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

Aaaargh!! This is one of my absolute bugbears.

I never understood the 70% girls / 30% boys split in clothing shops. After all, it's generally the mums buying the clothes, not the kids themselves!!

Wait until they're older. I have a 14 yr old and a 12 yr old. Both whip-thin so clothing is absolutely massive on the waist.

Or non-existent. Clothing in many shops appears to stop at 12/13 or earlier. Not sure what young teens are actually meant to wear, apart from sportswear. My youngest isn't remotely into sport so his choice is very limited.

Or we have to buy small men's sized stuff which can look absolutely ludicrous.

Retailers are definitely missing a trick here. Huge gap in the market.

I answered YABU because my DD always prefers boys clothes to the girls clothes, but thinking about it I hate it the other way round, the fact that all girls clothes are bright colours and mostly pink really annoys me. So actually I suppose YANBU.

Boys clothing is very drab unless you go for expensive brands.

Molo do great boys clothing but they are £40 a top (the designs on them are brilliant)

Stella Mc Cartney does nice boys stuff but again really expensive stuff.

Mayoral stuff is cheaper and do some nice boys stuff.

But I have found that for boys to have nice clothing they do come with a big price tag

Why must you buy "boys clothing"? It's not about body shape, as differences in body types don't really show till after puberty.

If you want something bright just buy from the "girls section". I find it pretty stupid to gender children's clothing at all.

They are just children FCS

Both boys and girls clothes are rubbish.

It's either gaming and dinosaurs for boys or glitter end unicorn pink crop tops for girls.

Although having one of each I'd say on balance girls clothes are worse.

I used to dress my 3 in Boden, Cyrilis, brands from The Netherlands and French supermarkets. They probably looked like an explosion in a paint factory and they cringe when they look at old photos.
Now all in their early 20s they only wear black and grey. Like a flock of jackdaws.

www.polarnopyret.co.uk/

Great for boys and girls

Have got 2 boys - has got worse as they have got older. Sometimes next or m & s have plain t shirts in a mix if bright colours in a multipack- red, cobalt blue, grey and black for example. Sometimes found good coloured ones in mountain warehouse with different things on. But a lot of places do still have dinosaurs, superheroes or minecraft! And are drudgery colours.

With girls clothes once you get over 8 years old they become really skimpy.

My daughter is in sizes than her age.
There is very limited dresses or child appropriate outfits left. Even though she is on 7, the options available are really skimpy, show off her belly button, or just look really trashy unless you pay a lot more for the more expensive brands.

I bought her some plain T Shirts. It wasn't obvious til we got home that they were really short at the waist, and show off her belly, similar sized plain T- Shirts in the boys section actually cover their abdomen.

@Horcruxe

With girls clothes once you get over 8 years old they become really skimpy.

My daughter is in sizes than her age.
There is very limited dresses or child appropriate outfits left. Even though she is on 7, the options available are really skimpy, show off her belly button, or just look really trashy unless you pay a lot more for the more expensive brands.

I bought her some plain T Shirts. It wasn't obvious til we got home that they were really short at the waist, and show off her belly, similar sized plain T- Shirts in the boys section actually cover their abdomen.

Yes I hate this. :( It is quite difficult to buy normal clothes for girls 7 +. I noticed for my 5 year old, the girls jeans are much tighter around the bum than the boys ones.... I disagree with pink and butterflies for girls, blur and tractors for boys. Why an earth wouldn't the fit be the same for prebubescent children? That's a whole other issue and I've never seen anyone talk about it!

[quote Caspianberg]@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.[/quote]
Tshirts in primark for older boys cost just over £1.

When you're tight for money it makes a big difference.

@Snaketime

I answered YABU because my DD always prefers boys clothes to the girls clothes, but thinking about it I hate it the other way round, the fact that all girls clothes are bright colours and mostly pink really annoys me. So actually I suppose YANBU.

There's lots of coloured stuff for girls but I've never found any difficulty in finding clothes they can wear that are blue/black/grey/brown if that's what you like.

Trying to find a pair of boys trousers that are not that in limited colour range in mainstream shops is basically impossible once they are past age 2.

@CaptSkippy

Why must you buy "boys clothing"? It's not about body shape, as differences in body types don't really show till after puberty.

If you want something bright just buy from the "girls section". I find it pretty stupid to gender children's clothing at all.

They are just children FCS

Have you not seen the comments about girls stuff being all pink, bows and frills.

But if you look at the size charts they are differences long before puberty.

The thing about the really cheap shops being more gendered is that it's much harder to buy stuff from the girls section for boys without people noticing - eg, my boy might be into pink, that's only in the girls section, but cropped and with be kind written all over it - much harder to get away with wearing at 11 without some dickhead making a comment.

Most boys wouldn't be brave enough to risk it. So they choose the grey xbox shirt even when its not what they actually want, and the circle perpetuates.

Always preferred plain white rather than a pale colour for children's clothes as with plain white you can bleach stains out which you can't with pale blue for example.

@pigalow

Always preferred plain white rather than a pale colour for children's clothes as with plain white you can bleach stains out which you can't with pale blue for example.

Serious question my kids have white school polo's, I've tried bleach but obviously not doing it right. How do you bleach clothes?

Yes I agree,
Mostly dark colours, grey, black, khaki, navy, brown! My son loves bright colours. Girls I find much easier to buy nice stuff.

Yes, I've noticed it. I only have DDs, but have seen all of the clean "boy" clothes in the lost and found and emergency spares bins at nursery look like they've been dyed with mud.

We have lots of light pink, unicorns, pastels, etc in the DDs wardrobes. Patterns. And I let them play, so the clothes eventually get stained.

TBH, the family members who worry about the girls getting their clothes and shoes muckit worry about that regardless of the item's color or pattern. I don't think they'd really stop to wonder why it matters to them that they look pristine in public, unless we had a boy in the family (and I am done with having kids, so that won't be happening).

And I swapped to dark polos that align with the school uniform for my girls because I was done with arguing about whether they should go to school with marker pen and tomato sauce stains on white polo shirts.

I agree. I have boys and hate dark sludgy colours.

I’ve always bought lots of summer bits from Joules & Boden. Next are good online but never seem to have it in store.

@theluckiest next go up to age 16
Its only on here i see an issue yet in real life a quick google on next and I have seen a packets of boys t shirts in brights and colours and girls in brights and plain no unicorns etc
So the clothes are their
Its like people are looking for an issue

Next are excellent for older boys clothes.
I’m seiitibg next to be 13 yr old DS, who wears age 15 clothes. He’s wearing blue camp jogging buttons, an orange T shirt and a Hype rainbow paint drip hoody, all from Next.

I actually got an email today from next about their rainbow bright clothes for boys!

My son loves cats but it's very hard to find cat clothing that isn't pink, sparkly and flimsy.
Tesco is the worst for the sludge clothes. I wish I could just buy clothes when I'm food shopping, it would save so much time.
Shopping around for clothes is time consuming.

@rolllan

My son likes JD for his more ‘treat’ clothes and trainers but we can’t afford everything from there! For ‘basics’ like t-shirts and hoodies I pick him up things from H&M or Primark too, or occasionally Asda which actually had some nice bits last time I was there.

My son is mixed race and has light tan skin, he really doesn’t suit sludgy colours but looks beautiful in like bright or pastel colours - I’ve never had this huge struggle people on mumsnet seem to have and have always managed to find blues and pinks and oranges.