Where and how do you buy clothes for kids age 10-14?

[mloo]

Is it normal when kids get to the size of an average 12yo, that you have to switch to adult measurements to buy them clothes (eg: waist+inside leg measurement for boy's trousers)?

Sorry if this sounds stupid, I'm finding the selection of any clothes for age 10+ drastically plummets compared to younger ages, also hard to find boy shoes in size 4-7 (or girl shoes in size 12-3).

How do you know what size or where to shop for age 10-14?

its a nightmare esp with boys i think. New look do nice boys and girls stuff, ds1 is nearly 14 and now fits into medium topman/new look stuff so that tends to be where we go. Next as well, although you cant get the teenage stuff from our shop you have to order it online.

Gap and Hennes

Topman and Next and MandM Direct website which is cheap and has llabels like quicksilver, nike and timberland at big discounts

If ordering online how do you know what sizes to order, do you go with waist and inside leg or something else...? At what age do they typically move into small men's sizes? DS's size 10-11yo trousers are the same length as mine but I am much taller (albeit short legs, obviously).

I get dd some stuff at Gap. She is a tall 10 year old. Her shoe size is now 4, nearly 5, but you can still get children's shoes in Clarks in that size so I go there in general.

I get ds a fair amount of stuff in H and M. Tbh, he's the sort of boy who plays a lot of sport so lives in tracksuits which I can get from SportsWorld.

but yes, I find the range of clothes does plummet. I've found ds easier (but he is an easier child to clothe in general - my only issue with him is that he has long legs but no waist whatsoever).

The problem with girls of that age group is that the clothes tend to go from little girl to tart very quickly!

I think I figured out what I needed.
If I follow the John Lewis sizing guides, most boys under 16 will not yet be in the smallest adult men's sizes (start at 32" waist). At 11yo DS (very average height for age) has an almost adult inside leg but much smaller waist than 32".

There are specialist clothing outlets for short men, but they seem to be quite dear and still much larger waist than DS.

I'm especially thinking about basics, like chamo cargo trousers or jeans or plain T-shirts, DS not into brand names thankfully (?yet). I was trying to figure out if I could still pick up those items cheaply and easily somewhere.... including from charity shops/jumble/carboot sales which is where I got most of his clothes before now. I want to keep to cheap sources of clothes for him as long as he's happy with what I've found, which meant having the right strategy for finding such items.

Obviously a lot could change if he ever gets interested in fashion.

Ta.