to be fed up with dull boys clothes?

[goldilocksandmylittlebear]

Its so frustrating walking into shops full of bright, lovely girls clothes only to find the boys range........limited and dull!

Why can't boys have bright colours too?

I have found a few great ranges but its costs a bomb!

'Me Too' is great and Molo.

Anyone else having the same problem?

There must be some law against it! How can you offer 1/2 the population so much less than the other half??!!

the worst thing is the baby clothes with all the tools / trucks/ etc its so macho its gay!

I think you really just have to pick and choose from all sorts of places. I got 7yo DS a lemon coloured linen shirt from Next for a christening this summer, also an orange t-shirt from there, an orange and white striped polo shirt from Gap, also some red/gree/blue checked shorts from Gap, a lovely stripy shirt from Debenhams, some orange shorts from Asda etc.

And the same with DD, she gets bought/handed down plenty of pink, so I tend to buy other colours. A pair of red jeans from Asda, deep purple cords from H&M, teal and blue tops from Le Redoute etc.

I agree the colours are bland so i bought myself a sewing machine and have started making ds2's trousers am just working on a pair that are red with clowns all over lol...maybe a bit much???

As boys get older the clothes get worse - when the DSs were small I found it quite easy to find lots of nice orange/red/bright green etc. Now they are 5 and 6 it is all navy, grey, brown etc or covered in superhero logos.

It really, really winds me up. Why is there so much girl stuff and so little boys? Surely they need dressing too? Or is it just that rows and rows of navy and sludge green and camo look a bit dull [mad]

...errm, perhaps I an help. I used to be a boyswear designer supplying most of high street

There is more floorspace for girlswear, as girls seem to require more clothes . There are more sections in girlswear, eg formal or partywear etc, whereas boyswear is mainly casual. Also ther ar more store buyers for girlswear than boyswear.

All the high street are affected by the current or predicted trends, so what they are selling is usually what is happening in boyswear across the world. However from my experience, UK is very very jumpy about boyswear, and tend to be very unadventurous, sticking to what they know. However bright colours are reappearing in menswear, so boyswear should follow eventually. Everyhing follows womenswear which is full of bright colours atm.

But with credit crunch etc, no one is going to take a risk on wrong co,our at the moment. When I used to go on sourcing trips, Holland was the best for boyswear....

I'm not a designer anymore........

I like Mini Mode from Boots, not usually a very wide range but generally interesting designs and good strong colours and not much in the way of irritating slogans. I buy a lot from H&M and Pumpkin Patch too because they are a good fit on him, but I have to be quite choosy with Pumpkin Patch because the colours are often faded looking and better suited to pale complexions.

DS looks awful in sludge colours, but he does have a fair amount of sludgey and dark blue trousers because he gets filthy and they don't show the stains.

boden boys clothes are lovely. (from ebay of course). I like the zara stuff atm too.

Try jako-o for bright boys cloths - lots of colourful stripes. They're German, but deliver to the UK.

Fizzbuzz ? It?s really interesting to get a perspective from a former designer. I always thought that designers of high street boys? fashion thought that their mothers had no interest in design, hence the truly abysmal output! It?s so frustrating to see all these gorgeous clothes for little girls (especially high street Gap), but to find nothing similar for little boys.

Anyway, I have the internet as a lifesaver. I love the Nordic labels such as Katvig, Nanoou, Solidary People for really interesting colours and design. I also love Catimini, Tartine et Chocolat and Kenzo. I have managed to pick up some very nice things from Gap on occasion. Shopping for baby boys is by no means easy.

fizzbizz, what you say makes a lot of sense. Not having grown up in the UK, I would agree with you that UK consumers are jumpy about boy clothes. Dh is adamant that yellow, lilac, in fact any pastel, is a girl's colour, with orange being on the borderline. Just a bit of pink lettering on, say denim, rules it out as a handmedown for ds. Flowers are out as motifs on t-shirts.

Mini Mode (Boots) have had some nice boys things in.
There were a few bright tops and trousers that I bought for my ds's.

fizzbuzz - that's really interesting.

I also recommend Polarn O Pyret (which is Swedish) for bright clothes. Not cheap but they have great sales.

Thanks to the couple of people who've suggested minimode - I've had a look online and they do have some nice bright stuff which is reasonably priced

The designers usually want to be more adventurous....I rememebr presenting a buyer with a range with a pink shirt for boyswear. It got nowhere

Blame the buyers, not the designers...they have to ensure their product sells, so don't take risks.

However when I was doing it, there were a lot of bright colours for boys, lime green turquoise, and orange were doing very well then. Brown was the kiss of death then for ANY kidswear (girls or boys), so give it time.......it will all come round again

its so true having had 3 boys and 2 girls i alway found and still do find it so easy to find girls clothes drives me mad !i hate t shirt with pics like skulls /monkeys etc on them
mind you i do draw the line at boys wearing pink and flowery stuff to must admit but each to there own i,m not to judge

I hate CAMO with a vengeance - why oh why do they think that khaki is flattering to little boys; it's hideous! Verbaudet have some nice stuff, but you do get annoying emails and letters through the door.

Absolutely agree, and with the fact that 75% of space is given over to girls' clothes.

Hmm, the choice for boys is sludge, khaki, or navy. Ooh, stripes or plain. Really pushing the boat out with an applique animal...

I even once looked at Top Shop maternity as someone had told they'd started doing kids clothes. Turned out that mothers who buy their children clothes at Top Shop apparently only have girls, as they don't even do boys clothes.

My boys loved doing tie-dye till about age 13.

Surf labels often come in bright colours - we have orange/red/bright blue etc from Ripcurl bought in TK Maxx.

When they were younger I used a cataloge called Vertbaudet - don't know if that's still around? Quality wasn't great but they were bright, funky and cheap.

Yup, Vertbaudet are still around. They carry a teen range now as well.

I too hate dull boys' clothes in predictable khakis, blues and browns.
But I think Sainsbury's TU range is fab for boys - vibrant, different and it certainly isn't dear! I love their stuff.

By the way, my little chap is 18 months, so I don't know what their rnage is like for older boys. I haven't read all the posts; just the first.

H&M have really nice boys stuff :-D

Agree, i love girls clothes for dd.
i buy ds clothes from boden, debenhams,minimode,cherokee, mini a ture, stardust, no added sugar, molo,vertbaudet, la redoute,next, etc... i agree some clothes are boring, and dull.
i got to go and find zara and h&m,e veryone keep telling me they are good.