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.

I don't like brand slogans on children.
The ds have been dressed from sainsbury's lately.

Attila - complete agree about upstairs children's depts......Have taken to boycotting the worst offenders locally (esp H&M as the lift is tiny and you have to battle between tightly packed racks of clothes to find it).

Unfortunately although girls have 4 times as much choice as boys, most of it seems to be pink and sparkly and designed to make your 5 yr old look like a slapper.

Doesn't get any better when they're teenagers. Automatic assumption that they want to dress in badly designed sportsgear that falls apart after two washes. No sweaters in the shops near us apart from hoodies, and he won't wear hoodies. In fact, in the nearest supermarket there's 7 entire aisles of girls' clothing, and one for boys.

We have a large, two-floor clothes shop near us. The whole of the ground floor is women's clothes. The first floor is shared between an ever-shrinking menswear section, children's and babies' clothes (mostly for girls) and towels etc. How do I feel going in there as a man with a pushchair, having to use the lift to look for clothes for me and my baby son?

If the best half of the shop is completely given over to women's clothes, and men have just a small corner upstairs, it really shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to find that there are more clothes for girls than for boys - it's just a sign of how things will be when they get older.

(Ellle's husband)

Have to say, I am so hoping that next baby will be a girl partly so I can shop in the big bt of the shop!!

Shopping for boys is so frustrating!!

amicissima - I too have a slim DS who is now 10. I have found that the best places for slim fitting trousers is H&M and Vertbaudet. Someone else also suggested Primark.

Frenchmum - at your suggestion I had a look at du pareil au meme and have spotted some really nice looking stuff. Will be placing an order for this summer I think!

For those who fancy braving it, there are some good sites of boutiquey type online stores in Denmark selling all the Scando brands and a lot of these sites often have a 'sales' or 'outlet' section (for example, this site is very good). Although the exchange rate is pretty rubbish right now, but it's getting better and perhaps worth looking at? I am also a fan of Hugin & Mugin (and they have a great ongoing outlet section) but their webshop is closed at the moment for maintenance (reopening in a few days). Here's the link for future reference though if anyone's interested.

Needless to say, I second all of the above regarding sludge colours, lack of choice and awful logos/slogans.

The vast majority of DS's (almost 3yrs) clothes are either practically unworn quality brands from 2nd hand sales / charity shops or bought in the sale from Boden or Jojo - he is perpetually wearing last years styles and colours cos I always buy a size up, but do I care? And he certainly doesn't!! And quality brands like that do seem to wear and wash well in comparison to cheaper ones.

But what I find really hard is getting comfy trousers - firstly he's skinny and things tend to fall down a lot, but also jeans and other non-stretchy fabrics can be rather harsh and don't seem to move on an active little boy.

What I'd like to know is where to find soft cotton trousers in nice (not sludge) plain colours. He's got 2 pairs (dark red and non-sludge brown) that came from Green Baby, via Ebay, hadn't been worn when we got them and now are very worn. We have some nice ones from Fruji (sale of course) but they come up big and he'll be about 16 by the time he grows into them! Most high street stores do standard tracky bottom type things with a white stripe down the leg, but they are HORRID!

Any links gratefully appreciated.

Here Here. I have two boys aged 2 and 7. And the quite frankly SHITE selection of clothes is a massive bug bear. TU by Sainsbury's I find great, Zara and H&M.

And another thing WE DON'T ALLWAYS WANT HOODS ON CARDIGANS.

MAKE CARDIGANS AND JUMPERS WITH NO HOODS SO OUR TOODLERS DON'T STRANGLE THEMSELVES!!!

I know H&M slated on this thread, but they do have some pearls in there floraflora. They had some great bright cotton trousers in there last week (bright green & orange). I'll never understand why no red though. You could also try Rainbow baby as they do trousers in every colour of the sun or Jako - both linked to earlier in this thread. I seem to remember Twinkle on the web did some bright clothes inc trousres by an aussie brand too, not sure what age they go up to. Green rabbit lovely funky trousers but expensive, I would love some though in fact the entire range.

Surprised to see Pumpkin Patch mentioned here as source of bright clothing as every time I go in there it is sooo sludgy with a dollop of turquoise. I hate turquoise. I don't even like the girls clothes this season though.

Next get a slating, but their catalog actually has quite a lot of nice, bright stuff sans slogans. Their stripy jumpers in particular are fab, well price and wear well imo. The shops always feature the slogans and the pastel babywear as I guess that's what most people want!

To whoever it was that was saying about boys shoes being a nightmare about size 10...I can completely sympathise! My little boy is 4 and in a size 12.5 shoe and literally the only ones available in clarks (if he could even get the things on lol!) were black school shoes which when he is not even at school yet he doesn't want.

Ive been buying him Geox shoes/trainers which cost a bit more than clarks/startrite but are fantastic quality and actually look good as well.

Have to say that I also hate the limited choice of boys wear. As I said DS is 4 and loves wearing Spiderman,Ben 10 etc and I don't reallt have a problem what that as such as long as it teamed with plainish jeans/coat etc but I find it so hard to find things I actually like and what fit him I also tend to buy the same thing in bigger sizes.

Does anybody know of a webiste where i can find original toddler girls frilly clothes.
(the kind u could find on handmade old ladies stall at markets) also may b known 2 a few as gypsie clothes)
I have search through millions of links to try and find some and can only seem 2 find sum 2 my description in america!! and all bright and leary colours or in zebra prints!
I can c alot of complaints and moanin from people about frilly pink clothes on the search engines. but i believe a little girl should b a little girl..and b pretty and frilly. so..does anybody know of any websites please...x

Does anybody know of a webiste where i can find original toddler girls frilly clothes.
(the kind u could find on handmade old ladies stall at markets) also may b known 2 a few as gypsie clothes)
I have search through millions of links to try and find some and can only seem 2 find sum 2 my description in america!! and all bright and leary colours or in zebra prints!
I can c alot of complaints and moanin from people about frilly pink clothes on the search engines. but i believe a little girl should b a little girl..and b pretty and frilly. so..does anybody know of any websites please...x

What to people think of cream or white stuff for boys?

My OH has just made an observation that it's not just in the kids clothes that boys clothes are all the same and are given smaller space - it applies to menswear too. He always moans when we go to Oxford Street/Bluewater etc that it's all shops for women.

I find Monsoon and Gap excellent. If you sign up to Gap email you often get 30% vouchers and Monsoon sales are great for kids clothes. I hate Next. The girls clothes are either all pink or too adult and the boys are blurgh!