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

[obser]

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?

Op I feel your pain. DS is 12 and 6ft and currently taking a size 14 in shoes. It's a nightmare and I dread his feet getting any bigger.
I have to buy from the adult section for him but as he's really skinny it can be difficult. Nike clothes are quite slim fitting, also Primark for basics like joggies and t-shirts.
I feel like I've given birth to Clifford!!

I can tell you’re going to have to start buying him Abercrombie Fitch skinny boys chinos in a size up to his age, and then the men’s ones when he is still too skinny for his height. I’m sorry.

My 12 ds has lived in primark xs man and next xs man slim fit for the last year!

I really noticed the difference between ranges for this age group between my son and daughter. Lots of womens shops start at a size 4 - primark, new look, H&M, topshop she has always had so much choice.

I really struggled with my son until he could fit in small mens but even then Trousers were still an issue due to waist size. There is a massive gap in the market for teenage boys clothes.

I sympathise and had a similar problem with my DD. She has been in adult women’s clothes since that age, but loved all the kids clothes she couldn’t fit into. There is an online t-shirt shop called EMP that has cool styles for adults that children would like. I have bought my partner cartoon type t-shirts from there.

Watching with interest. DS1 is only 8YO and almost as tall as me (I'm 5'1"). Already in 9-10 for his height, but he's skinny as anything.

He'd happily live in joggers, t-shirt and a hoody though.

we should just force them to wear belts

Yes. Its a real pain. Also shoes. Lots of brands (not all) stop childrens shoes at one size and start mens shoes with a gap in sizing. Eg boys goes up to 5 and mens starts at 8, so my 12 year old boy is in ladies shoes, which is fine but as he wanted walking boots it was hard to find some that didnt have a pink stripe on them.

DS has always been tall and slim, and is 175cm (5’10”) and size 11 shoe at 13. If it’s available, he wears age 16 clothes. He is just starting to fill out, so men’s clothes are beginning to fit, but for years we’ve struggled with height/width/too grown up.

Next online go up to 16 and have a good range of causal clothes and school wear.
H&M are cut slim, go up to 14
Boden do some stuff up to age 14
Love or hate it, Hype do the “small teenager” size range well.
Gap recently introduced a range of teen basics.

There would be a missive market for “big” kids clothes. Yiu knie the stripes tops/plain Ts and chinos that Jojo Maman fo for preschooler? Well those in properly proportioned preteen/prepuberty teen sizes.

I had a problem earlier with skinny teenaged 5'9" DS. H&M do teen sizes but I found them too wide in the waist. Primark came up trumps for trousers.

I don't know what you mean by childish interests? IME the teen sections are full of computer game/Harry Potter/Star Wars/Marvel related stuff which seems quite age appropriate for any child over the age of 6 but if he's looking for dinosaurs and diggers then you'll have less choice (I sympathise if so, my teen refuses point blank to wear any of the generic teenage male interest T shirts but would love something nature-based).

What is the waist for xs primark ?

Jack and Jones is a plainer adult range
M and S, Next and River island also (online)

@MissM2912

Hollister??

I was about to say this. My DS is similar and we shop at Hollister and Uniqlo for him

I found the Primark boys trousers age 14-15 adequate for my 5'9" teen and waist adjusted down to very skinny (without leaving him with huge ruches of fabric round his waist like the H&M ones)

I agree that bright primary colours clothes for teenaged boys are like hens' teeth. The best way to achieve something cheerful is to buy XS mens Hawaiian shirts and wear them over T shirts.

I’m going to have a look at primark boys, I don’t usually look in the kids section anymore

I have this problem with dd11 too. She borrows some of my clothes but skirts that are long enough on her are too loose! She also has bigger feet than me.

I can’t believe some of you have 12 year olds who are 6 feet tall! But given the rate he’s growing this could be ahead of me.

DD was gutted to stop growing at the same height as me (5'4") but the blow was softened by the realisation that she still has access to my large and eclectic 1990s wardrobe of clothes and shoes. She's currently rocking my (authentic) biker jacket and Paige jeans and I'm not quite so disappointed to no longer fit into them.

My 12 year old is 5ft9 we generally now just get men’s size small. But he’s a tracksuit and T-shirt guy so no bother about things looking too old for him.

If you're looking for generic bright t-shirts then dying plain white ones can work well.

One pack of dye will work on several t-shirts so if you can buy larger sizes too then it works out more economical.

And you're right that this age is poorly catered for. I think this is because only clothes for under 14s are VAT exempt so companies don't want to make children's clothes a 15 year old might fit as it makes the tax more complicated. Looking at shops which charge more for larger children's clothes and also sell adult clothes could give more choice as it should be easier for them to work out the tax.

Note sure exactly what you are looking for, but it should be possible to get basic jeans/chinos/whiteorgrey t-shirt/plain sweat shirt in almost every size iteration.

Mine's 5 ft 4 and still in H&M teen sizes and Hollister XS men. Plenty of plain items.