Baby Clothes - only pink and blue?

[starfish99]

Hi all
I'm pregnant with my first and due in November. We've started to shop for the baby but are not going to find out the sex so need to buy gender-neutral items.
I'm shocked by how gender-biased the clothing is. In Next for example, there was only one outfit that wasn't either pink or blue. If we have a girl I don't want to dress her in pink all of the time and if I have a boy I don't want to constantly dress him in blue. The patterns are also so stereotypically designed - blue aeroplanes and rockets for boys and pink flowers and fairies for girls. If they must stick to pink and blue why not pink rockets and blue flowers?
I find it incredibly sexist - is this really want people want or is this what retailers think we want? I was wondering if there have ever been any petitions to retailers to try and encourage them to stock more gender-neutral clothing?
Could anyone recommend a retailer that has a better range?
Thanks

I never like anything in Next these days in the adult and homeware sections. Anything I do buy from there seems to fall apart in no time anyway. I may be buying the wrong things but haven't had much success myself there.

I bought my cousin a lovely outfit for a boy in M&S. It wasn't stereotypically boyish either, just a simple pair of denim dungarees and a striped red and navy shirt. I also bought my brother a gender neutral outfit for my niece there as none of us knew the sex before she was born.

Most retailers don't seem to have much neutral stuff in store. I've been buying a few bits online (also due in November).

Gap
H&M
Mamas & Papas
JoJo Maman BeBe

They all have a few bits, I have also been buying unisex stuff on eBay. Most of it has never been worn.

YANBU. There was a newborn in a lovely pale yellow outfit on One Born last night and I really thought how nice it was not to have been blue or pink.

H&M baby are usually good for bright basics. Vests in particular are good quality. They have some cute sets too.

I would definitely recommend H&M for bright, colourful gender neutral clothes. They have a few nice things in Boots as well. You can get white/cream things in places like M&S and the supermarkets.

Mothercare seem to have a bit that is more gender neutral. We know we are having a girl, but I hate pink, so totally understand!

Tesco has some good bright stuff at the moment - it is in the boys section - many of the girls bits would 'do' in terms of colour but all the 'girls' tops have frilly sleeves, lace panels, bows et. But there are lots of neutral/brights round neck tshirts and tops and joggers in the boys section. There are also quite a few multipacks of babygrows which are pretty unisex- cameras, VW vans, sea stuff, elephants. There is a sale on atm so you can pick up some stuff really cheap- I'm going to pick up my online order this afternoon.
I agree with you in general though- we are not finding out the gender and it does make buying any clothes before hand a bit tricky. I'm not really a fan of the grey and beige unisex ranges that seem to be everywhere. And I agree Next is terrible. H&M have some stuff, and mothercare too especially in terms of babygrows.

M&S had pink, blue and yellow/cream in equal amounts the other day.

They also had loads of white, bit boring but good for basics and some of the white things I bought for DC1 got used for DC2 and 3 (and 4 if I hadn't moved everything on because I thought that we were stopping at 3).

Oh also I was in Zara the other week and the range is very colourful this summer so there were loads of tshirts in the boys section that were completely unisex in turquoise, green, yellow, orange etc.

I already know I'm having a girl but not into the pink, frilly, overly girly crap in most shops. I've been hunting high and low for more punky/rock baby clothes. Did find a couple of really good websites but they are stupidly expensive. I found That most supermarkets you can assemble a reasonable amount of gender neutral stuff.

www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/pp+baby-sleepsuits-and+bodies

I agree - the choice is so limited and even when there a bigger range of colours (oooh - purple and green) - they still have to have cars / trains or flowers / cute animals on them. Or gendered slogans. arghhhhh

There's a baby store in the States called Carter's, wish they had it here in the uk - really reasonable and although there is pink and blue stuff there's tons of other colours and lovely clothes.

H&M is good for plain primary coloured bodysuits and leggings in cotton.

