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

[VisualiseAHorse]

Twisted Twee sell some excellent stuff too.
www.twistedtwee.co.uk/equal-opportunity-babygrows-c-23.html

[guineapig2014]

Even though they have already been mentioned I would definitely recommend M&S and jojo.
HTH xx

[ithoughtofitfirst]

I found this a massive pain in my ASS last pregnancy and just ended up with white everything cause we chose not to find out.

[ithoughtofitfirst]

I found this a massive pain in my ASS last pregnancy and just ended up with white everything cause we chose not to find out.

Fab

[ithoughtofitfirst]

Tips everyone* Xx

[beccajoh]

H&M is good. Mothercare's boys range has lots of colourful stuff (ignore that it's meant to be for boys). Next is awful in store but better online/in their catalogue.

[liquidstatehasrisenagain]

I am due in two weeks and do not know the sex. I found the most amazing stuff at Pumpkin Patch. Exceptional quality as well.

www.pumpkinpatch.co.uk/

Look at their newborn sale section, I bought a lot of the bright stripey baby gros. Other than that H&M is fab as is mothercare but ignore the girls/boys section just buy what you like from each.

I get annoyed when people think gender neutral should be white, beige or cream. Babies cannot see these colours when they are born, give them brights and don't worry about whether things are labelled boy or girl. And why do girls need to wear dresses as babies anyhow? Interestingly on local selling pages bundles of bright neutral gender clothes sell immediately whereas the blue/pink bundles have to be bumped several times.

For older children I recommend sewing circus. Handmade clothes in funky prints.

and feel free to join pinkstinks on facebook!

NB - someone on another thread was told that red is now a 'boys' colour. FFS

[liquidstatehasrisenagain]

This outfit is in my hospital bag. Will the midwives and other mums get the vapours???

www.pumpkinpatch.co.uk/flatshot/W3BN90005/col/CLOVER/listing/259904/categorypath/esale/newborn/

www.pumpkinpatch.co.uk/flatshot/W3BN15007/col/TANGERINE/listing/259904/categorypath/esale/newborn/

[RAFWife12]

We decided not to find out, and have been surprised by just how gender specific everything is! Not just clothes...
We got a lot of gender neutral clothes from my brother, as they didn't find out gender either. But why does "gender" neutral have to mean "neutral"? Why does girls have to mean pink? Why does boys have to mean blue?
However, we did buy a navy blue pram - because we like the colour. I can see we'll get lots of "what a cute little boy" even if we have a girl.

[HazleNutt]

And it's also silly to restrict a certain baby clothing item for one sex only. I'm originally from northern Europe, where all boys up to primary school age wear tights. It's simply practical, even with lined jeans, there is always the gap between trousers and socks. And they can't pull the tights off like socks. So I can't see any reason why I shouldn't dress DS in tights.

[woodwaj]

ohthegoats, just having a look at that website! how cute!

www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/sp+duck-embroidered-baby-sleepsuit-in-baby+b8724

[ShadowFall]

While I agree that the gender biased colours of baby clothes is excessive and annoying - agree you often have to look around a lot to find clothes in unisex colours - I'm a bit surprised that there was only one outfit that wasn't either pink or blue in Next (unless maybe it was a tiny branch?).

I was in Next today with DS2, and saw a number of unisex baby outfits - the ones mentioned by Pobblewhohasnotoes Thu 19-Jun-14 16:46:32, and a number of plain white sleepsuits, among others. I was very tempted by the (green and white) frog sleepsuits.

[leggingsarenottrousers]

Yellow Lolly

And you can search the site by age/item rather than gender.

[squizita]

Tk Maxx is often worth a rummage! Some branches only sort by age, others by age/gender - but the stock changes so often you get variety. Mine has converse (peach, so some might sayb"girl" or orange) clothing sets. Have worked out they won't be weather wise for when mine is that size though grrrr they were cute!

