Campaign for Better Boys Clothes - long and ranty

[BadHair]

This kind of follows on from earlier threads about crappy boys clothes.
I went to Matalan earlier on in search of cheap and cheerful stuff for my dses. There were 8 rows of lovely bright girl's clothes, some of the materials could easily have been unisex had they not been sewn as skirts. Then there were 2, TWO, rows of boys clothes. One of them was made up entirely of nylon England football strips and the other was full of the usual dull blue-green-grey combos. As most mums of boys know, this is the same in most shops, though Next occasionally have better colours.
I flatly refuse to dress my toddlers to look like football hooligans, and the other stuff was so uninspiring that I walked out in disgust.
I know that nicer stuff is available in smaller, individual shops, but why should I have to track these places down when I should be able to get better clothes from the high street biggies? In the past I've seen stripey jumpers in the girl sections that could easily be worn by boys if the ubiquitous pink-and-lilac threads were replaced with perhaps red and purple. So I don't see why I should have to dress my boys in dull cr*p.
SO, to finally get to my point, I'm thinking of petitioning the high street retailers as I'm so fed up with being fobbed off with boring clothes. Does anyone else want to sign up, and if so can you suggest what colours you'd like to dress your boys in?

BadHair - tell them to read this thread?

I totally agree with you all. Sign me up.

count me in! i went to a huge tesco this week - rows and rows of (horrible) girls stuff, ONLY 2 outfits, 2 pairs of shorts and 2 t-shirts for ds (6 mo)

Definitely sign up. The only skull t shirt ds has was a present from his bonkers grandma and he loves it of course...but I prefer to see him in jolly plaid shorts, matching polos in bright colours like yellow ochre, grass green, red etc. Also the nautical look - breton striped tops, needlecord bermudas etc.
I buy almost all French stuff for him. And Vertbaudet and La Redoute are pretty reasonable, especially in the sales. I don't think he currently has a single item from Next or M & S - apart from some white pants.
Agree with you also about some of the high street stuff for girls, Marialuisa. Dd has some pretty things from Next but a lot of the range looks a bit Vegas Showgirl for us...

Actually, Blu's idea of mailing them a link to this thread is probably much better than getting everyone to e-mail me. I'll probably print it off and post hard copies to their head offices as well.

Yes I'll sign up too. Agree with all that has bee said on here.

Marina - the clothes you describe are what I'd like to see more of!

I'll sign up too.

Even nice socks are hard to come by - they all seem to have Power Rangers or some other Disney merchandising on them.

I'm worries it'sn affecting ds's sense of aesthetics.

I completely agree about matalan. I shop there a lot, but would spend LOADS more if the boys clothes were better. We buy all our boys clothes abroad (Calaias, on a booze-cruise!)

Totally agree. I would love to see more colours and variety for the boys clothes Hate all the khaki stuff as well and just bored with blue.

I used to think it would be so easy if I had a girl but now I do and guess what, she doesn't suit pink !!!!!

Note for the marketing depts. ds is nearly 3, dd is 6wks

Totally agree, in fact I emailed Boden the other week to tell them that their boys clothes this season are not up to scratch and not suitable for little ones and they said that a few people had already complained! So it's not just a few of us, it's shocking how horrible the clothes out there are.

babyannabel, that's shocking, especially as their clothes for girls this season are quite funky

Can I join too although my ds is 10 - it gets worse when they get older - Adams, Mothercare, Next (shops) no longer stock stuff when they are older - even at 10 I hate the death, skull & crossbow & skater stuff. Thank goodness that he is sporty, we get all his clothes from a sports shop, Next directory, TK Maxx, Tesco (although don't like their new exchange policy) or France - very limited.
Another vote for Pumpkin Patch - have bought all friends new dss their stuff from there - always complimented on - there is one in Milton Keynes.

well I dont care it stops me buying loads of clothes for him, I spend far too much on dd's clothes as it is

I went to Peacocks today and was disgusted at the selection for boys (ds is 2). I know Peacocks are cheap qualitywise, but there was loads of pretty summery stuff for girls and zilch for boys. I'll join you.

I think it's very interesting how many of us shop in France/from French catalogues!
Babyannabel, I do agree about Boden for boys this season. They do seem to be going the High Street route of ugly, saggy clothes in muddy colours...
Also think Pumpkin Patch are great, especially for logo-less basics in nice colours. Am still cramming ds (nearly 5) into an apple-green sweatshirt for 3 year olds...

I'm in danger of repeating myself here, as I said something similar on the other thread, but if you have a girl who doesn't like her clothes in pink/lilac, or embroidered with flowers/hearts/butterflies then the selection is also quite limited. My dd (8) is happy to wear boys clothes, but doesn't want the full action man/camouflage thing either, not unreasonably.

I emailed Boden to ask for the return of the good unisex stuff they used to do (navy/white, red/white, stripes, that kind of thing) and they emailed me back saying that their research showed that people WANTED the polarised girls (pink, flowery) vs. boys (sludge-coloured, combats). This was right at the beginning of the spring season, so hopefully they're getting lots of feedback to tell them they're wrong.

I've now discovered Verbaudet from recommendations here, but agree that we could mount a petition -- or just keep this thread going for a while and then forward it to their head offices. Hundreds of mners can't be wrong!

I was put off by the contrasting descriptions of biys and girls clothing in the Boden catalogue: the boys is all described as for rugged roaming adventurous creatures, and girls as preening sedentary little petals. When did this happen, and WHO wants it? Not anyone amongst my friends or family!

Am i right in thinking that you can't get Pumpkin Patch stuff in the u.k ??I'm sure i went on there site and had to register to be sent a catoluge when they start sending stuff over here.

Do they have shops here ??

My fave catalogues are Aztec, Tati, La Redoute (a bit), Vertbaudet and Mitty James. I also buy lovely little t-shirts with vintage applique from a local craft fair. Some of these are v expensive and I buy very little! I also buy bits from Gap - some jeans, a navy hooded top, the red spotty dog jumper. I find most of it dispiriting. I agree with everyone about Boden. Miserable stuff. Today ds is wearing navy dungarees from La Redoute, a sweet navy gingham shirt from Verbaudet over a white GAP t-shirt and little t-bar canvas shoes from Trotters, and navy Gap socks. He looks very cute, IMO! And not like a trainee with the US airforce!

Yes, Nutcracker, Pumkin Patch have shops in the UK. There is one in Basingstoke as well as some others mentioned on this and the other thread. I recently signed up for their mailing list but haven't received a catalogue yet so can't tell you if there are any shops near you.

Oh i miss Gap. Ours closed just after xmas. There is another one in the city centre, but i hardly ever manage to go.

Nutcracker, here is the Pumpkin Patch store locator .

and what about the fact (that i've ranted about on a previous thread) that girls get really comfy lightest cheeseclothy material clothes for summer but boys are lumbered with nothing lighter that tshirt material or scratchy linen! what is going on with that...and don't get me started on hats (like with a wide brim, cause boys burn too you know!)

argh