Where do the cool kids shop? (age 12)

[CliveThighs]

Dd is 12. She's in a massive massive growth spurt, has shot up to being about 5'4/5'5 and is roughly an adult size 10 now. She tends to gain weight and then stretch upwards a couple of centimetres overnight and slims down again. But she's definitly not skinny skinny.

She has never liked wearing jeans (says they're not comfortable). Mainly lives in black leggings and oversized hoodies. As the weather is going into spring/summer she needs some clothes she won't boil in.

We went into town and there was nothing she liked in any of the shops.

So if you have a tween/young teen where do they buy their clothes from (bonus points if it's natural fibres like cotton as opposed to all the polyester crap all the shops are filled with - but that's just my mum brain wanting breathable fabrics)

H&M

River island

ASOS
H and M
New Look
Primark

All of the above plus she in

Shein

My daughter(same age) got a lot of nice stuff from river island and zara at Christmas time. Things like chunky cardies and tea dresses.

Could you give her some money and send her shopping with a friend? I used to take my girls shopping at that age and it was like pulling teeth getting them to choose anything she might like.
When they were with their friends they looked in shops I wouldn’t have thought to take them into and they found their style that way.
I still wouldn’t dare choose them clothes now
Dd1 (17) came home with some strange pyjama type looking trousers the other day with dragons all over - if I had chosen them for her she’d likely have hated them!

DD started ordering stuff from Pretty Little Thing and Shien. It was always a mix of stuff that had very little fabric and stuff that was baggy 😂

I think the key at this age is to give them money, a list of the type of things they need (eg Tops "beach wear" "trousers" "shoes") and set them free. Far less stressful.

H&M
Bershka
Pull&Bear
Stradivarius
MANGO teen

The above plus try the Emmiol app.

If she likes leggings and hoodies then I'd go for
JD Sports
New Look
H&M
M&S (go to up to age 16 and sometimes has bits )
Primark (small adult might be more her style than the kids section)

My niece likes urban outfitters - although it seems like more expensive charity shop wear to me!

I think nowadays there’s so many different tribes of ‘cool’ that there’s no point asking where the ‘cool kids’ shop, because maybe the sporty cool kids shop at J.D and the glam cool kids shop at Urban and the indie cool kids order from Hot Topic and the dark academia cool kids ‘thrift’ and so on and so on.

I think the best way would be to ask her what she likes/maybe look up some outfits she likes and then find that stuff. It can be stressful wandering the shops because she herself might not have a clue how to put an outfit together/what she thinks she’d like.

I'm not in ownership of any young ladies, but the ones I do know like H&M and Zara. I think New look has a teenage section too?

Although I will say my older ds and ds (not quite teen yet) seem to live in trackies/leggings/jeans with hoodies and sweatshirts and that seems accepted and ok. The ‘casual’ look. I think teens now are much less dressy than when I was a teen. In a good way. We all used to wear sparkly vest tops with skinny jeans and grotty ballet flats and a huge canvas handbag. With lashings of lipgloss and ironed hair of course.

Mine just send me links from Shein and Asos. They hate shopping with me and won’t buy anything and much prefer to do it all online.

Mine are a bit older, though same size, like Pull and Bear.

They also like Urban outfitters, but Kanaloa is not wrong about the expensive charity shop look.

Thanks for posting op I need this info for my 11 yr old dd as well! She's seen a lot on Shein she likes today. She's totally gone off skirts, dresses, hates anything pink or what she thinks is remotely "girly". She would happily live in dark coloured oversized tops and joggers and I'm trying to just go with it but must admit I do miss her old clothes!

DD wears Brandy Melville but getting more into the Urban Outfitters vibe with time. She will occasionally wear Zara (XS) but hasn't quite to the confidence to embrace some of their more on trend looks yet. She has also recently discovered that you can find some great stuff in TKMaxx if you put in the time, particularly for jeans! Shien was a very brief (months) flirtation in our house.

My 12 (nearly 13) year old DD (5FT6 and a size 4/6)

Primark (adults)
New Look (915)
H&M
SuperDry
Shein
River Island (loves the Molly jeggings , she also hates jeans)
Zara

My wardrobe (well, my joggers etc)

So basically, mainly the same places as me.

Agree that your child's "fashion tribe" has an impact on where they want to shop. My teen girl likes the alt look, so she avoids Zara/River Island but loves H&M and vintage shops. My friend's daughter is completely the opposite.

My dd, 13, is definitely not a cool kid but IMO she starts some very cool clothes! She loves Run and Fly and has some epic dinosaur dungarees and dresses from there. Not all their clothes have dinosaurs on but dd is slightly Dino obsessed.

My DD (12, similar height) loves charity and second hand shops. It's amazing what she comes out with! New tends to be New Look, or Monki, and she has aspirations to Benetton but not the budget