Boys clothes vs Girls clothes - what are the main differences you have noticed in the shops?

[Flowertailbird]

I wonder if you can help me out.

My daughter is doing a project on children's clothes and in particular how the clothes labelled as for boys and or for girls differ. She wants to focus on whether or not there is obvious sexism in the clothes and at what the different clothes feature as prints and patterns for example she has seen boys toddler clothes full of words like 'adventure' or 'brave' etc. and girls clothes full of princesses and 'be kind' designs.

I honestly did not notice this when my children were younger, I was oblivious to it but now when she has pointed this out to me I am really quite shocked as to some of the differences that passed me by.

As parents of young children, please could I have your comments as to what you have noticed, if anything, with regards to this so I can pass them on to her.

Thank you and if I have put this in the wrong board or I could get more responses elsewhere I would really appreciate this being moved or put where is most suitable.

There is so much more choice for girls. Not even just skirts and dresses, just way more space dedicated to girls clothing.

I agree with the type of animals. Not just predators and prey, but also Boden used to be terrible for cute bunnies and squirrels on the girl clothes and slugs and spiders on the boy clothes. I have a boy who loves cuddly animals and hates bugs.

I agree about the needless categorisation - I look in the boy and girl section for pyjamas and things.
I used to buy from the girl’s section a fair bit if there was something I liked but quite often the cut isn’t right - such as a cropped t shirt. I used to buy girls skinny jeans as I liked the fit better but as he has filled out a little I’ve found they don’t fit as well.

If you go into Next now all boys tops will be long sleeved jumpers thick and warm. Over on girls side maybe you have 2 long sleeved tops rest will be vest short sleeved off shoulder. Very thin fabrics not a warm jumper insight.

@MrsMoastyToasty

Supermarkets tend to carry a greater range of girls clothes (sometimes 50% more).

Yes this! Also m&s and nearly all children's clothing shops I go into have roughly half the selection of stock for boys.

M&S near me had one 'choice' of blue sandals (in 3 sizes) on the rack and one pair only of blue wellies and 7 pink/purple/silver and white 'pretty' sandals, plus 2 pink/purple choice of wellies this summer. I was a bit , DS was not persuaded to even try on the pink/purple ones and none of the blue ones in his size.

They also had one rail of pants aimed at boys and 4 rails of pink pants. It was so shit. I wish I could take my purchasing elsewhere but everywhere does the same thing

Very specific but clothes with dinosaurs on tend to be realistic on boys' clothes with their real names, and sparkly 'disco-saurus' type things on girls' clothes.

Search for 'Let Clothes be Clothes'.

As well as the ridiculous messages on the front, check out the length of t-shirts and the cut. Length of shorts. Girls' clothes often don't have pockets. Where do they put their treasures? Shoes - boys sturdy & ready for action. Very hard to find anything like that labelled for girls. Boys get "be brave, explore, discover".

In Primark, Mickey and Simba are on the boys clothes, and Minnie and Nala on the girls (often with a fair dollop of pink/sparkles too). Why aren't Mickey and Simba suitable for girls? Of course, I just buy them anyway, but for a girl who's older than mine and walking around the store, may be left with the impression she shouldn't wear the Simba/Mickey ones.

My son liked girls t shirts because they tend to be cute, have cute dogs on etc
What I noticed from toddler sizes up, the girls clothes are fitted, as though toddlers need to emphasise their figure.
Obviously girls tend to be pink, sparkly, cute and have slogans such as ‘princess’
Boys tend to be quite dark colours, a lot bigger and baggier in sizing and tend to be camo or have dinosaurs or trucks.

My sons favourite t shirt was a girls pink one with a pug on it. I never considered a pug to be a ‘girl thing’ before. This was before the pug madness and I couldn’t find a boys t shirt with a pug or any other cute pic on it.

The marketing is a problem too - I'm hugely against all of this gendered shit but as DD got older she noticed - and cared - if she was wearing 'boys' clothes.

She's 7 now so old enough to understand the logic that it's just marketing and she can wear what she wants - and doesn't care so much now.

But age 4-7 was tricky.

DD is almost 2. A d with girls clothes you end up with frills on loads. The frills need to fuck off

Along with link, sparkle unicorns.

Was looking for pair of slippers just yesterday. Boys get blue (natch) with stars, relatively plain bit nice enough. Girls get pink (match) Not even the same pattern as the boys but in pink
Nope, had to be fucking shimmery unicorns.

