Are you fed up of buying clothes for your children in the same colours and patterns?

[nappyaddict]

I am interested to find out which colours people are fed up of and if you are fed up of them for a boy or for a girl. The list is quite long so the easiest is way is to probably put a * next to the ones you are fed up of and then put B for boy or G for girl or B+G for both.

I am thinking of writing a letter or petition to all the high street stores and supermarket chains with my findings :)

Colours:

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Bottle green
Dark green
Pink
Purple
Blue
Navy blue
Turquoise
Teal
Grey
Blue-grey
Brown
Khaki
Stone
Beige
Cream
Black
White
Tan
Camel
Rust
Mustard
Burgandy
Marroon

Patterns:

Horizontal stripes
Vertical stripes
Spots/dots
Stars
Checks
Diamonds
Squares
Hawaiian print
Flowers
Hearts
Leopard print
Zebra print
Tiger stripes
Cow print
Camouflage
Sailor inspired:

red and white stripes
navy and white stripes
navy and cream stripes

I'd love to have a choice with even some of what you've listed.
We live in Belgium and as Versace or D&G are out of my price range, DD buys her clothes from C&A or H+M.

H&M is usually quite good isn't it? Not so good for the older children I think though.

DD is utterly fed up with pink, but Mini Boden does plenty of non-pink stuff for girls.

There is actually plenty of choice around. I'm fed up with tarty polyester rubbish for girls, but there's lots of stuff that isn't like that, and I avoid buying stuff in shops which sell it (Tesco!) You just have to look around a bit.

I think a petition is really not useful. It's a free market, thank goodness: people can take or leave what they like. There's something for everyone in most places.

I avoid buying DS "pale blue with cars on", DPM combats and shades of sludge. There is a lot of it about, but also plenty enough brights to work round this.

H&M, John Lewis, and Boden are great. More realistically, Asda is pretty good too, and mostly cotton.

A friend of mine did petition Mothercare about the volume of pink frills they sell. They told her their market research and sales showed that that is what people wanted. I know one of the senior marketing folk at M&P - their best seller is a frilly pink and white dress, the designers hate it but it outsells their next best seller several times.

BikeRunSki What colours in my list come under "sludge"

I find toddler boys clothes have a good range of colours if you look hard enough. Baby boys are a bit pale blue heavy, and I can't say I'm a particular fan of pastels, so I'd like to see brighter colours in baby clothes for both sexes.

If I had a DD I know I'd probably feel quite nauseous at the sea of pinks of various shades, and pale lilac which is the most vomit-inducing colour around IMO.

Patterns aren't something I'm too concerned about. I don't much like naff slogans, leopard print on a baby is just wrong, and gingham scares the shit out of me!!

I agree that baby and toddler clothes aren't too bad but once they outgrow age 5-6/6-7 it starts getting a bit more difficult.

I don't like how any slogans on boys shirts have to make reference to them being loud, messy, noisy, etc and that girl slogans are all about being a princess, or good, or pretty, or the apple of daddy's eye.

I also find that in places like Asda or Tesco there will be aisle upon aisle of girls clothes in loads of different styles. There will be one, mayb two, aisles of boys clothes but the majority of these will be the exact same jumper or shirt in several different colours, it's so frustrating.

All dungaree sets should have poppers on the undershirt in the style of a vest to stop the undershirt riding up. Marks and Spencer and Next do this with theirs and it works. If I see dungarees I like for DS and the undershirt has no poppers then I don't buy them.

I hate how a three pack of t-shirts or shirts has one nice shirt with a nice pattern or picture on it and the other two are just plain and not very nice. Would it hurt to make them patterned or pictured too?

I love kids pants that have those little adjustable waistbands with the button and the piece of elastic? Not sure what the proper name is for them but all kids trousers should have them. It's guaranteed that if I buy pants that fit DS on the legs they will be too big on the waist (and will have no belt loops so can't keep them up using a belt) but if I buy them to fit his waist they'll be too short on the legs. More adjustability please!

And as well as adjustability I'd like versatility. In summer I look for carpenter pants for DS. When it's sunny I can roll the legs up and fasten them to make them three quarter or shorts, if the day turns chilly or he's cold I can roll them down. Same for tops where the sleeves can be alters using buttons/ties.

I suppoe the colours I call "Sludge" are brown, khaki, camel, beige, grey. DS has a few pairs of trousers in these colours - cords and combats kind of thing - he also has fab bright red cords and some great brightly stiped jersey shorts for the summer.

I also agree about hating all those "Daddy's Princess/Here Comes Trouble" type slogans.

And ALL kid's bottoms should have those button elastic waists by law. And roll up legs with tags on trousers.

I hate most boys clothes at the moment.

I like pastel colours. I found after DS grew out of the baby range (at about 18 months) the choices are very limited.

