To think tall 11 year old can’t be clothed in child or adult section

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I have a very tall 11 year old, he’s 5 ft 3 inches and on 99th percentile for height. He’s bigger than I am.

He’s just about squeezing into a few things in the children’s section for clothes, not at all for shoes. The teenage clothes are too cool for him (he’s very much a child emotionally and in terms if interests) and plainer men’s clothes are too big.

AIBU to think this in between stage is not really catered for? Where do those of you with enormous pre-teens dress them from?

H&M is good for a tall slim child goes up to 14 years

Also tesco do up to 16 I think

Funnily enough this is well catered for here in Australia as children are so tall! My son is 11 and half his class are taller than me at 5ft 4 (he isn’t!).
All the boys seem to just live in sport clothes here - under armour, adidas t shirts etc and shorts which go from tiny to mens size.

Sainsburys often have some good stuff in teen boy sizes, though theirs finished at age 14, last time I looked.

Next have an excellent teen range.

DD was 5ft 6 at 11 and pushing 5ft 8 at 12. As others have said Next age 16 will fit, DD lived in Hollister as we were in lockdown and lounging around last year. Now she pretty much lives in jeans from Next adult section or tesco, random t shirts from Qwertee, and hoodies from etsy with whatever she's into printed on the front (mostly Marvel atm), fairly generic and unisex really. She also repurposed a load of my old clothes that were heading for the charity shop so hasn't need too much recently.

My son was 99th centile. We managed by buying a couple if years ahead, mostly from H&M. DS was in their 14+ size by age 12, then small adult, and then medium adult. He's been 6' 2" since the age of 15. Boys are easy to buy for. They just need t-shirts, jeans and hoodies. I dislike logos, so go for solid plain, but bright, colours. Bright colours can be difficult to find in teen clothes, but not impossible. Suggest you shop online from H&M and Next.

He’s really not unusually tall? Dd is just turned 12 and is 5ft 8? I only know one of her friends who is smaller than 5ft 3, is it really a high centile for height? Although I do remember being 5ft tall on starting secondary school and I am a 5ft 8 adult so maybe it is tall.
She wears adult clothes but I do agree that there is a gap with boys’ clothes where s mens is huge and the biggest boys’ size is massive. We had this issue with ds.

Superdry, primark, next and H&M do an xs mens and next online go up to age 16 with an adjustable waist. Also sports direct have a good range up to age 16. Sporty stuff is probably the way to go.

My DS is same height. He now wears mostly men’s clothing in small. He has quite a lot from H and M at moment - it seems to run quite small.

I have a 12yr old dd and 13yr old ds, both 5ft 4. Dd wears size 6-8 ladies or age 15 trousers, ds wears age 15 bottoms from next. They aren’t particularly tall compared to their peers.

My DD is 11 and 5"4 she wears a ladies small or size 8/10. I actually find that there's a much wider selection of ladies so much easier to avoid the crop tops etc that I dislike for girls but maybe not as good for boys.

It’s a lot better than it used to be.

And very much depends where you shop.

H&M are great for older kids. Lots of other brands have big children’s sizes (with small waists).

I just bought DS2 some north face large boy clothes. He’s about 5’3/5’4. There is an XL size too for taller boys. I looked at them and I think they’d just about fit me (I’m just under 5’6).

We also get plenty of joy from Nike and vans. All the things he wants to wear.

I agree! I remember thinking there was v little to cater for DD who was 10/11 and quite a bit over 5ft.
I think it might have been slightly easier having a girl though. Our only solution was Primark and their Disney tops and jumpers because they were still in line with her interests.

Though you'll provably find in a year or two you have another problem entirely and you may well be needing to then find clothes for the very tall!
DD had (luckily!) Stopped growing and depending on the shoe she's between an 8&9, and she's 5"10, and mostly leg it seems! It's never gonna be easy to find her clothes!

Genuinely it was dire about 10 years ago. Basically you had a choice of … H&M or H&M. Everywhere else stopped at 12 and adult men’s clothes weren’t going to start fitting until they were nearly adults.

It is so much easier to clothe teenagers now.

Both mine are very tall as well so I feel your pain. At that age I found Uniqlo brilliant for my DD and H&M for DS (he's also very slim).

Personally I think it is easier with boys clothes as a PP said as you can buy men's hoodies. When my son was 13 he was in xs mens but he is very thin and the waist was too big. Luckily he's caught up now he's 14.5. It is harder with girls clothes as they are always cropped. My 10 year old DD is not that tall 142cm so I don't have the problems getting stuff that is age appropriate really unlike 3 of her friends who are fitting in to 13 year old clothes at 10 but I still find the sizing bizarre and sometimes she has boys 7 year old jumpers, fleeces as they are pretty big and almost the same length as some girls jumpers aimed at her age.

My ds is same age and height but very slim . Next clothes fit fine as does m&s. We get age 13.

H&M is really good and cheap.

Next definitely does clothes that are not too cool if you like. They have cool stuff too.

Sports direct or sports ranges we buy mens XS.

His boots I got from m&s mens. £80

@Stretchandsnap

My 12 year old daughter is 5’11 and wears size 10 shoes - it’s an absolute nightmare…. No one caters for for tall people anyway but it’s infinitely worse trying to do it for a pre-teen

This was me (though my feet are a - large - 8). Total nightmare. I empathise!

DD 1 is 5ft6 at 11 and still growing with size 7 feet.. we cannot find anything to fit her in kids sections anymore (shes an adult size 10 boobs and bum). I scour ladies wear in Primark/supermarkets and charity shops for items that will fit her. Its hard going as she is very definite about what she will wear and what she won't wear . And her clothes cost a fortune.. he 9yr old sister is 5ft and growing daily.. stupid tall kids .

Next has always gone up to age 16.

Ds is 21 and 5'11 and wears Next age 16 long length jeans etc as men's sizes are too big on the waist.

My 11 year old is the same as height as yours. Next trousers are really good, Gap is good as well.
We’ve also started buying stuff from Hype as that seems to fit well too.

My 11 year old is 5 foot 7 inches with size 8 feet. He's wearing men's clothes small or medium with a 30 inch waist.

I feel your pain, my 12yo DS is 5ft3, built like a 9-10 yo with 14 yo length legs. He’s got extremely narrow feet for a child which means men’s shoes are like boats on him as he’s now size 9.
I buy 13 yo jeans at Tesco, sports clothes in large youth, but hoping he might get wider over the next year so trousers might fit better. Checked his coat earlier as it’s age 10, so that’s another painful shopping experience coming up!

For kid character t-shirts Id suggest www.vanillaunderground.com they go up to 16 on a lot of their fortnite, Minecraft and Pokémon stuff.

6ft 12 yr old DS - Boden was excellent, next and hand m. Zalando used to b ok but now not so good.

Trousers are a bugger 28/30 w does not come in 34-36 inside leg. You scour every shelf.

I used to buy off dutch /german websites but Brexit has put that ridiculously expensive.

Shoes are now chelsea boots as can hide slightly short trousers better.

He is currently L men for length but would fit an XS for width - I need the puberty widening to happen fast.