What do boys wear at university these days? Need help shopping for DS18 please

[SpinkleBit]

DS18 is (hopefully) off to uni in the autumn. He has ASD and has zero interest in fashion, but I think it might really help him socially if he looks like he "fits in." But I just don't know what kind of stuff teenage boys wear now.
He likes his clothes to be comfortable and neutral-looking (no bright colours or anything that stands out). He is very tall and skinny.
So far he has:

• neutral hoodies from Next
• neutral plain T shirts from Next
• mid blue slim fit jeans from Levis
• navy and white trainers from Nike
• some manky trainers which should probably be binned
• a dark grey raincoat from Decathlon

I'm thinking he probably needs some more formal or semi-formal clothes and shoes? Some shoes/boots for when it rains? Something for if he goes to a club or on a date? I literally have no idea. Any advice would be very welcome. P.S. Our budget is quite big, but he wouldn't want any clothes that looked too obviously expensive.

My DS wears trackies, trousers and jeans. His jeans and trousers are dickies. Not the cheapest but they really last.

Hoodies. He's not brand fussy but does buy vintage. He also wears some carhartt hoodies and t shirts. Again not cheap but they last well. You can pick them up in vintage stores.

Footwear. Mainly new balance, adidas , Nike, vans and he has doc Martin shoes. Crocs for nipping to the corner shop and at home.

@SpinkleBit
My ds goes to York. Has had a couple of formals. He borrowed my DH's suit for one of them and then we bought him a nice plain black suit from M&S for the other.

You won't need it yet. The full suit was only £100. I wouldn't go for a dinner jacket and the suit will last him years.

Just to add, my DD tells me that one fellow student was never seen NOT wearing a banana onesey. Apparently he wasn't smelly, so she suspected he had more than one.
Sadly he didn't turn up for graduation.

Nothing to add, don't know any teenage boys - but posts like this always make me irrationally tearful. Mums are lovely ❤️

TKMaxx is a good source
Diffferent brands but luck of the draw what they have in.

Make the clothes in OP from Next & Primark & DS is just finishing a 1st year like that at OP. No Nike, TKMaxx, Levis, fashion trainers etc. He declines to have a social life at Uni. Says he's happy !! No ASD, just comfy in his own space.

Oh yeah.. socks.. they seem to get eaten!

Try 'quarter zips' as well as hoodies. A bit smarter and apparently very in at the moment. I'm not sure I'd bother with darker jeans, I'm not sure youngsters wear dark denim.

TK maxx is a really good shout. Try to get some brands from there, not just plain stuff from Next

Let him decide. Send him off then buy stuff when he comes home.

Sounds similar to ds. He wears almost exclusively H&M plain T-shirts and sweatshirts, joggers and some elastic waist cargo trousers from Amazon of all places. He has a pair of vans and a pair of soft leather DMs. He has jeans but doesn’t wear them often - he goes for anything with “relaxed” or “soft” in the description. He doesn’t like brands/logos but has a few “character” t-shirts from anime series. He’s had some nice coloured sports socks from Nike and some from jimmylion. He’s not going to go anywhere voluntarily where you need to dress up and hasn’t been refused entry to a club or bar on the basis of being an absolute state yet. Fingers crossed. I do wish he had a decent coat but he’s always chosen horrible coats since being a little boy and it’s not something that is going to change.

Everyone is right re plain stuff - the only thing I've really noticed with mine is that they wear too short trousers (tall, skinny boys here too so maybe it's necessity rather than style!).

They seem to buy everything on depop. I stock them up on plain t shirts, pants, 20 million pairs of white socks, buy the trainers (free postage on Nike and Adidas if you create an account, and often an extra 20% off).

Would he look through depop with you maybe? Or if he opens an account there and 'likes' things, you can see what they are if he gives you his username, and buy them for him? I appreciate he might not be keen just now, but it might be an easy way to get things once he's been there a while.

Doc Martens for autumn/winter we’re an absolute necessity for both my DC at Uni.

Make sure he breaks them in before he goes though.

For halls, loungewear. DS spent about 70% of his time in Spider-Man leggings and a t shirt.

Our experience (well, DS's really) is that while H&M is good for jeans/ chinos etc their T shirts really don't wash well or last long - lots of unravelling of hems and shrinkage!

@ChateauMargaux "The economists wear suits" - I'm sorry, but I think your son is winding you up! I know many of my DS's friends who went to study Economics at places like Durham, Warwick, LSE etc and NONE of them wear a suit for uni! Unless they were perhaps going off to an interview?
And lots of students have LinkedIn profiles and internships by the end of second year - it's what they're encouraged to do (across loads of subjects) by the careers service!

hi @SpinkleBit

my son is the same, ASD off to uni in September. He generally wears football shirts and whatever I buy him. But I do think its time I stopped buying his pants and socks!
I have usually bought from Next and Fatface. He doesnt really like zips or buttons but will tolerate them now.
I got him an interview outfit of smart trousers and polo top from River Island. He liked the style so I have taken him on two shopping trips, we just wandered round a few shops with me making suggestions, looking at the mannikens for ideas.
The second time he bought some jeans, cargo pants and a polo top in River Island. We also went to H&M and he managed to find a polo top by himself, no prompting from me.
We were then both so exhausted we went to the pub for a cider and bag of crisps.
I think he will probably stick with track pants, tshirts and hoodies day to day. Thats fine, its what he’s comfortable in, but I do think its important that he starts taking responsibilty for it.

My son went to uni this year and he took a lot of Nike and Adidas sportswear with him- t-shirts, joggers, jog shorts. Now he's there he seems to be changing his style. He came home recently wearing combat pants (very nice, reminded me of the sort I used to wear in the 90s) and a woolly type jumper that had a zip down to the chest. He's also injected more colour into his wardrobe; before he only wore black and grey and now there's more greens and blues. He still only has 1 pair of disgusting Nike white trainers though and uses the same rucksack he had at school.

If you can I'd maybe reserve a bit of money for him to see what everyone else is wearing when he gets there.

My DS wears jeans or scruffy old joggers with plain sweat shirts or hoodies and plain t shirts. DMs or trainers on his feet. He buys second hand .

Thanks again to everyone for all this advice - there's a lot I hadn't thought of or didn't know existed (waterproof Converse? Awesome! Might give the banana onesie a miss, though...).

Also really reassuring to hear about other boys' clothes preferences and experiences at uni.

I can't tell you how useful this thread has been to me.