I like cords and combat trousers, in colours like brown, beige, blue, maybe a nice green. I don't mind blue jeans, but not ones that are made to look 'trendy' like with stupid faded patches on. I hate jogging bottoms or tracksuits of any sort on young children.

I also loathe all these cartoon style tops. Trying to find a nice top that doesn't have Lightning McQueen or Toy Story on (which DS would actually love to wear) is a pita. I like strips and again, nice colours like the ones above. For tops I don't mind different colours but I don't like really bright colours. Next had some luminous t shirts last year, they were hideous.

I do like check patterns, especially on shirts and shorts, in colours like blues and greens.

My DD is only 3 weeks but I am already having difficulty in finding stuff that isn't pink (although I do like pink). I hate stuff that looks like mini adult clothes, mini denim skirts etc. Don't like really frilly stuff or slogans like princess etc, same for boys, hate slogan clothes, especially as its all negative.

Hate everything in the baby K range at Mothercare, the clothes are vile.

Love elasticated waists, having trouble finding them. Don't like young childrens clothes with belts.

Try www.koolmami.com They have very unique styles which are a good price, much cheaper than mothercare. The designs are really bold and funky and even the pink clothes are more striking than the usual wishy washy stuff you see about.

Koolmami is based in the the Clifton Bazaar on the Whiteladies road in Bristol if you ever get about in that area. They have some great cafes inside the Bazaar too and a deli counter so all in all its a great day out and I think they have a colouring table for the kids!!

NA do you actually have older children?

Its easier once they are into about age 7 ish clothes. They can just have smaller versions of adult clothes.

Have you done a similar thread before? something about designing our own clothes for ebay?

If you are that fed up with kids clothes then you need to shop elsewhere!

I just get whatever's available in the charity shop - I do not understand spending lots of money on clothes - for children or adults.

I want my child to be noticed for himself, not for his clothes.

Totally unhelpful contribution to the thread. .

I have one daughter and do dress her in a lot of pink, as she has ginger hair and it suits her best. I would like a crossover with pink and blue, to see light pink t-shirts and shirts etc for little boys, if I have a son he'll probably be ginger too and will therefore look fabulous in pale pink.

Mainly shop for her in Gap, Next, and supermarkets (George have some really nice things but the fit is very very wide, I find). I've also had some brilliant charity shop and online boutique finds and she does have some Mini Boden but I doubt she'll get any more as the summer stuff was atrocious quality and got sent straight back.

I would like to see more greens and greys in children's clothes, and a wider variety of reds - there seems to be a lot of bright red but not much plum or maroon. I like white for kids as well, providing the material is good quality and washes well.

There is far too much lilac/that weird sort of dark coral for girls, and fgs STOP MAKING SO MANY BEIGE, NAVY AND BROWN THINGS FOR LITTLE BOYS! Though boys do generally get better prints - I remember M&S doing blue dog-pattern babygros but the pink equivalent didn't have dogs, or cats, or birds, it had "ain't I cute" or similar bollocks. And don't get me started on crowns. Grr!

Kids should wear fun stuff, cool prints and things, they'll spend about 13 years trussed up in a school uniform and then 50 years in "work clothes" so celebrate their cuteness with some fun stuff I say. As long as they are comfortable.

(I do dress my DD in ultimate MN no-nos like jeggings and mini Uggs (present, I wouldn't pay for them) and it's BOLLOCKS to say you don't like them cos they're "uncomfortable", they're amazingly comfy and really practical for crawling/cruising/climbing, just be honest and say you don't like them cos they're a bit "common". She also has some frilly dresses but they are not restrictive and she's allowed to get dirty.)

I despise slogans like "Daddy's princess", "beautiful like Mummy", "Future WAG", "Spoiled and vacuous", "Misogynist in training" etc, (the worst one I saw in Next last summer was "Born to shop" - ARGH) but don't mind some of them, eg "I do all my own stunts" and a child up the road from me has one that says something about sarcasm that always tickles me.

If I had a rich husband I'd open a reasonably priced baby/toddler boutique I think. Or if I had room to sew I'd start making things.

koolmami I have reported your post - you should read the guidelines on advertising on MN.

PaperView I have always been interested in what people like/dislike about children's clothes. I'm a bit OCD about lists as you can probably tell I did once ponder about opening up some sort of shop but I haven't really got the time nor business expertise to make it a reality even though it is a sort of dream of mine.

I have looked in all the shops in our local shopping centre and not found a lot. I got some plain t shirts from BHS, some swimming shorts from Next, 2 pairs of trousers and 2 pairs of shorts in M&S, 2 pairs of trousers and 1 pair of shorts from GAP and a few things from Boots. It's not through lack of trying, honest!

Thanks, stealthsquirrelsawaytheeggs. I didn't realise I couldn't do that.