Does anyone else have a complete ban on character clothing and accessories?

[backonthewagon]

Or would you buy items like umbrellas, bags, towels, hats, sunglasses, gloves, scarves, pants, vests, socks, pjs, dressing gown, swimwear, raincoats, puddlesuits, wellies, slippers etc with tv characters on?

I never knew this was a thing to be honest.
I can understand banning clothes that are not age appropriate but clothes with characters? Why?

For those saying about advertising, do you not wear branded trainers? And have you removed any form of badge from your car? No branded tech? And you'd never been seen with a branded coffee cup?

Just curious how far you take it

My kids tended to have favourite pieces of clothing and favourite characters and those characters made them feel very happy - they didn’t go by current trends so much.

*Ive stopped a long time ago to actually care about what 'other people' think about my choices. And I prefer to be true to myself instead.• Good for you! Do you care what your kids think about the choices you make for them?

I loathe slogans on kids clothes, but am totally ok with age appropriate characters on kids clothing. We bought a Hey Duggee T-shirt which I’ve kept now the 21 month old has grown out of it. It was slightly problematic initially as he wanted to look at it more than wear it! But I don’t see the difference in clothes covered with car patterns (sadly, they bring him great joy despite the fact I am so meh about vehicles) and clothes with Hey Duggee on. Clothes with ‘Daddy’s little/ mummy’s little’ etc make me itch and I’d never use. But each to their own ay?

@soggypizza, read my post again.
you'll see that my dcs didnt mind then nor are they saying they have missed out on anything now (they are teens so can easily look back on their childhood).
As the impact my choice have had on my dcs... well the same than when I am making choice on what they eat or when they go to sleep, which school they go to etc... Any choice has an impact on children and it can be positive, negative, neutral. We all do our best and in this cae, im pretty sure no child has bene hurt in the process.

I do resent the implication that I must have traumatised my dcs or that i never thought about them when making that decision though....

I find this whole thread odd.
If a boy wants to wear a dress why not but a character top oh no .

The children who come to me wear character tops but sometimes a truck or flowers . They talk about them and care. I wouldn’t wear one because I am a grown up . I also don’t wear clip clip shoes or fancy dress on the school run.I am not sure how any of it is relevant.

starlight
To be honest, the boy in a dress is something I've only come across on MN. Offline, most people I know have had their boys playing dress up as princesses at home etc and aren't bothered by it but they have going out the house clothes.

I think MN clothing attitudes at times can be weird. It's like when people claim they'd not think there's anything wrong in a prepubescent girl wearing hot pants with her bum cheeks out or bra tops because there's nothing there to link those items to adult sexuality. Offline everyone I know talks about age appropriate clothing and avoids their children growing up too soon, but on here some posters think you get cool points for being so liberal that you'd never consider a full face of make up and suspenders on a 6 year old inappropriate. (I exaggerate the last one obviously)

Some of the posters here sound very controlling, snobbish and dull. My son is ridiculously excited by batman tops/hats etc Where on earth is the harm in letting him wear them? I like to let him express himself through his clothes and choose items that make him happy. They may not always be to my taste, but I think it would be pretty sad if I forced him to conform and share the same taste as me at 40 years old. They are only children for a short while, so I'm happy to let them wear character clothing or whatever they fancy.

Nothing for me. Not nohow. DH has some dodgy ones, and DD 9 likes harry potter stuff. But nothing in my wardrobe is character. Very little is visibly branded in any way, I don't need to flash logos around!

Obviously I can't speak for anyone else but I can't see how a like or dislike for certain types of clothing is snobbery.

The OP wasn't talking about a dislike in her title. She was talking about a complete ban, which, IMO, is a little OTT.

I am 31 and wear character clothing and jewellery. Harry Potter, Pusheen, I count band t-shirts as well, and the ones I get from TeeTurtle and the one I have with the word 'Holosexual' on it a la Cristine/Simply Nailogical. I am unashamed.

So that's LOTS of t-shirts, I have a Harry Potter skirt, nighties, pyjamas, socks, Pusheen umbrella, band merch jewellery (showing my age but my favourite is a HIM heartagram necklace.) And I have Ruby Gloom bags which I love.

