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

@OnlyFoolsnMothers next had tons of plain tshirts in the girls section as well online
Pastels to brights

@Kanaloa

I only ever hear this on mumsnet. Apparently ever mumsnet poster is heartbroken because all stores only offer camo and dinosaur clothing for boys and nothing else.

In real life every time I pop into H&M, Primark, Next, supermarkets etc I see plenty of lovely blues and oranges and purple and greens etc, lots of colours. Obviously some places will do the pink and sparkly vs grey and sludge but it’s far from impossible to get colourful clothes for young boys.

I agree. I have a 14 year old DS who has always preferred brightly coloured clothes (I actually think he looks better in the sludgy coloured stuff as it suits his brown eyes and slightly olive skin but nevermind...) I've never had problems finding bright clothes on the high street.

Admittedly it was easiest when he was a toddler (John Lewis used to do lovely toddler clothes and the supermarkets were fab) but as he's got older it's still not been an issue. M&S are pretty good, as is Next and H&M is amazing! Tons of brightly coloured basics. In recent years DS has worn a lot of Hype clothing too, which can be eye watering sometimes!

I've seen this topic come up loads of MN over the years and I'm always a bit bemused by it, as it's just never been my experience at all.

I find it difficult finding clothes for my tween boys. I see loads for younger boys though.

I couldn't find a Christmas jumper that wasn't gaming/WiFi/dinosaur related. I ended up getting an adults one and one from the girls section.

I think Next is great for boys. Usually they have various colours available.

I bought eBay second hand and sales Joules and boden for my DS

My nearly 5 year old loves bright clothes, i got some lovely bright trousers from maxmorra in the sale and they are lasted nearly 2 years as they have soft cuffs that roll up/down.
With my 1 year old I hate the difference in quality between high street girls and boys clothes, her clothes she’s been given are so much thinner and lots of extra ruffles etc. I got very annoyed trying to find her a swimming costume with no ruffles and that’s a proper sun suit rather than a skimpy costume.

We get bottoms from H&M. They have some lovely coloured cords, jeans and chino shorts and pair up with T-shirts and sweatshirts from uniqlo.

It's definitely getting harder the closer DS gets to the teenage years though.

3 boys and exactly the same experience. I'd love more colours and my boys love colour too. I remember being delighted when I found those reversible sequins on t-shirt and my son's loved them as they are fun. Obviously only one type while the girls had loads. Also leggings , one of my sons is a runner and it's black leggings all round whole girls have loads of colours. I also am surprised by how over the top girly clothes my friends with girls have gone for , this is when they are dressing them so rainbows and pink pink pink. I am a but fan of the corduroy dungaree !!

It’s the shoes and socks that get me. I wanted boys Xmas socks for DS1 (size 4.5) and lots of shops (looking at all the supermarkets and Fatface etc) had them up to a size 3 and then a gap until you were in mens’ size 8s. And all the older girl ones (which exist, unlike boys) were pink. I sent various emails suggesting that if they weren’t going to do ANY boys Xmas socks it would be a kindness if some of the styles were unisex. I ended up with ladies Snoopy ones, not ideal but argh!

Yanbu, this drives me mad too. And what is with all the sharks on bigs clothes? Once in Gap 90% of the boys clothes had sharks on them! Very strange. I get some some kids are into dinosaurs/space etc, but I have never yet met a child obsessed with sharks 🧐 I wonder how they chose the animal. Why not lions, or something more local like squirrels, or badgers? 🤣

Yeah it sucks. Land’s End are very good on colourful boys clothes, as are Frugli. But the supermarket/primark stuff is awful. Have a look in M&S and notice how they make girls clothes in soft silky fabrics while the boys clothes are deliberately rough ☹️ And you can’t just buy from the girls section (I have tried!) because the tshirts are cut to nip in the waist / gape at the neck (🤢) etc

I can only assume that the sort of person who goes into fashion design / buying as a career is the sort of person who hates little boys 🤷‍♀️

@Spearpeas

I actually feel the opposite. There are plenty of ways to dress boys nicely, but I just can’t believe how limited the range of things for girls are. DD is 7mo and so often it is unicorns or nothing. I just despair. DS is 5 and I always think he looks smart when I have done a shop.

Agree

I agree with you. Baby and toddler boy clothes I never had a problem with, but all the boys stuff is: Marvel, Minecraft, Roblox, camo, or various other video games. Next is especially atrocious with their boy t-shirts.
H&M is probably the best.
I do like Ted Baker, Billy Bandit and Fat Face, but have to get second hand off ebay.

