To ask why my DD doesn't have as much of a choice?

[drspouse]

DD is 10 and fairly tiny but it's getting to the point I want to talk to her about crop tops.

Looked up to see where we can get some. She wears white polos and I know from teaching girls with white school shirts that you want skin tone bras and crop tops. Maybe a tiny bit lighter but not white if you have brown skin.

Except I can only find about two shops that do crop tops for brown skin. And DD has brown skin (she's mixed ethnicity - M & S is one of the shops and their "light brown" looks about right).

I've looked at about 10 shops and supermarkets, the only other one is Asda with a "dark tan".

I was looking at some census data for work and 25% of under 10s are non white British. Granted, some of them will be Irish/other European and pale as ghosts but surely preteen clothing for girls with brown skin is a pretty big market? DD's class is about what I'd expect from the national data - 15 girls out of 30 - 4-5 not white.

Because white underwear is the norm.
It's not 'white skin' coloured - it's white white and that has always been the way for low cost underwear. You are meant to not see it through a white shirt not match the colour of your skin tone.

You can see white bras through a white shirt much more if your skin is not white than if it is. I taught secondary school in Africa. Believe me.

I know from teaching girls with white school shirts that you want skin tone bras and crop tops.

The girls at my school wear white bras and cropped tops, no matter what their skin colour.

But presumably seeing a darker bra or crop top through a white shirt would be worse than seeing a white one as its the clear outline of the underwear?? It's like making something out of nothing - give her a crop top and a vest under her shirt if she finds it mega disturbing.

That's also the case for pale skin, a white bra shows through a white shirt, a nude/flesh coloured one doesn't and given not everyone has the same skin tone they should come in a range of colours. I have a white shirt I wear for work, I have pale skin, if I wear a white bra you can see it, if I wear a pale peachy pink you can't (m&S).
I agree OP.

I don't think it's because of race. It's because people used to boil their clothes to get them clean and everything would end up,the same colour if their underwear was different colours.

My DD's are mixed race. At primary school you couldn't see through their polo shirts.

At secondary I got skin tone bras and vests for the winter from primark because they didn't want their bras showing through.

You presumption is wrong. As OP has already stated, on brown skin, white under white is very obvious.

Also, you don't need to get skin toned ones. You can't see light pink or pale grey either.

My daughter is very dark skinned. I've always got her underwear from M&S.

ASOS have some sports bras in darker colours. I don't know if they would be suitable?

OP is making the point that 'skin tone' equals white people's skin tone and why can't we have a wider range? I agree.

Pink.

www.matalan.co.uk/childrens-clothing/girls-pink-padded-crop-top-8-13yrs/14738609.html

Google trainers bras and these came up

But presumably seeing a darker bra or crop top through a white shirt would be worse than seeing a white one as it's the clear outline of the underwear??

I don't understand this.

It’s a good point.

Although the majority seem to be paper white, so no one’s skin tone.

As a practical tip - try out some colours, I seem to remember red was remarkably subtle.

She's about a 26" chest if that so we're going to need crop tops rather than training bras or sports tops - but she might want pink with butterflies rather than skin tone, I will of course ask her.

But yes, white under white on dark skin is much more obvious than light skin. If you have never noticed, it's probably because you live in a country and at a time when adult women have the choice of bra colour for their white blouses. My poor secondary girls didn't.

Red op

It the risk of embarrassing myself and sounding very old fashioned, would she wear a vest OP? I've worn a vest over my bra my whole life, I even tuck it into my knickers
If a vest is visible under clothes, it won't really matter.
YANBU about lack of range of skin colours for 'invisible' underwear though.

White woman here and I am with you OP. Your girl should have the same choice of styles as everyone else.

However. If I read you correctly and it's a white polo top that's the issue, then they're generally thick enough that you can't really see underwear through them. DD wears one for PE and she can wear anything under it.

Apparently red doesn't show under white. I find that hard to believe but don't have anything to try it with.

I happened acrosstis on Asda would that work? Agree though should be more choice. Skin coloured plasters was the thing that annoyed me. I’m sure I’ve seen a decent colour range in Sainsbury’s or Tesco too. Sorry can’t remember which one.

direct.asda.com/george/kids/girls-underwear-socks-tights/light-tan-seam-free-racer-back-crop-tops-2-pack/GEM1086423,default,pd.html?cgid=D25M2G1C9

I absolutely agree that girls (and women for that matter) with any skin tone should have access the same range of choices - ok they might stock different numbers of bras in each skin tone but they should at least be available in the full range of tones.

I can totally understand why girls want this.

Just a suggestion but my dd had a pale blue bra at one point and that didn’t seem to show through shirts very much.

https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk/product/tuc143814757

lots on here

A lot of them are very uncomfortable.and tight.

Look for seamless ones, AFAIK M&S does them in a range of colours, they're so comfortable, like silk.

They're advertised as seamless bra, the s/m fits my daughter she's a size 6, maybe the extra small would fit.

Totally agree re the plasters - I do think that’s improving though (at last).

I did accidentally buy dark brown plasters and that’s not my skin tone (I have olive skin but the pale skin plasters are fine for me) but because I have white privilege it wasn’t really and issue just to use them. Whereas if you have brown/ black skin it must be very annoying not to be able to find plasters that work for you.

Also an issue with medical kit like surgical stockings. People might doubt the idea that they are flesh coloured even for white folk, but for many years that was the only shade available.