pyjamas and horrible boys clothes

[loulabelle222]

hi everybody, just thought i would have a moan at the lack of pretty boys clothes. After struggling to get my ds (13m)into babygros i thought about looking for some pyjamas however all i seemed to find was disgusting printed ones with thomas the tank engine and postman pat. There are lovely little girls stuff all pretty and pink.
However yesterday i took a trip to marks and spencers and found some gorgeous ones and he got a beautiful towelling fluffy dressing gown perfect for after swimming or before/after a bath.
I was really suprised they have some lovely things in at the minute .. not to old or to young for his age. Zara impresses me too even though their sizes are ridiculous.
Where are your favourite places to shop?

just noticed the website was already there!
great minds, ggglimpopo!

I do wish there weren't as many silly, random english words on boys' clothes though - why?!

I also HATE camouflage/safari gear - safari seems to be the current trend. I just returned a Boden short-sleeve shirt, having ordered a lovely hawaiian print, I was sent foul grey camouflage
NO thanks, I said
I must say that Boden's returns policy is v. good - they wil pay my postage from france, and were most efficient in replying to me e-mail
have had hassles with vertbaudet in the past re. returns/exchange of goods

I also can't stand the fact there are shirts available for newborns , babies shouldn't be in shirts they look like old men... why make your kids dress older than they are? they have all their lives for that!

I quite like next, but they do tend to have a lot of 'little monster' t shirts, or stupid slogans.

I love the little white company stripy pjs, quite expensive but so cute and really good quality.

George at asda do nice stuff for younger children at least, v. good value too

I've just been shopping for T-shirts for ds2 (3.5) - nightmare! We are not well blessed with childrenswear shops anyway (Next, Adams, Woolies, Mothercare, M&S) but everything was logo-ed or really dingy colours (lots of khaki, brown and dark green about). The Next stuff is appalling at the moment - and I am sick of picking up T-shirts to find the words "I Didn't Do It It Wasn't Me Here Comes Trouble Criminal in the Making" on them. I bought a nice, bright, stripey T-shirt in Mothercare - but it was £6 which is daylight robbery for a T-shirt (everything else in Mothercare is Bob the B, Noddy, Little Robots or Thomas the Bloody Tank Engine). And I got one with a VW Camper Van on in Adams (it's dingy khaki though). Also a set of 3 plain ones in Next (well, just a little logo as opposed to NEXT in foot high letters - why do they do that?)

And don't even get me started on clothes for my 8 year old ds...I don't want graffiti, khaki, camouflage, distressed, skeletons, dudes, Bart Simpson, Spiderman or "Whatever!" on his clothes. I want plain, brightish colours, and a crotch where a crotch should be - not halfway to his knees!

I have to shop at about 10 different places so that my son can just wear some simple clothes that aren't covered in logos etc. I cannot help it, I just hate this kind of mini David Beckham look. And it seems like children? designers just have no imagination when it comes to boys...the same crap everywhere. I find that the States has a lot more choice and the quality is fantastic for the price. If any friends or family go to the States I get them to bring stuff back or if I go I buy a lot - it is cost effective especially at the mo. Here I buy some plain stuff from Boden but not the trousers - my ds is very narrow and the trousers are enormous. I get dungarees from Osh Kosh but not the British ones, as they are a different cut all together again very voluminous where as the American ones are narrow and straight legged. A good source for American stuff is ebay, lots of them will ship clothes to the UK and they have lots of cute denim like OshKosh and Levis. Petit Bateau is my absolute saviour as far as trousers go for my narrow little fella. They fit his shape perfectly and are extra long so last a good length of time. John Lewis for plain long sleeved white T's and other short-sleeved T's. Hennes LOG stuff, Gap for socks and shorts and some trousers (but it kills me to pay UK prices) and finally American Apparel for really plain T's, they have a store in London. We've obviously stumbled across a gap in the market - anyone want to start a business!

