To think clothes become chavvy after age 2.

[Piggiesinblankets]

I loved looking for clothes for the children up to 18-24 months. After this, instead of the nice pastels, flowers, bears etc it becomes tracksuit bottoms for boys with slogans or garish patterns. It all looks cheap and nasty. Even a lot of the Next stuff is particularly bad for little boys.

I love the Boden/ Frugi / Blade & Rose stuff but most of that is not an affordable day to day option with 3 under 3 ( Vinted and sale shopping aside).

I like my children to be nicely dressed, not in awful tracksuit type outfits. I don't understand why at least up to 5 they don't have more of the baby / toddler designs. More pretty pinafore and soft colours for girls and dungarees, bears, blues, browns and burnt oranges for boys etc.

Dungarees are ridiculous in the early toileting years...and especially while the fine motor skills are developing. If your child can't independently remove clothing to toilet then it shouldn't be worn!

This almost certainly drives the trend for looser more accessible outfits. It's less about aesthetic and more about being practical.

Parents obsessed with aesthetic beyond is it clean and appropriate for the activity are rather pathetic IMO, far more than the parents who happily let their children be decked out head to toe in Bluey.

I agree (but absolutely hate that you used chavy to describe it- such a nasty classist word!)

But yes I agree, as soon as the baby section finishes it’s all slogans, and nasty designs; especially for boys! It is possible to find nice bits in all the usual places but it does take some searching and being picky. I’m loving Vinted at the moment more than regular shops (again I probably spend hours searching and don’t always find things I like)

If they don't remember to took the skirt bit out the way when the go to the toilet, it ends up with wee/poo on it.

If they want to climb trees, it gets tangled round their legs and in the way.

If they want to do hand stands, it falls over their head.

If they want to crawl round pushing cars or building train track, they kneel on the shirt bit, and trip themselves up.

Yes to all of this!

I don’t think this is true. Also you might think Biden/Frugi/Blade and Rose are nice but a lot of their stuff is ugly in my opinion. Those B&R leggings are awful.

I think it’s far worse for girls. The cheap supermarket stuff bifurcates at about age 3 between basically superhero stuff for boys (fine if you are into that but mine wasn’t) or really gross girls stuff which is either really flowery with unnecessary bows everywhere or proto sexual stuff (mini skirts, off shoulder t shirts and t shirts with slogans like “heartbreaker”). It’s as if we are training our girls either to be consumers of Country Casuals or Shein). There’s something vaguely Madonna/Whore about it. Also highly impractical if you have a girl child who doesn’t want to look like a bridesmaid or a Boohoo model.

Yes you can find ways around it if you pay more or go the Vinted route but it’s still pretty depressing that marketing people still think this is what girls like.

Quick search for clothing for boys aged 5yo at Tu.

Pack of long sleeve neutral coloured tops https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc144470589

Pack of striped t-shirts https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc143779331

Linen shorts https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc144128370

Chino shorts https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc143713340

And for girls how about...

Flowery dress https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc144465819

Flowery, pink and navy leggings https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc144527952

Plain long sleeved tops https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc144461009

Cycling shorts in plain colours and a peaches design https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc144075271

Yes there's plenty of slightly inane slogans, gaming stuff, pokemon, some of the cuts of the girls stuff is a bit teenagerish. But there's budget frugi esque or plain stuff out there as well.

@LittleLegsKeepGoing i agree. But also I don’t want my child to only be dressed in t-shirts with slogans on all the time. Doesn’t mean I dress them inappropriately for activities! It also doesn’t mean I’m obsessed with the ‘aesthetic’, I just don’t want to buy clothes that I don’t like.

I want to dress my child practically and for them to be comfortable (not in jeans etc) but also not head to toe everyday in peppa pig/superheros or cartoon dinosaurs, or t-shirts that say ‘mummy’s little man’, which seem to be the majority of options in the high street shops. Of course we do have a couple of character t-shirts as ds likes them but I don’t want that to be the only thing I can find in the shops. Nothing wrong with wanting joggers/leggings and t-shirts in plain nice colours, or nice designs (not all mustard, and sludge green etc) which are so much harder (but not impossible) to find once they outgrow the baby section.

None of those things have ever happened to my DD, so I guess I'll have to take your word for it. She's always up a tree or climbing something. She's way faster and more confident than most other kids her age on an obstacle course. I get the bit where it falls down when she's upside down so she sometimes wears cycling shorts.

I did put her in trousers once and they were a nightmare because she doesn't really have a waist yet, so they kept slipping down all day and giving her a builder's bum.

I find trousers really uncomfortable and only wear dresses too.

Find a Tesco superstore with a large childrens clothes section. They do little cotton dresses, cord skirts etc without logos, all in cotton. There's some garish stuff but if you persevere you'll find plenty.

What's with the 'chavvy'? What you are actually saying is these clothes are not to your taste. Clearly they are to many other people's tastes or the retailers wouldn't sell them.

