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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Baby clothes and fashion thread

52 replies

KnobJockey · 14/04/2019 08:10

This probably will go down like a lead balloon, but is anyone interested in talking baby clothes and design choices?

My background is in retail and particularly childrens clothing- I was a kids wear manager at Next for a few years, then moved onto Zara kids wear, so my days for about 12 years were literally spent putting together outfits for babies and kids. So I find it interesting and relaxing

I'm now pregnant, we're not finding out what we're having, and even if we did, trying to navigate away from the pink and blue stereotypes. But it seems the retail world is against us! I like bright colours, patterns, not grey's and whites personally. And obviously on a budget, so what we are buying is supermarket prices/ on sale/ secondhand. Nothing over a tenner!

Is anyone else interested in this, or is it just me?

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SnuggyBuggy · 14/04/2019 08:13

I also didn't find out what we were having and I think it was a bit tricky for some people.

Practicality is also important. Some of those outfits are adorable to look at but incredibly impractical for an actual newborn.

Original poster

KnobJockey · 14/04/2019 08:20

H&M has probably been the place were I have bought the most from so far, and this little cardigan was a bargain in the sale. I also got this little romper, which is very cute.

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NotMyUsualTopBilling · 14/04/2019 08:20

Granted my youngest is 6 so I could well be out of date but Boots did some lovely bright baby stuff, I didn't find out what were having and just bought what I liked regardless of what section they were in.

My eldest wore lovely impractical outfits from M&Co so I stuck with babygros for the youngest until about 6 months with the odd pair of leggings over a long sleeved vest which was much easier!

Original poster

KnobJockey · 14/04/2019 08:22

Very much agree snuggy- I love dungarees, but when I worked at Zara my biggest argument with the designers would be that they NEED poppers underneath- something that they unfortunately didn't listen to, so awkward to have to undress the baby fully to change a nappy.

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NCBabyBoy · 14/04/2019 08:23

I love browsing the charity shops! And I agree, it's so hard to steer clear of the gendered colours! We didn't find out what we were having either, and some of the things I got when pregnant now seem typical boys stuff (we had a boy), but I genuinely didn't know!

I like one-piece outfits, whereas DH prefers tops and trousers. I'd say DS doesn't have a particular style, but we do try to make sure each individual outfit matches.

Boots currently have quite a few bright coloured items in currently. Dutch shop HEMA is great for non-gendered things (they don't even split their baby section into boys and girls stuff!) and the quality is amazing + their sizing means stuff lasts twice as long!

How do fashion retailers decide what styles to produce? Did you have any say in it? Just asking because you say you like bright, but NEXT and Zara baby stuff is quite muted colours at the moment I find

Queenfreak · 14/04/2019 08:25

My daughter wears mainly scandi brands (maxomorra, duns, villervalla, h&m, polarn O Pyret etc). Never new (unless very heavily discounted!) , but from preloved fb pages, Ebay etc.
Maxomorra has gone too gendered recently- but with the others you can find some amazing bright practical clothes.

Queenfreak · 14/04/2019 08:27

And once you get your head round taking the whole dungs off- you'll find it's actually far less hassle to just undo the poppers at the shoulders and remove to change nappy.
I'm quicker changing than my friends, and we use cloth nappies- so have to faff with wet bags, cloth wipes etc.

Original poster

KnobJockey · 14/04/2019 08:38

Not, some of what boots do is fantastic, particularly their 2 for £9 range- I bought this which my 15 year old hates, and says it's going to look like I'm dreaming the baby in a gay pride flag- I love it! But unfortunately, in their main ranges they seem to be heading down the same baby blue/ pastel pink/ grey route as lots of other stores. There are the odd gems hidden there though! And it is worth keeping an eye on the sales, as the main ranges are quite expensive but often go half price. There's 20% off lots at the minute, if anyone needs anything!

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MCPT · 14/04/2019 08:39

I like this thread!
We are not finding out the sex and I'm getting a bit bored of buying white and grey things! (Although if you like white and grey, H&M is good!)
Boots has surprised me and have some nice colourful things! It's a shame Fearne Cottons range is so tailored at boy or girl as I like her bright designs.
You can get some good bargains from Tk maxx and M&S is a good place for the staple items and also have a few nice green/yellow gender neutral bits!