Where are you in France teeavee?

i've also noticed with my ds that the jump between 9-12month clothes and 12-18months is enormous. His clothes are either falling off of him or just fit him.. its a nightmare having to roll his trousers up or having shorts on that look like jack-ups!

I love Next for clothes, it's just a pity every year seems to be 'same old same old' just slightly re-done. It lasts though, and is good value particularly in the sales.

I hate Boden with a passion, also M&S and Monsoon which I feel is just a bit poncy for little boys.

Pumpkin Patch do some gorgeous bits, but it is a little pricey. GAP do nice (again pricey) bits, but they again seem to be the same old stuff year in year out.

I really love Vertbaudet, worth the little bit of added expense.

Got ds a few slogan tshirts from noaddedsugar.co.uk, cute in moderation!

Also you can get a few nice bits from H&M, as long as you are happy sifting through the trash!

Jako-o usually have some fairly colourful things for boys - they're German, but they deliver to the UK.

I recently got ds2 some gorgeous polka dot short sleeved pyjamas from Blooming marvellous & they were in the sale! (£6.99 rather than £12)
I find that they tend to have some nice bits for very little boys.
I also shop in Gap, vertbaudet, La Redoute, Next (but agree they do too many slogan type things) & zara.
My Mum brought me back some lovely oshkosh bits from the States.

childrens warehouse do some nice (plain) stuff but you can't tumble dry it which makes it not so good

Debenhams and John Lewis!

do you know what i think i have a fear of tumble dryers i don't tumble dry anything apart from babygros vests and socks!

john lewis and debenhams do some lovely clothes just find debenhams clothes come up massive (12 -18 is huge)

I tumble dry everything regardless of what it says on the label, even my poncey boden clothes

ggglimpopo, I'm in Brittany - i gather you're in the Bordeaux area?
Nice to see we have the same taste in boys' clothes!

So that's what DPAM translates as gggl!
Some of Boden is poncy it's true, but they do nice shorts for boys.
Like many others on here, I dispair of the high street for boys' stuff. Ds gets almost all of his stuff from Vertbaudet and also La Redoute. And DPAM in Cite d'Europe!
John Lewis also has some quite nice boys' ranges, although even they up the hand grenade/skull quota from ages 3 and up.

Really cute boys pjs at Pumpkin Patch...(my ds is 13 months)

Interesting thread - as I am proud mum to DS aged 6 months - and am frankly finding the change from the pink/purple invasion for DD (aged 5) quite refreshing. I can see what you mean though about the lack of imagination - it seems boys can start wearing jeans and a white t shirt from 3 months until they are about 20! (Or older!) Are we all just in too much of a hurry for our children to look "dressed" now - you don't see many 1 year olds in babygros and hardly any hand knitted cardigans etc around.
I too hate the logos - Next can be accused of aggressive branding - and the girls range for slightly older girls covers age 5 to 16. How does a 5 or 6 year old wear the same things as a 16 year old. It's really tarty IMO.

handlemecarefully- when was your ds 1 , mine was 1 on the 15th of April.

Just had a look at the second link I did - the okaidi looks utterly vile with a seven year old looking like Rambo-the-surfer. I would like to underline here that that is not the look that I favour for ds, promise! Their clothes are lovely, what a shame that one is put off on the opening page. I understand that there are these shops in the UK Used to do huge monthly shops there when I lived in the UK. Spent a fortune looking for the crosschannel bargains....

i agree that jako-o has excellent bright coloured, plain clothes, lovely stripes. we get some stuff from boden & gap sales, also h&m, zara sometimes but expensive. ebay is good if you can be bothered.

Talking about Marina there and cité d'Europe and monthly shop - not monthly clothes shopping for ds.....

I'm loving this thread! DS is only one and it is possible to get nice things but you have to look much harder and in many more places. I quite like Mothercare at the moment, but perhaps it's better for smaller boys?

Anything we are given that says 'Funky Little Dude' (or similar) on it goes straight back to the shop!

Thanks for the Gymboree online tip btw - I used to love it and was disappointed when they closed.