Advice on Children's Fashion Design, Typical Colours too boring? What do you want to see on the High Street? All opinions wanted :)

[FashionBaby]

Calling on all mums/parents I?d love your help and honest advice.

I am currently in my final year at University; my passion is to design fun, exciting and comfortable clothing for children age 0-3.
So far all I have found is pastel shades of pinks, blues, yellows, and beige. Dull, right?

1.) I?d like to know what drives you as a parent to purchase the clothes for your children.

2.) What do you like and dislike about the clothing currently presented on the high street, and do you find anything unacceptable.

3.) I?ve found a lot of brands prematurely aging children and seeking the mini adult appearance, is this something you enjoy or not?

4.) Graphic wise, is there anything you find too predictable such as cars on boys clothing and flowers on girls?

5.) Fastenings, are there any you find annoying, or anything you wish were in its place? I?ve recently heard from a mum that they dislike buttons for her 2 year old that refuses to stay still long enough to get them fastened and thought poppers/press studs where more convenient.

Thank you for reading, please be completely honest, all opinions will be greatly appreciated and taken on board throughout my project.

I would make it illegal for manufacturers to make coats without tags to hang them up with.

The other stuff? I'm pretty meh about it, thb, there's lots choice around.

I HATE with a passion the trend for skinny trousers for kids - for both sexes. I want totally plain cotton/cord trousers with straight legs - no seams, distressing, extra poppers, glitter, rivets, rips, embroidery etc. but with adjustable waists and in a range of lovely colours. They don't need to be boy/girl branded - their shapes are similar up to puberty.

I also hate the fact that it's so difficult to find comfortable elasticated jersey type trousers without logos or sports type branding (or paying an arm and a leg)

In fact if I could I'd do away with all this Dinosaur boys and Princess girls branding. I want UNISEX clothing in non-trendy cuts and a rainbow of colours. If there are graphics then nothing overt. Lets have good quality, hard-wearing, plain, comfortable clothing that kids can enjoy playing in.

Can you tell I have a daughter who hates pink and sparkles with a passion and dresses mostly from the boys section.

I've always said that if I was famous and offered the chance to create a children's wear range, I'd make a unisex one with orange, green, brown, red, stripes, animals etc. I'm sick of my DS getting a choice of skulls or pirates or diggers or, the new one for this summer, VW camper vans. I've just bought him a t-shirt from the girls section of the M&S sale - it is red with an owl on it. Please tell me why owls are particularly feminine.

I also need clothes that keep their shape well and are cheap but hard wearing - I can't afford to buy a replacement for a child's £50 shirt if he tips paint or chocolate sauce on it at nursery and the stain won't come out.

In terms of fastenings, I prefer buttons - DS (3) can now open poppers and I'd rather he didn't start stripping off in the street. Poppers on jean flies are better than buttons though - they're a faff to undo when they need a wee quickly.

To give an idea, i love the clothes at Polarn O. Pyret but can only afford to look in the January sales as I can't justify their usual prices.

thank you these will all be taken into consideration.

I forgot to add, Would you as parents be more likely to buy reversible clothing, 2 outfits for 1 etc?

I wouldn't - the chances are you'd never reverse them. It would be an unnecessary gimmick.

I agree reversible is a total gimmick. We had a reversible jacket once and had the problem Chaos mentioned above - no hanging loops. Plus the care label was missing.

I don't want gimmicks or glamour - just regular, wearable clothes at a good price.

Oh and if you want to hear about shoes - girls shoes ranges are useless - strappy, sparkly and mostly pink. I've always ended up buying boys shoes as they are tough and have good gripping soles. Especially school shoes - the girls ranges are NOT designed for autumn/winter