self conscious boys

[countrysider]

My 16 year old son is moving schools for 6th form, mainly because he is fed up with being called a geek at his old school. He is clever, but also interested in his clothes, and is getting rather uptight about finding all the right stuff for the new school. He says other people seem to know where to shop and what to buy. I think that £50 for a school bag for example is too expensive. Am I out of touch, or can anyone help with not so expensive 'cool' brands?

topman - they tend to be quite on trend but not as expensive as labels

Depends on what part of the country you are in and what his style is like.

Where we are, Jack Wills and Superdry are what all of the teenagers seem to live in, but they can be pricey. Also Abercrombie and Fitch, but you have to order it online and postage from the US costs a bomb!

Topman is okay, as is Gap. There are also other shops like Republic that ds1 likes.

I have two teenagers (well my dd is 20 now) and I have to say that it is not often I get off lightly as far as clothing goes. They have to wear what they other kids wear. My solution is that they had to get a Saturday job and pay for half of what it all costs. It still costs me a fortune, but Christmas is easy as they only want a gift card.

you can get Abercrombie and Fitch online here with free postage - I think it's pretty chavvy ropey, but ds loves it

Where?
Last time I placed an order it was £25!!!

here

ds1 is 8 and has been quite self concious for a while!dd who is 9 is only just beginning to worry about her clothes but ds1 is very sure of what he likes/dislikes style wise!i buy all his stuff (well all our stuff)2nd hand as he likes things i cant afford new.although im sure as he gets older he wont appreciate 2nd hand!

and they say girls are hard work!

OMG!!!
Thanks mimsum!!!

Thanks for replies. I am so fed up with this obsession with appearances. He does buy stuff at Topman, and Superdry etc, and he is really quite good looking (I'm trying not to be biased about this) but he seems to constantly feel insecure about the way he looks. We had great trouble finding the right bag, and he is now convinced that we made an enormous mistake in settling for one from debenhams!
I'm not stupid, I know that self-confidence must come from within, I'm just finding it really difficult to keep his self-esteem up in the face of other lads whose method is just to rubbish other people.