Attention, manufacturers of toddler boys' clothes!

[frazzledgirl]

(Inspired by yesterday's trip round H&M, but frankly applies to an awful lot of shops)

I do not wish to dress my lovely son in any kind of garment which labels him 'loud', 'noisy' or 'spoiled'. He isn't. And even if he is, I'd like a chance to fool other people that he isn't

I would like a choice of more than two kinds of shoes.

Ditto hats.

Bright colours are not taboo.

Sludge colours get VERY boring after the first few months.

Sticking a cr*ppy cartoon transfer on a t-shirt (Ben 10/Cars/etc for a two-year-old FFS?) is not the be-all and end-all. And what's wrong with plain t-shirts anyway?

And having had this exact same moan to EVERY mother of a small boy that I know, I might be PFB but I am not alone!

I swear, when I find a retailer that consistently sells decent, colourful, child's clothes without any sh*te transfers or slogans at a reasonable price (i.e not Boden) I will shower money on them... so sick of hunting around for the odd couple of decent bits in each shop.

Ahem. As you were.

sorry that was meant to be ALL the mums of boys that i know feel the same.

I want decent stuff that is not too high in price - I can not afford, GAP, Boden, Fatface, Jako o prices I am afriad.

Why can we not have plain and simple and also I dont want PIRATE stuff either.

I just want nice neutral colours - fawn and beige for boys instead of blue or navy.

My sister in Valencia used to get lovely baby stuff for them and my cousin in California finds gorgeous colourful stuff. Sadly the £ bombing has limited the shopping I can ask them to get for me though.

My bugbear is DENIM.

Store buyers are you listening?

I DON'T WANT TO DRESS MY BOYS IN JEANS ALL THE TIME.

Spend ages looking for nice needlcord or other cotton types of trousers in browns/beige/navy/black but NOT DENIM.

Totally in agreement with all of this! The balance between boys and girls clothes in shops has always left me speechless.

DS is 10 and buying stuff that hasn't been designed to make him look like a mini 'gangsta' is well nigh impossible. Either that or it has got skateboards all over it.

He is also very tall and slim so getting slim fit trousers is pretty challenging too.

Thank god we now have an H&M in Plymouth; I'm also a regular at TK Maxx, and Vertbaudet are still fairly reliable.

Jeffvadar, primark is good for trousers for those VERY skinny little boys. And not always denim either. They are very cheap so the quality isn't fab, but their cheapness means there's not much fabric in them so they are nice and slim fit.

Oh gosh, how I agree!

And can we strike skulls from the list, and skater dudes too? WHY?????? he's 2, for sobbing out loud.

(do buyers from chain stores read MN? shall we email everyone this thread?)

I buy both my son's clothes from Vertbaudet. Cheaper than H&M and better quality, as well as looking nice.

totally agree

rainbow babies is another good site for bright clothes for boys (and girls)

TMH, i know what you mean about the decent brands for colour and style being ridiculously priced, my boys have inheritated bags of clothes from a friend who has an older boy and won't be having more and while she lived in canada she bought loads of really good brands for him that are nice colours and well made and are lasting well through her ds and my ds1 and will be in great condition still by the time ds2 wears them.

sadly i can't afford to buy stuff of that quality and most of ds1s baby clothes were given to charity or destroyed by him so am constantly hunting for clothes for ds2

See, here's another thing I don't get - it must cost more to get a nice plain t-shirt and stick a sh*te logo/transfer on it, than it would do to just sell it as is.

I have developed an utter loathing of slogans. Luckily I'm VERY vocal about it, so my family know better than to buy them (apart from the Chick Magnet t-shirt in newborn size my sister insisted on; that did make me laugh though, so was worn all of twice).

Totally agree! I'm having my first ds in 6 weeks after 2 dds, and am shocked at the lack of choice for boys, I dont mind a bit of blue but everything is blue or brown, I have got loads of nice bits from nordic kids, hedgepig, and no added sugar, but they are expensive, though I did get some nice katvig type copies in H&M the other day, worth having a look, also, TK maxx sells katvig stuff cheaper than nordic kids, but its a bit hit and miss but def worth a look

i got a few gorgeous katvig bits for ds2 last week in tk maxx, definitely worth a look if you can get to one.

also, ebay is great for really lovely second hand stuff, i got the most lovely tuc tuc dugarees and stripey orange top for less than a tenner a few weeks back

Petit Bateau...but it isn't cheap.
Ditto Joules.

Oh, I have struggled this year, all the clothes are dreadfully uninspiring.

My friend says everything for boys is covered with Ben10...and I respond by saying everything for girls is high school musical.

Then we both pretend to vomit.

if you can find any way of getting it over here the ralph lauren (bear with me) stuff in the sale is really well priced if you look around the site and lots of bright colours.

and they take non american credit cards now

seriously we get most of the boys stuff in the sale there - it works out cheaper than gap, petit bateau and most of the john lewis stuff.

and if you shop a few times you get sale discount codes for extra % off

I'm in solidarity with you all and I've got a girl not a boy...

I was wandering around Boots the other day nearly vomming at the 'hilarious' slogans on their t-shirts, you'd think they'd know better, but no.

lol toomuchmonth at 'I'm a wee shite'. It really is like that - even the likes of 'I'm a cheeky gobshite/monkey/daddy-alike' gets me riled - what is GOOD exactly about being 'cheeky'? grrrrr

I have a fabulously creative friend who's doing some amazing stuff with iron-on transfers and plain t-shirts.

I have plans to stock up on those, teach myself to applique, buy some fabric paints and just MAKE the clothes I want to buy.

We should all try it. Then the manufacturers who make this lazy crud and the buyers who buy it (because it always sold before, because there ISN'T ANYTHING ELSE TO BUY) might see the point of offering us a choice...

tommy -=- that rainbowbabies sitwe is great....

I've bought some rainbowbabies clothes before and they are lovely

tommy - thanks for that rainbowbabies link - I shall get some stuff from them. Exactly what I'm looking for

Totally agree and really grateful for all the links on here!

Sorry, have not read whole thread, but I have spent an embarrassing amount of time in pursuit of decent cool clothes for my DS.

My favourite is www.nordic.kids.com - but lots of other sites stock those Scandy import clothes - like hedgepig and yellowlolly.

But it's pricey - it's reserved for special occasions.

I love Joules too, but ditto price!

There is a great shop at Westfield called something like Polarn y Pyret - wonder if you can buy online?

I do love sneakily finding the single items among all the drudge that when pulled out of said dreary shop, look MUCH better.

Polarn O Pyret Sycamoretree - me and lapin (sob!) are both big fans but sadly you can't buy their stuff online. It is expensive but they have brilliant sales. I got my DS's amazing winter coat in there for £18 reduced from £40. And their fleeces are that brilliant thin but very warm fleece material.

the shoes in h and m are a disgrace

27 lovely dippy hippy for girls

1 black nasty for boys

so sad for our little boys

Lapin, Lapin, wherefore art though Lapin

Maybe we've been rubbing buggies in Westfield all this time...

Love their stuff - comes up Large though, non?