Gender neutral children's clothing

[alp30]

I am interested in what parents think about gender neutral clothing for their children to wear?

What sort of themes and colours would you consider be best for both genders?

I am really interesting in hearing everyone's thoughts and views on this. :)

Jeans and a t shirt, why does it have to be any more difficult than that?

Why? If you're doing research you really should say so we can decide if we want to participate and give you more explicit responses.

If its just a general question, perhaps share your thoughts with us and start a discussion that way.

FWIW I would like gender neutral clothes a lot better if they were aren't blooming pastel colours.

I like some of the stripey stuff from JoJo Maman Bebe.

As it happens ive spent most of the pm looking for some for ds1. The boy stuff is ridiculous - tractors and cars etc and I can't put him in the girls stuff as even the plain stuff has bows etc on it. And don't GEF me started on pastel blue and pink.

Bloody annoying, I just want some basics for a baby to wear

Sorry, I've never actually used this before. Yes this is for research for uni.

I've been thinking about creating gender neutral children's clothing for a printed textile course. So I was thinking about producing different designs in different colourways for boys and girls.

I just wanted to know what parents think about gender neutral clothing? My sister has a little girl and I know that my mum always wants to give her pink things and stereotypical girls clothing such as minnie mouse etc. Where as my sister is very much for gender neutral things which she can use again for the next child if she has a boy.

I am interested in knowing what sort of age groups are keen on the gender neutral idea and which age groups aren't. Also, what sort of designs (trucks, buildings, flowers, geometric, bikes) do parents see as appropriate for both boys and girls?

All clothing is gender neutral, whether it's pink or blue, has peppa pig or a dinosaur, bows or skulls, it really shouldn't matter.

Sadly society dictates otherwise, although thankfully there seems to be certain sections who don't care and dress their child as they wish to be dressed regardless of the norm.

So in answer to What sort of themes and colours would you consider be best for both genders? - anything the child wants to wear and is comfortable in.

A lot of the swedish brands - eg Maxomorra- would be good for your research.

So would brighter colours be better instead of pastel colours?

Yeah I quite like neutral clothing. I like bold colours, stripes, denim, converse that kind of thing for my daughter. I think dinosaurs, fish, animals would all be pretty neutral.

In terms of ages I'd say probably up to age 10. I think over 10s have much more definite ideas of what they like to wear so I'd probably not have much say. My 15 year daughter wears quite feminine clothes but my 16 year old step daughter still wears pretty neutral things - lots of stripes, hoodies, jeans, jogging bottoms etc so I don't think there's an age limit overall.

Thanks for clarifying OP. I think the biggest market is newborn and 0-3 tbh. If you don't find out of can't find out, it makes shopping quite frustrating. Personally I would love to go out and get some funky patterns (just basic stuff like stars, or stripes) in bright colours. I don't want it to have a slogan on it, I don't want if to have a picture of a thing on it, necessarily. Just a nice pattern in complimentary colours.

The best thing I have found so far is a vest (1 from a multipack) which is white with primary coloured stars on it.

My least favourite things are those which are pale yellow or cream and have overly cutesy bears on them or something. Animals are a good neutral theme but I hate the overly sickly sweet ones. Just some simple little prints, like jungle animals, or woodland animals, in appropriate colours. (Rather than something like dinosaurs outlined in blue on a pale blue baby gro. Why can't it be multicoloured?!)

I like gender neutral (i have a son and everything is blue or green :( )

I like bright colours (which you dont seem to get Lot of) like bright red, yellow, orange etc. I love alot of the frugi clothing as either gender could wear most of there range and its all bright and not 'baby colours'. I hate baby blue and baby pink with a passion!

I think any colour apart from a very sugary pink could be gender neutral. Agree that it tends to be the embellishments that can make something seen "girly."

I tend to buy my kids' clothes at supermarkets, and it does seem that the cheaper the item, the more gender specific it is. So, the lovely stripey tops from Petit Bateau are great but £££, or you can get 3 tees for £7 from Sainsburys but they will be in sludgy colours with dinosaurs driving tractors.

Libraries thank you! That brand is so cute and there's a local stockist. Perfect!

If I was specifically looking for gender neutral clothes I would want to avoid any of the stereotypes - eg trucks (they're for boys, apparently) cats (they're for girls). I would like bright colours. Perhaps themes such as weather, zoo animals, spots and stripes etc might be more appropriate.

What everyone said.
I'm in a boys clothing rage.

Have a look at Polarn O Pyret. Lots of red, navy blue, bold patterns - they pretty much get it spot-on. Green and orange are good colours too. Primary colours.

When my DC1 was a baby, Gap also had a great organic range with appliqué rainbows, animals etc, could have been a Noah's Ark theme too. The garments themselves were a cream unbleached cotton.

And denim. And joggers. Jeans and joggers are the things that all of my DCs (I have both DS's and a DD) have worn without exception.

