterned PJ's too. Although DS a big fan of Minecraft but some of it is very naff.

*sainburys

@FishfingerFlinger

It’s not too hard to find bright coloured plain t-shirts. My holy grail is finding prints and motifs which are bold, child-oriented, fun and not tied to a particular franchise.

Boden does this really well and they do have a great size range - but the £19 for a t-shirt is more than I’m willing to pay for something that will be stained or out-grown in a matter of months. Even second hand prices can be steep.

Keep an eye out for the Frugi sale. I never buy full price but the sale is excellent.

Sainsbury's usually have brights in, as do Next online and H&M.

The prominence of sludge and gaming/character clothing is annoying though.

Next
Zara
H&M
M&S

It does just seem to be projecting adult interests onto kids though - I can’t really imagine mine ever saying ‘mum can I wear my surfboard t shirt today?!’

Probably different if you live by the sea. My 5 year old would really like a body board (which he's not getting till he is much older!)

H&M is good, and TK Max I always find lovely jumpers in.

Unfortunately for me DS1 likes Marvel/Playstations and T Rexes on his t-shirts. "cool" surfery designs are ok to get a bit of colour on him.

Scandi brands like Duns always go on sale at good prices and there's a huge second hand market for it especially in Facebook groups. The independent retailers selling Duns, Maxomorra etc also usually stock other smaller brands from Europe that are all colourful and have fun characters.

You might also like a small UK brand called Wilder Ones. She has her own website and has a sale on currently.

My 9yr old chose himself a neon yellow hoodie from Primark last week. But it was hidden in with a load of camo and xbox junk

Mine loves Pokemon but tshirts are often black or grey too, which is actually a bit odd when you think about how all the cartoons and stuff are really colourful. Thanks for the tip @Popskipiekin these ones look better!
I think lots of the shops I used to like when he was younger are rubbish for older boys. Agree with op and everyone it's mostly sludge or gaming brands (also mostly in sludge colours).

The issue I find is you go in sainsburys or next or h&m etc and they will have the sort of thing you describe, but they will have.... one. Or two at most. Surrounded by a sea of sludge. So to get a selection, I have to go to four or five places and dig around to find the limited selection.

These threads come up a lot, but surely its consumer led so there must be a load of people liking and choosing to buy all this stuff.

At a quick glance...Next, John Lewis, Gap and M&S.