To think boys clothes are mostly ugly?

[4boys1978]

Random shower thoughts (or bed thoughts, whatever) at 2am.

I have 4 DS’s. Their ages range from 6 months to 8 years.

I’ve noticed I really struggle to find bright, colourful clothing that I actually like for them. I mostly have to order online from next, frugi, JoJo and similar brands.

Whenever I just pop Into primark quickly I can never see ‘nice’ things for boys. Girls have tonnes but never boys! What’s that all about.

Boys seem to be stuck with camo, cars, dinosaurs or really dark colours. It’s all a tad strange.

AIBU? Has anyone else noticed this too? It drives me crazy

Next younger kids stuff has got really colourful in recent years, after mine have got too big for it.

I do tend to stick with Next mainly because it's local and they have stuff that actually fits my really slender older boy.
I tried H&M but found Next is better.

Both my kids are short. I feel slightly guilty about this but Christmas 2020 LO was given a not very nice camo shirt / jacket thing that was far too big. Then we hit 2nd lockdown my spare time was non-existent so I never had time to return it.
I charity shopped it recently still too big and still with tags. Gawd only knows what made Granny choose it

It’s gets worse as they get older. My ds is 13 and unless you can afford £££ then it’s nasty polyester tracksuits (in black or grey) and nothing else.
Oh and supermarket clothes all have PlayStation logos on for some weird reason. Ds just shudders!
And H&M expect every teenage boy to be obese judging by the cut of their jeans.

I totally agree! I hate that everything is covered in dinosaurs or cars. I was in sainsburys yesterday and they had some beautiful, classic girls dresses - really classical but nothing that was similar in the boys range.

I agree, I often wonder why my boys get a choice of navy, brown, dark green, camo and not much else.

My 7 year old loves bright colours and patterns but now he’s moved up from the 5-6 age group it’s just gamer clothes or sludge colours. He doesn’t want that.

DS is 12 and I have never had issues getting him nice bright coloured clothes from high street shops to be honest. Yes sometimes it takes a bit of hunting but they are there.

He lives in polo shirts and chinos/smart pants now and we still manage to get a decent selection even though most his age want the tracksuits and stuff

I assume it sells, and that’s why they stock it.

@Sirzy where are you? The use of the word pants makes me think you aren't in the UK

DS is now 14yo, so into sports/outdoor brands like north face, puma and Nike. Lots of grey, black, blue or sludge.

But when he was younger he loved bright colours so I bought almost everything online with a bit of M&S mixed in. Basically -

Frugi
Kite
Jojo
Lots of Boden

Some John Lewis own brand (but I always shrunk their appliqué long and short sleeve t-shirts for some unfathomable reason)

I totally agree! I get most of my son's clothes from Boden and JoJo because of how dreadful other clothes are.

I found all this too, I even struggle as an adult with the women's departments. I try and find shops that have a decent older boy section or a men's department that stocks xs sizes as they don't seem to stock the style/cut/colour combinations I like and which suit me in the women's department. I think just generally stock in shops is just too stereotypical, there just isn't the chance to have the
the true choice between frills, dinosaurs, feminine, masculine, or gender-neutral in all sizes they all just still seem to conform to the stereotypes.
I hate shopping for my kids and myself.

YANBU, boys clothes often seem to be really dull colours compared to the girls section, and both are covered in slogans and branding. Next is okay for multipacks of plain t-shirts, Uniqlo is great for unisex clothes, but my main tip is Lindex. They’re Swedish and the designs are really cool but less expensive than most of the Scandi brands.

People who think boys clothes are fine and perfectly colourful always have younger boys and/or plenty of money for higher end brands...

I spent ages sorting through primark yesterday looking for tshirts that weren't black/grey/didn't have annoying gendered logos on them in primark yesterday for my 10yo boy.

I have to say it does look like it gets better when they get into mens sizes, there were lots of fun brightly coloured tshirts there - the idea that men might have more than one interest, or might like to wear yellow seems to reappear!

But it's still intensely annoying because there are millions of parents out there just buying what there is because they haven't much choice in budget and enforcing colour coded gender stereotypes at the same time.

PS I don't buy white for any of my children anymore - sure fire way to end up with stained clothes!!

@SushiGo - Zara older kids range 6-14 year olds is full of plenty of reasonable priced basics. Plain t shirts in lots of colours start at €4.95 ( prob £4.50 uk). They also have nice colour swim shorts atm.

I am buying the younger range (2-3) . But bought nice waffle texture mint green shorts, some dark red leggings, plain yellow wellingtons and striped jumper.

Have you tried sainsburys? A little boy I know (he’s 2) has the cutest outfits from there.