DD would have loved dinosaur clothes and shoes.

Against my beliefs I did end up buying some pink/purple for DD as she had short hair and was always being mistaken for a boy. For some reason that annoyed me.

I loathe pastel colours anyway, so would never choose them, let alone for baby clothes.

I don't see the point in newborn baby clothes in any colour other than plain white or unbleached cotton. Because a) they are cheaper b) they can be boil-washed more easily and c) gender doesn't matter.

One of my favourite outfits for my baby DD on a day when she needed to "dress up" for the PILs was a soft jersey pinafore dress that we put on top of her white sleep suit. Instant "baby girl" effect achieved and it had expandable straps so lasted a while.

I have a toddler DD and am pregnant with a boy. My daughter does wear some dresses and skirts but they are in primary colours and not embellished with bows, glitter and tulle. Mainly I want her dressed practically and for comfort- she needs to be able to run and play and climb and get dirty- so lots of jeans or leggings with stripey t shirts. I want to be able to hand as much stuff down to my son as possible.

Things like rainbows and animals in green, red, purple, yellow make good gender neutral design. But I think what would also be interesting is the traditional boy/ girl colours with the designs swapped- think pink glittery girly stuff featuring astronauts, dinosaurs, diggers and monsters, and blue/bolder colours with fairies and kittens.

I love Mrs underwoods idea.. As they get older, girls do love glittery stuff but it's never available in primary-ish colours. Only place I've found sequinned ducks on a dress or solar system shirt that a girl model was wearing was Boden. But that's as brave as they get - you never get a dino that doesn't scream BOY.

I would love non embellished clothes - like polarn does - where you can buy a top without naff animals or cute writing on them. I know a lot of it is to help the kids identify front from back but still. Vertbaudet for example, makes a range that works either side aimed at kids learning to dress themselves.

I just bought some purple cord trousers from the girl's department of C&A for my DS. I took off the flowery belt as he is 4yo and belts are daft at that age.

I tend to buy plain clothes and embellish them myself. He gets a lot of compliments about a bright pink tshirt with a green smiley cactus I sewed to the front

When he was a baby, most of his basic babygros came from Primark ir H&M and were gender neutral - plain white with small animal in the centre, or a beach theme (the seagull was particularly cute), or bright stripes.

The only truly gendered clothes he has ever had are those that have been given to us. I have no qualms him wearing them - tractors, firemen, Spiderman etc.

The only thing I actively avoid putting him in are anything with skulls or pirates, which in the grand scheme of things is pretty daft

I went shopping recently in Cambridge and there was a Swedish children's clothing store in the Grand Arcade, but can't for the life of me remember what it was called!! They had some lovely gender neutral winter clothes. I bought DD a few sleepsuits, and a few pairs of soft trousers/legging type things. Even the stuff in the girls section could easily pass as gender neutral and visa versa with the boys things ....But other than some gender neutral sleepsuits, and a couple of other bits and pieces, my DD is usually head to toe in pink and sparkles!!

Girls & Boys (or Boys & Girls, I can't remember which) does good gender neutral stuff, mostly grey based with rainbow motifs etc. I much prefer gender neutral but my 3yo DD somehow discovered a preference for all things girly at, like, 18 months. It's a struggle to get her into anything that isn't a dress, or pink, or embellished with flowers (ie her hand-me-downs). I dress my son in lots of the swedish stuff when we can get it on sale. I hate gender stereotyping children, it really gets my goat.

My DD is 11 and wears her brother's old t shirts, mostly striped ones, and hoodies. She has always worn his cast offs, although not jeans or trousers now. I suspect that had they been born the other way round, I wouldn't have seen it the same way, which bothers me a bit.

Lands End often do girls stuff with planets, dinosaurs and non cutesy animals on. Their clothes overall are good for my DD who isn't a pink and sparky type but doesn't want to wear boys clothes either.

In my experience a lot of people dress their children in bright, gender neutral clothes up to about age 3 (Polan O Pyret is popular in my area) and in more gendered clothes beyond that age. I think part of that is the children themselves, 3 seems to be the age many girls suddenly want princess dresses, and part of it is that very little gender neutral clothing is available beyond baby sizes.

I have a 7 year old boy and 4 year old girl. My son has always worn brightly coloured trousers and jeans and usually stripey t shirts and hoodies. My daughter refuses to wear skirts, will occasionally wear a T shirt type dress, but mostly wears jeans and t shirts too.

I have never had any difficulty getting either child clothes. I agree that there is a lot of gendered children's clothing on the market, but the plain/bright/geometric patterns we tend to favour have never been difficult to find. I mostly shop for children's clothes at H&M, Sainsbury's, Next and Boden.

Thank you so much for all your comments! It's been really interesting reading all your views. You have all given me a lot to think about. :D