@Kanaloa

I only ever hear this on mumsnet. Apparently ever mumsnet poster is heartbroken because all stores only offer camo and dinosaur clothing for boys and nothing else.

In real life every time I pop into H&M, Primark, Next, supermarkets etc I see plenty of lovely blues and oranges and purple and greens etc, lots of colours. Obviously some places will do the pink and sparkly vs grey and sludge but it’s far from impossible to get colourful clothes for young boys.

Agree with this. There are PLENTY of clothes for boys, in many shops, and they get all the cool stuff like space and dinosaurs and cars and sport, and girls get rainbows and unicorns, and much of it pink! But also some girls clothes are pale blue, pale green, and orange, and lemon.

In the real world, parents of girls buy them 'BOYS' stuff - (as well as 'GIRLS' stuff,) and parents of boys buy their sons girls stuff as well as boys stuff (eg, jumpers, t-shirts, dungarees, jeans etc,) if it's a design or colour they like.

DD adored her space scene duvet set, and the T-Rex jammies we bought her when she was 5 to 7 y.o, and she had lots of playstation and nintendo clothes, and her footie shirts, even though they were in the BOYS section.

Very strange. I get some some kids are into dinosaurs/space etc, but I have never yet met a child obsessed with sharks 🧐

I'll lend you my 2 year old he's absolutely obsessed with sharks. I've no idea where his obsession came from because funnily enough he only owns one shirt with a shark on it. 😂 He's a quirky kid though he can tell you the names of sharks with alarming accuracy but still gets his colours mixed up.

Asda, Zara, HM, Sainsburys and Marks are my go to for my son lovely bright neutrals whilst stylish and affordable.

@DelurkingAJ

It’s the shoes and socks that get me. I wanted boys Xmas socks for DS1 (size 4.5) and lots of shops (looking at all the supermarkets and Fatface etc) had them up to a size 3 and then a gap until you were in mens’ size 8s. And all the older girl ones (which exist, unlike boys) were pink. I sent various emails suggesting that if they weren’t going to do ANY boys Xmas socks it would be a kindness if some of the styles were unisex. I ended up with ladies Snoopy ones, not ideal but argh!

Yes, the magical disappearance of footwear between sizes 3-7!! DS is 13 and size 10/11 now, definitely men’s sizes, but his feet are still really narrow and”child shaped”, we have to fill his shoes out with insoles.

What I hate about boys' clothes is that now he is 5 there is no cute stuff, it all seems to have skulls or really aggressive dinosaurs, none of the cute dinos you get on toddler clothes. Or it is stuff based on things he is not old enough for like Marvel, Minecraft, Roblox etc. I hate that so much of this stuff is marketed to little children when the films/games are completely inappropriate for them.

I 100% agree with this. So little neutral stuff in nice plain colours, without some sort of massive branding, logo or aggressive/obstinate slogan on it.

Pants is Yorkshire for trousers

I dunno, I can find plenty - I go for things with animals on. DS is wearing one of these today and it's hardly an aggressive crocodile.

tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/p/Crocodile-Long-Sleeve-Tops-3-Pack-%281-7-Years%29/139118863-MultiColoured

That said, I've seen the Primark 6 and up range and it is all Minecraft, Playstation and Marvel. I won't even be bothering to look in years to come.

These! Link didn't work.

It also seems to go straight from toddler to teenager, with nothing in between. My 5yo is pretty big for his age and has just gone into size 7-8, everything is now gray and covered in fortnight / xbox logos that he is completely oblivious to.

The best option I've found is plain PE T-shirts from the school section, the supermarket cover all the usual school colours, so there's red, blues and greens to bright up his wardrobe.

Try H&M..I get a lot of my daughters clothes from the 'boys' section. Nice colourful, robust trousers WITH pockets.

I’ve been buying for baby dd recently and I feel like it’s not unicorns or nothing, sainsburys recently had loads of nice pastel green/blue/beige stuff and there’s loads of cute stuff that you can put a boy or girl in. I think some people see a problem where it doesn’t exist sometimes.

There nothing for girls either, unless you want them dressed in bright pink/ unicorns or "Be Kind"" "Smile" logos.

I find loads of suitable things in the boys section

@BulletTrain those are cute they stop at age 7. There definitely seems to be better options for younger boys than 3/4 years ago.

Tweens stuff is all dark, and hideous logos.
I've not hit the shoes issue yet.
My oldest is really slender and I find lots of shops are far too wide for him. Which massively limits options.

Also for the girls the clothing is usually impractical or really flimsy.
Zero pockets.