Yeah I forgot to confess I have quite a few band t shirts and shirts of old movies and sci fi tv stuff. I do have Harry Potter pjs but they were a gift not my own purchase 😄

Complete bans, in general, are prone to back firing.

I dislike it but bought DS a character backpack (to encourage him to carry it himself all holiday, which worked) and a Toy Story T-shirt, which he was very proud of. I would never get him a coat, or bedding etc because I feel he would probably turn around and say he didn't like that cartoon anymore/it’s babyish, etc. and we can’t afford to buy clothes all the time.

I don’t actually know what’s so awful about it, though.... and when his classmates wear a Spider-Man jacket or whatever, I don’t even notice until he points it out! Ridiculous.

We don't have a ban, if anyone else buys it for them I'll put them in it, but I don't like it and don't buy them personally unless they specifically request it.

What I hate more though, is the stupid slogans and "quotes" across T-shirt's. Even for adults! See a nice jumper hanging up, go over, it's got some stupid slogan on it. I don't feel that, as a grown woman, I want writing all over my clothes!

How miserable. I let my two (5 and 8) pick their clothes - so long as they are weather appropriate. Eldest is not overly fussed except how clothes feel but 5 year old has very specific ideas. Children shouldn't look like mini adults or boden models. I've sent mine off for non school uniform today and they are excited and happy to be in clothes they love.
I grew up with awful clothes, no choice and only sensible options permitted. No fun at all.

Go forth and by PJ mask gloves and hello kitty hats!

I am very aware of all the branding and disney/Marvel clothes for kids. I know my SIL hates them. Me too so I don't buy them for her little ones.

there's a choice of a plain one or one with a superhero on it and your DC wants the superhero one, why on earth would you not allow it just because you prefer the plain one.

Because, as I've explained to my children multiple time, it's not just you who will wear this but your younger sibling and so lets have a think about what is neutral enough that you both will find it acceptable. The plain version usually wins.

There are multiple reasons for not wanting some character items: quality of the product, having plastic stuck to a cotton tshirt so it can't be recycled, hideous gendered designs, cheap fast fashion made in sweatshops, shortlived obsession or overly gendered that reduces the opportunities for passing down to younger siblings (particularly true for big ticket items that I want to last for years, I'd never buy a character duvet cover for example), age inappropriateness (e.g. superhero stuff for little ones who are too young for 12 rated films), gendered slogans.

We don't have an outright ban but I rarely find it attractive so don't buy much of it myself (we've had HP tshirts and Hey Duggee pyjamas that are OK) and the DC are used to being told 'no' when they ask for things they don't need in a shop so pester power is not an issue.

quality of the product, having plastic stuck to a cotton tshirt so it can't be recycled, hideous gendered designs, cheap fast fashion made in sweatshops, shortlived obsession or overly gendered that reduces the opportunities for passing down to younger siblings

Yeah, I couldn't give a shit

i wouldn't personally buy them by my DS is only 2.. if he had strong feelings about his clothes i'd probably bend to his will!

Yeah, I couldn't give a shit

And this is why we're all going to hell in a handcart due to environmental destruction.

The ridiculous snobbery, hand-wringing and desperation to be different and set oneself apart from other mums or belong to a set of virtue-signalling naice middle-class mums rather than genuine enviromental concern involved with worrying about that kind of stuff will bring about your own mental disintegration long before global environmental distaster.

The sweater shop crap came out on the primark thread a pointed out by many paying more does not mean it wasn’t made in a sweatshop.

As for the environmental impact are you buying ethically sourced second hand clothes?

My Ds wore largely second hand clothes as a youngster but I do remember he had a couple of Thomas ones from mother care which were cloth made would you let your child wear that?

Not sure why but some of these posts have made me sad! My older dc used to love their little character clothes and get really excited about choosing them.
My younger dc are still into them and have a mix of character, branded and plain.
I can’t believe people would be snobby about this. We are not super posh but we move in very middle class circles (horrible phrase but it makes the point!) and clothing snobbery has never been a ‘thing’ in real life for me or any of my friends.
We also have some t shirts and pjs from ASDA and didn’t realise that was considered common 😂
Some people are ridiculous and do get stressed or opinionated about some pointless things.