Why can't you just say you don't like them? Why do you have to use a derisory term which is aimed, by implication, at denigrating those people who do? The word chav is offensive and used far too freely on Mumsnet. Substitute chav for the name of an ethnic group and you'll see what I mean.

There's plenty of nice kids stuff about. But tracksuits, leggings etc are immensely comfortable and practical for active children.

Zara have nice bits for boys along a more cute skater, outdoorsy vibe but I do agree generally with most affordable shops it's nasty stuff. My boys is 4 and I generally don't like most Next stuff.

I have DDs, no thank you to pinafores or anything else fussy. Leggings, tshirts and cotton dresses that are essentially long tshirts for us please. Comfortable and practical for playing and going to the loo.

I don't have boys, but I can't imagine much more suitable for little boys than tracksuit bottoms? They can come in nice styles.

As for bright colours, I like bright and cheerful colours for DC - but more to the point, so do they!

I don’t really agree but also found it hard to care about this when mine were tiny toddlers/ preschoolers (or at any ages but you’re obviously talking about tinies here)

Practicality was what I was looking for - comfy clothes that let them have full freedom of movement.

My personal bugbear is anything for girls that impedes they crawling/ walking / playing/ climbing of trees etc as they get older.

I agree that both boys and girls baby clothing is nicer but I think the issue is they once they are old enough to have an opinion on what they wear the market is aimed more at their own tastes. I think jogger looks absolutely awful but my 6yo ds absolutely loves them and finds anything else uncomfortable to play in so he wears joggers. I generally draw the line at character stuff through,especially disney 🤮 I really don’t like it but Dinos and animals are fine!

I know it’s an innocent typo but I’m amusing by the idea of dressing them as Biden 😂

This is funny because I was moaning about the lack of any leggings in Tesco that weren’t pale pink and white for almost 3 year old DD because they aren’t going to stay nice and clean for long. Not when she’s actually having exploring and having fun.

Personally, I buy what my kid likes rather than aesthetic that I like, she’s not a doll to dress up. I buy clothes in all colours because it will have Duggee on them or animals she likes. What is it on it is more important than the colour. I want her to wear things are comfy and that she has an interest in. I think most kids, given the chance to pick their own, would lean towards a garish mix of colours which would explain why there is more bold colours in this age group. Left to her own devices, DD would wear a long sleeve duck egg blue penguin dress with tulle skirt, a pastel rainbow bucket hat, sunglasses with strawberries on, bright pink tights with flowers on and multicoloured dinosaur wellies. Regardless of the weather.

Oh haha!

I don’t remember having this issue with dungarees- but possibly it was during the age 1-2 age group that my dd wore them - and she potty trained aged about 2.

DS I can’t remember if he wore dungarees much but possibly it was aged under 2 as well.

When my kids were two -n o cares could I give, practical and comfortable - they were not dolls.

I agree, but it's not that difficult to find appropriate clothing. Neither of mine went for the slogan/brand look and I shopped in less affluent places like George/Tu for their things. Simple, ordinary clothes with ordinary patterns or just plain - frankly shorts for my daughters that weren't arse revealing was and still is the most challenging shopping challenge.

My point is I'm far more likely to roll my eyes at the parents of a girl in a flouncy dress (outside of formal occasions) or a boy in insta worthy dungarees at the age of 2/3 when they're exploring the world than I am a parent who has a child in slogan joggers/shorts/Tshirts.

The OP sounds like the former, hence my criticism about the aesthetic because that sounds like their biggest concern (I mean, seriously, who on earth thinks dungarees for toilet training age children is a good idea unless you're after the insta aesthetic?!)

I second this. My DS3 is in pre school so no uniform I picked a lot of primary colour t-shirts, round neck t-shirts for him for about £1 each from TU school wear. He chooses which out of three colours he wants that day and mornings are 100% less stressful choosing a t-shirt because there are no slogans or designs for him to tantrum about.

Chavvy? As an adult do you wear lounge wear? Kind of the same thing really and some people heaven forbid actually go to the gym or shopping in theirs. I generally try to buy plain things for my children just because it's actually slightly easier to pass down with them being opposite genders. DS3 isn't fussed about princesses but will happily wear an old plain fleece from his big sister. However I absolutely do not think it's chavvy for kids to be running around in jogging bottoms or hoodies. They all grow out of stuff so quickly that's even if it gets that far and isn't trashed beforehand.

Bright/darker colours are better for my girls (6 and 3). I rarely buy pastel colours as they just destroy them with ice cream, paint, chocolate cake etc etc. I can't put a 6 year old in a bib for meal times. But I've found loads of pastel colours for sale in most shops including M&S and Next. Just buy the expensive brands you like on Vinted. Btw one brand you might like is Sergeant Major - used to be in the UK but only online now. They do absolutely gorgeous clothes that are on the more delicate side but very good quality and wash well.