Original poster

KnobJockey · 14/04/2019 08:49

With Next, we had absolutely no say in what they made and brought out. With Zara, they were surprisingly good at taking feedback- if we thought a range was missing the mark or customers were slating it, we would feed it upwards and it would be taken into consideration, more items added or changed. The colours there are muted at the moment, but it's a Spanish company so takes its lead from there on general. The mini section (tiny sizes so beware) does some very cute stuff that is muted but not grey- not too bad! And it's saving grace is that even though stuff is gendered, it's a lot more flexible in what's thought of as boys and girls- lot of the girls stuff in particular is what would classicly described as tomboy, and they don't think twice at leggings or hareems for boys, which is rare.

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Original poster

KnobJockey · 14/04/2019 09:00

MCPT I really like the M&S range! Not enough primary colours, but at least they've lots of genuinely neutral stuff. I bought this reduced the other day, but I think it's good value at £7 anyway. cardigan And I love these for a summer baby!

I have been looking at TK Maxx online and haven't seen much, have you found more in-store?

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NCBabyBoy · 14/04/2019 09:00

DS has the rainbow sleepsuit! So does his fiancee my friend's DD

One of my favourite outfits for him (that he's now grown out of) was a white and navy striped vest with pink dungarees - bought for my mum when she was pregnant with me, so clearly deemed gender neutral enough in the 80s!

Original poster

KnobJockey · 14/04/2019 09:02

Queenfreak, thanks for the tip! When you say the scandi brands were discounted, how discounted are we talking? I love lots of their stuff, particularly Frugi, but even in the sales/ eBay it seems to be £20 for a single romper. If it's £5-10 each I'll be on it!

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Original poster

KnobJockey · 14/04/2019 09:03

NC Ive never heard of HEMA before, I'll take a look, thanks!

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Heyha · 14/04/2019 11:35

Frugi have lots of nice stuff in brights (we've not found out sex but I'm enjoying my shopping still) but I generally buy offers/sale as it is a little more expensive than what I want to spend on small clothes (I can see it being a go to when kids are bigger, though! It's lovely fabric).

I didn't really need anything else to start with but Sainsbury's have some really nice farm-themed stuff in just now, and a lot of it is yellow-based, so as we have a smallholding I couldn't NOT buy a few bits, could I?!

SnuggyBuggy · 14/04/2019 11:45

I agree I'm not a fan of how gendered it can be. I personally like to have a variety of different coloured clothes for DD.

NotReadyForThisX2 · 14/04/2019 12:02

I've got a 6 month old Ds and I'm almost 10 weeks pregnant with our second, we won't find out what we're having. I'm not a fan of baby blue and baby pink anyway, but with a second quite close I'm trying to keep what I buy Ds now still quite neutral so the new baby can wear them next year (when he/she will be Ds's age now).

I do quite like the grey/white/black stuff though and he wears a fair bit of that, which we'll save for new baby. Not so keen on it for spring summer though so will keep a eye on this thread for some ideas.

NotReadyForThisX2 · 14/04/2019 12:05

I like this range from next, I know still grey but the yellow brightens it up! I'm not particularly girly so I'd be ok with most of those bits on a girl too.

Astrid0208 · 14/04/2019 12:07

Little bird in mothercare do nice bright, non pink stuff.

NotReadyForThisX2 · 14/04/2019 12:12

Next also do plain T-shirt's from 3 months in pretty much every colour and only £2.50 for the smaller sizes.

NotReadyForThisX2 · 14/04/2019 12:13

These.

NicciLovesSundays · 14/04/2019 12:28

I have started looking in high street shops and am worried about the amount of pink / blue stuff. I dont particularly want to go down that route. Also not too keen on lots of complicated outfits and am wondering what happened to good old baby grows?

SnuggyBuggy · 14/04/2019 12:31

I like plain t shirts and leggings. I'll get one that matches a colour in something patterned and it makes an outfit. Also fun to mix and match.

Parent19876 · 14/04/2019 12:32

I agree with you.
I'm finding out next week, but i really dislike how the girls are always very pink and flowery and the boys are very blue and dinosaurs.
I wish they had more colourful unisex options as opposed to super classified gender options. 🙄

NicciLovesSundays · 14/04/2019 12:35

My friends little girl wears dinosaur clothes - they look great!

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