[randdom]

I can relate. We didn't know the gender of our little boy until he was born last week. We found it tricky but can echo what others have said about supermarkets and boots. We also found a lot if our clothes through baby bundles on eBay so if you are interested that might be worth trying

[MrsPatMustard]

Totally understand. Have a boy and hate blue, absolutely hate it. Mothercare have some nice stuff.

[MrsCosmopilite]

H&M are pretty good. You could also check out local NCT sales for bargain bits for your imminent baby :)

[fattycow]

The choices are a bit better over here in the Netherlands. My SIL is due on Sunday (not pregnant yet myself) and she doesn't know the sex of the baby. I have found loads of cute clothes for her. Most shops do label them as either 'boy' or 'girl', but I think they are neutral. Like a cute red coat with white stars, a white t-shirt with a orange print of a bottle of some sort of fizzy drink, and a white and green dotted sleep suit.

[Annarose2014]

Nippazwithattitude is amazing. "The Long and Whining Road" Hahahaha!!

[Pushonregardless]

Great thread. My new baby, due in October, will be mostly kitted out in navy blue and red, thanks to the M&S 20% off sale this week.

This stuff makes me so cross.

I hate the term 'gender neutral'. What does this even mean? That an item of clothing or a toy doesn't conform to our own man-made perceptions of what it is to conform to being female or male?

Colours don't have genders. Pink is gender neutral. So is blue. So is beige.

Some of you might be interested in this campaign, which covers off all products, not just toys and clothes.

www.pinkstinks.org.uk/

I'm scared I won't be able to let my son or daughter choose their own colour preferences as a child. Even if I try, marketing, advertising and other people's prejudices will inform him/her, won't they?

[mrsnec]

I thought I'd be in agreement with all of this but my mil has just given me a massive bundle of clothes in orange, red, yellow, lime and various shades of beige and I am finding myself more drawn to the pink girlie stuff and feel ashamed of myself almost!

It's as if the orange and yellow stuff is too garish and the beige stuff too bland. I wonder if now I know she's a girl I'm compelled to go down the girlie frilly route? Hope not!

[squizita]

Pushon shame they called it 'pinkstinks' although it is a catchy name. As you mention: pink is just another colour. It doesn't stink. It would be great if boys wore pink, and it would be great if girls had a greater range of colours.

To me, the connotations of 'pink stinks' is "don't let your daughter near pink or she'll turn into a bimbo". Which isn't quite the reason/message I think they're aiming for: their motto's "there's more than one way to be a girl".
Perhaps it's a hangover from my own childhood where one of my parents 'read up' on some theories and took them rather literally (to be a good little feminist, you must not notice boys or be arty or cook or wear pink- pretend to be a boy!) which gave me some big hang ups/shame as a teen.

[mrsnec]

I think you're right squizita.
It's the messages and the images that irritate me too. One of the vests mil gave me today says 'if you think I'm pretty you should see my mummy' on it. I nearly threw it at her! But the hand knitted silk matinee coat with owls for buttons I'll keep!

Anyway I was wondering about that too if my own childhood influenced my views in any way.

I had very girlie toys, was arty, have pictures of me in fancy dress as a chef. My dm once explained that she wasn't allowed to be particularly girlie so wanted me to be as girlie as possible and always kept my hair long for example as she was never allowed long hair.

Having said that, in most of the photos of my childhood I'm sporting burgundy velour in some form or another or yellow and green in the summer but it was the 70's.

[leggingsarenottrousers]

I don't dislike the 'Pinkstinks' name. I completely agree that colours don't (or shouldn't!) have genders. But that particular shade of pink that seems to have been vomited all over little girls, DOES stink. I see the name as an objection to that the enforced pinkification of EVERYTHING rather than a review of the colour itself.

[squizita]

I do have big issues with forced gender attributes being "banned" though as this can play right into the patriarchal idea "if it looks female its weak".
For example certain crafts/technologies being neglected and mocked because older women always did them. For a couple of decades, by " modern" women themselves.
The message behind the pink is what should be attacked. Its interesting that they use quite a lot of pink on their own website!