I agree, during the week I was looking for a bright hoodies for 2 boys and they were so hard to find. I eventually got a nice bright red in Asda.

I also agree with the PP about pants/knickers, they boys are such a nice thick material whereas the girls are so flimsy. DD wears some of her brothers hand me downs and the difference in quality between the dinosaur and truck ones and the pink bow ones is amazing (and they would have been a similar price).

I have a really tall 3 year old and he wears age 6 length but not width wise on the top and I have noticed past this age we will be into gamer logos etc. On a separate note I would like them to do tall and petit versions of kids clothes so if you need the right waist size but longer or shorter you can still get things. I also let my little boy choose from the boys or girls section and he gets some hand me down tshirts from his girl cousin that he likes.

@Coffeesnob11

I have a really tall 3 year old and he wears age 6 length but not width wise on the top and I have noticed past this age we will be into gamer logos etc. On a separate note I would like them to do tall and petit versions of kids clothes so if you need the right waist size but longer or shorter you can still get things. I also let my little boy choose from the boys or girls section and he gets some hand me down tshirts from his girl cousin that he likes.

Next do Tall, regular, short legs in some of their kids trousers (same Age size/waist size).

I have 2 boys and a girl, since the girl was too old for the young girl ranges I have found it much harder to find her nice clothes that are not pink and sparkly than finding bright stuff for the boys - next h&m and sainsbury all do nice affordable boys stuff but finding stuff with no sparkle for dd is much much harder. Things like shorts and knickers for girls are universally thin and horriblem She has a few bits from boys sections e.g. shorts but now she is an age where girls bodies start to differ from boys ... I do agree there is a lot of sludge for boys but I have never bought any but despite the higher volume of clothing for girls it mostly all horrid.

@Coffeesnob11 M&S and Next both do "slim fit" for school wear. Next also do slim fit Chinos.

It would be nice to get more stuff in slim fit but I can't see it happening. Adjustable waist is as good as it gets. Drives me nuts, I need to take in a set of pjs I can think of better things to do with my time.

My friend complains about the same thing for girls leggings, fit on the length they are too big on the waist.

I've recently bought l/s t-shirts in red and bright mandarin-orange for my 11yo boy, from Primark.

And yesterday bought a purple t-shirt with red scorpions from a German shop called Zeeman.

I'm not in the UK, so different supermarkets and no next. Just H& M, which I have given up on for anything other than joggers, Primark, Zara (often shit quality for its price, better in sales). Carrefour is a bit pitiful for boys' clothes, crap colours, crap slogans. There is another shop called Okaidi which is pricey for us, but my god the clothes are so fucking boring!

I often get plain t-shirts and sew on a hanky pocket in a funky print (lime green with giraffes is a favourite!) to give it a bit of a boost. Same with DH's clothes too, actually

DS lives in joggers (don't mind what colour), and a bright top.

I found its the same for both boys and girls.
For girls once they hit two the clothes become ridiculously grown up or at the time everything was in the fucking night garden branded and once theyre 6 its like My first hooker outfit by George.

For boys again the age 2 seems to be a cut off for nice child like clothing but even in supermarkets its all sludge colours or if you’re lucky a pale blue or garish orange for thebabies.

In lockdown we managed to save a lot so I bought some maxomorrra clothes for my youngest which are lovely bright colours but well out with out usual price range. It’s harder to get things in the bigger sizes too.

Thankfully they’ve lasted him 2 years.

I loved the under 5 clothes for boys in Zara (and they were kind of muted colours but nice) but as soon as he moved into the 5+ It’s the same crap as everywhere else,.

Ive just gone on next and for boys there is tons of colours
They have a paste set of t shirts a neon set , a brighter set reds etc
Loads of different colours

I find Primark and Tescos stock mostly sludgey / cartoon branded clothes for boys. But I find loads of lovely stuff for my 5 yo boy in next and M&S, particularly if you buy on line and don't have to rummage for the right size and colours. Both stores do multipacks / multi buy deals which are good value.

Boys clothes are awful! I left M and S totally depressed last week. My son is 7 and has 80% Boden with a few other bits from Joules and Next. He's outgrown Jo Jo. Sick of dinosaurs , camouflage (why do boys have to dress like mini soldiers??) And sludge colours. And after age 5 Zara seems to think all boys want to wear oversized skate wear!!

I feel the opposite, I have a DD aged 15 months and get at least half of her stuff from the boys' aisle. Most of her clothes are from Sainsbury's and I find them to be pretty good but I don't like frills and bows, and the boys' stuff is usually more neutral, more practical and often very cute.

I'd love to get more second hand bundles but the quality of the girls' bundles is often so naff. I think it would be much easier to buy boys' stuff second hand and be confident that at least 90% of it would be usable.