If you are able to get to TKMaxx, I've found lots of yellow, cream, biscuit coloured outfits and sleepsuits etc there. You can't guarantee what they'll have in though.

I recently bought some gorgeous Marimeko outfits for a little girl of my acquaintance in royal blue, emerald green and tomato red (from TK Maxx).

Polarn O Pyret, sale on at the moment (otherwise you'll go bankrupt outfitting your baby). Properly lovely, brightly coloured, unisex clothes (for the most part, there are some dresses).

I've just got a set of yellow, blue and blue and white shorts and tees for DD (5mo) from Mothercare, and some red and white stripy leggings.

I used to agree with you, OP, and get v indignant about girls in pink/boys in blue. Now she's here and looks so cute in pink I find that the cleanliness of the clothes bothers me more than the colour...

It is a shocker isn't it?

The Scandinavian brands (e.g. Polarn o. Pyret, Katvig) are brilliant for bright gender-neutral clothes, but are expensive - I managed a couple of things in the sale, or you can pick them up on ebay.

H&M have a bit of the same sort of range, I found them the least pink'n'blue high street option. Occasionally found nice stuff that wasn't all pink flowers/blue trucks in Tu (Sainsburys) and Boots.

Agree with moggle about the unattractiveness of the trad cream/beige/lemon "mystery sex" option too.

Supermarkets are often better than the specialist clothing retailers, although you'll still generally need to look under "boys" to find anything that isn't pink/frilly/sparkly/covered in bows.

The blue/pink thing is completely out of hand! I don't mind the odd bit, but there are other colours.

I do like the neutrals so I have mostly bought whites and creams for our "mystery" baby, with a smattering of yellow, green and grey. John Lewis and Mamas & Papas had some decent stuff that wasn't pink or blue. JL also have a brights pack of bodysuits, if you fancy getting away from pastels.

Next are the worst of the worst for this. Aisles of sexism from before a baby is born. And its WOMEN who buy into this more than men which I find deeply depressing. The truth is, that it probably sells more by marketing in this way too. I frequently bite my tongue on MN at posters who have been given second hand stuff but complain not because its second hand but because 'its the wrong colour' so go out any buy other stuff. I have heard of women buying brand new £500+ travel systems because the colour of the one they have already is wrong!

I've found that H&M and Boots seem to be the best for bright colours. And I have to applaud Asda for having frilly dresses etc in blue. Its very refreshing to see, that if you want a particular style of clothing you can, shock horror have blue. DH looks fab in pink shirts.

As for neutral stuff. See above regarding Asda. Why does white, cream, beige etc have to be neutral? What the fuck is neutral anyway?

I intend to dress my child in clothes I like until they are old enough to choose themselves. Seeing as I like dinosaurs this apparently is going to lead to a very confused baby if I have a girl. Or possibly some ignorant tosspots getting short shrift from being from being sexist wankers.

By the way if anyone knows where I can get plain BRIGHT (not wishy washy or pale) yellow sleep suit (not vest) I'd love to know (oh and to be really fussy, at an affordable price). It has amazed me, that they do not appear to exist. (and I know H&M currently have a wishy washy yellow one).

Although Mothercare is actually quite good -- IF you have a big one near you or you shop online. For some reason small Mothercare stores seem to only stock the pink and blue lines, even though the full Mothercare range includes lots of other colours.

RedToothBrush, Sainsbury's used to do one, because I had one for DD1 (along with a range of other plain bright colours) (but she's six now so that's not of much immediate use to you).

There's definitely a market out there- my mum is always lamenting the loss of yellow and mint green that they had 'in her day'. Has saved us a fortune though much less opportunity for buying random cute outfits.
Most of our stuff has been Boots, Mamas and Papas and the odd supermarket purchase, but agree choice is very limited and mostly white/beige/grey.

Yellow, but not cheap

Thanks anyway Tortoise!

I think half my point is, why on earth can't I find something so plain and simple out there? Its only fuelling my desire to find the damn illusive thing!

Petit Bateau: also not cheap.