help help help

[Hullygully]

What labels are cool (and cheap) and NOT A&F, Hollister, Jack Wills for teenagers?

There must be some cooler, more ahead of the curve/indie labels?

For 14 yr old ds - desperate to stop him looking like a smug thick richy kid...

H&M, Burton, I think that Next has some nice stuff but I may in the minority.

I think next is for grannies or under 5s here. Didn't know they did teenage clothing though.

Next gets a slagging here among the teens

The thing with boys is that unlike girls they are happy with hardly any clothes. I would buy a few items to fit in with the crowd- hoodie, t shirt and then some basic plain t shirts.

What about shoes? Mine are converse wearers in winter and both wear awful old very untrendy crocs in summer but they like having no laces- lazy boys.

DD1 (15) swears by Blue Banana

Superdry is silly imitation Japanese clothing made by people from the Cotswolds. How cool is that?

Dress him from H&M but sugar the pill by getting him a couple of t-shirts from Dark Bunny which none of his friends will have...

Any clothes that are cheap will be made by blind orphanes though surely ?

I believe that primark is famed for it's use of blind orphans.

just vintage! Take him to spitalfields and camden. Also urban outfitters in oxford street has a vintage section which is much cheaper than their main range.

even if you don't live there, go for the day so he can be inspired, then show him how to use ebay

Yep being from cheltenham, the birthplace of superdry I can tell you its definately not cool. As for orphans, American Apparel is totally ethical.

Truffleshuffle website has some cool Tshirts...

Thanks very much everyone. I shall swallow my consumerist hatred and go forth investigating.

Tethers - give us a linkee and I'll look..

Are Carhaart still cool?

Vintage, second-hand designer teens will kowtow to (like VW or D&G) but MUST be secondhand 'vintage' or mix mid-price designer like ralph lauren shirt with cheap jeans. Look on ebay and good quality secondhand shops. Urban outfitters v good as well, and another vote for american apparel. Cannot abide hollister, poor value for money (even DS thinks this, can't see a blessed thing in the shop anyway...
It's a narrow line to walk, they dont have the fashion versatility available that girls have. For boys it's either too stylised and the GAY flag gets waved, too far the other and they're posh snobs.