But Sainsbury's did have some cool tiger ones.... But again on the boys section. I went to the girls section, see if they had an equivalent, like a panda or bear or whatever....but the girls were all pink and with unicorns in them

Once you get past approx 4yo, boys clothes are predominantly navy, grey, khaki, or black. Apparently boys are not entitled to wear bright colours...it's bloody depressing.

I find I have to get boys trousers most of the time as they are thicker and girls are offered thin leggings for winter. I was quite impressed by m and s last week though, they had the same weight fabric joggers with diggers, woodland animals or hearts, DD wanted the diggers!

I bought DD a coat to wear to school from
Asda. The jacket in the girls section was cream with pastel coloured animals on it. The one in the boys section is silver/black reflective. We bought the one from the boys section as it's likely to stay cleaner longer and is more practical as we cycle to school every day.

Jeans for 3-7 are also different. The girls one to be fashionable cut (e.g skinny/bootcut etc) with a button; the boys ones are a more timeless cut with an elastic aged waistband... which is a thousand times more practical and comfortable for a small child.

www.sheknows.com/parenting/slideshow/3873/childrens-clothing-controversial/3/

These are some that made the news

I have refused to put DD in Clothes that says things like "mummy's princess" "be kind" etc

Shoes. My DD has always had extra feminine feet. The most protective girls' styles are less protective than the least protective boys' styles.
For teenagers the "tough" looking girls shoes are not actually very practical, and they have silly names like "Angry Angels".
However, when I commented in the shoe shop, the assistants thought I was very odd. They say there isn't much call for protective styles, that most mums want "dainty" shoes for their girls.

It’s worth looking at the prices for girls v boys clothes in the same store. I know I’m Lands End it’s very easy to see that girls long sleeve t shirts and about £2 more expensive than the male equivalent, same with their hoodies.

I never tried the experiment with other shops, but it would be interesting to see.

I doubt my observation is novel but my DS loved Elsa and I couldn't find any non pink/non frilly clothes with Elsa on. He also wanted to know where Sky from paw patrol had gone as she was excluded from his pyjamas. Bloody tedious.

I only have sons. One of them went through a phase of liking pink and My Little Pony, so I bought him "girls" PJ's, thinking the colour would be the only difference. Nope! Shorts were literally about half the length of the equivalent size in boys, and frilly. The short sleeves were capped and frilly. It's just so unnecessary!

I have all boys but yes, have noticed girls clothes do not look nearly as warm as boys, also not as practical but agree with poster above on how teenage boys clothes are all tacky looking sludge, horrible colours, all with gaming on them unless you shop in the more expensive shops

Supermarket boys shoes enclose the foot and are designed to keep feet warm and dry. Girls shoes are strappy, cold and not suitable for playing outside.

As a broad generalisation girls clothes are made to look 'nice' and boys are more practical.
Girls (and ladies!) clothes have no/rubbish pockets.
Slogans are bold for boys wether positive or negative (brave, strong, cheeky, little monster/terror etc.). Slogans for girls, at least younger ones, are all quite passive. The vast majority of personal/charactaristic type slogans are bloody awful though so I'd rather see none at all!

Colours:
Baby/toddlers: boys gets lots of pale blue and some bright primary colours, girls get lots of pink/pastels. When they are a bit older, boys clothes are all boring khaki/navy/grey etc and girls seem to have far more choice but still a lot of pink/lilac.

The marketing is a problem too - I'm hugely against all of this gendered shit but as DD got older she noticed - and cared - if she was wearing 'boys' clothes.

My son emailed Amazon for advertising stuff he likes as ‘girls only’ ‘for girls’ etc it’s so frustrating

My main frustration is the much much smaller selection of boys clothes from babu to toddler ( not teacher past 4-5 stuff) and even can be hard to find at all. I understand girls have more types ie skirts and dresses as well as trousers and shirts but it does seem excessive to me.

Agree about colours though have friends who struggle to find darker coloured girls clothes especially in the summer that would be suitable for messy play/ nursery.

DDs need plain white t-shirts for PE.

I originally bought DD2 'Girls' ones. This is because they are usually narrower, which suits her as shes quite skinny. There is an obvious size difference between the two. However, the girls ones had capped sleeves with a tight hem around the arm this actually restricted the movement and was uncomfortable apparently. She now has the boys ones, a size smaller which are baggy and easier to move in.

I've found with my 8 month old that girls trousers tend to be much tighter in the legs and round the waist than the boys ones of the same size. DD has a round little tum so I almost always end up buying warm joggers from the boys section for her, or having to buy the next size up in the girls but then the legs are too long 🤷‍♀️