Brands of Clothing for Layette

[anna lisa]

Today while at the mall I was browsing at all the children stores and couldn't for the life of me remember all the brands you ladies mention. Would you be kind enough to list them here. Here's what I discovered myself today:

Lord & Taylor's
Their layette department was Ralph Lauren Layette and Tommy Hilfiger. They did not have any other brands. Okay, they did have Carter's t-shirts in a 3pk, but that was it. I did see the Moombeans brand that Beth mentioned (adorable sundresses with matching hats for only $9!!) but I guess I was expecting to find the "house" brand layette items on sale. There wasn't any.

Nordstroms
Same thing here. No real layette. Section divided into boys and girls no yellow or mint green. Did not remember "house brand" to look for.

Gymboree
Way expensive. And very limited neutral layette. Starting to believe everyone finds out child's sex but me!!

Talbot Kids
Same experience as Gymboree. Very expensive and only some white onesies with a sailboat for a layette (boyish to me).

So far, I've only loved the clothes at Baby Gap and Old Navy. Am I missing something??? I'd like to know because when I do make my Carter's outlet trip (postponed to mid April) I might really have to stock up since I can't find any place else.

Oh, how's Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby for clothes. Honestly, I've never looked I just assumed they'd be expensive since mostly people shop there for gifts.

Thanks for all your help.

Honestly, I realized today while shopping just how lucky I am to have found you wonderful ladies. I truly truly appreciate all of you who take the time to post replies it means so much to someone starting out.

Thanks again

[Momof3Labs]

Since you have time, keep on scouting Old Navy and Baby Gap because they put stuff on clearance frequently (online and in the stores). You can probably pick up quite a bit at less than retail by the time your baby comes.

Our BRU has a huge selection of baby clothes, including a lot of the smaller-sized Carter's items that you find at the outlet. Do you have a Kids R Us near you (or in BRU or TRU)? That's another source for Carter's and other reasonably-priced clothing brands.

[anna lisa]

I must be an idiot, because it never dawned on me to go to Kids R Us. I assumed they were for "Kids" and Babies R Us was for "Babies". I know of several KRU locations, I'll have to check them out.

Thanks!

[colleenfs]

I loved Little Me layette items. They are found in Macy's, Lord and Taylor, Filene's here in New England, among other places. I often see last year's line for a fraction of the price at Baby Depot. I've also found lots of great baby items at BRU/KRU. And don't knock Sears and JC Penney. They carry nice baby clothes at reasonable prices. Kohl's is good too.

Colleen
Mama to Julia 1-10-02

[anna lisa]

Thanks, I never thought of Little Me for layette. I usually always buy a Little Me outfit for when a friend has a little girl. I love how they always come with accessories (hat, booties, diaper cover, etc..)

I'll have to check them out.

I don't mean to forget about Sears and JCPennys, they just aren't popular in my area (NYC). But I'll seek them out next time I'm in the suburbs.

[candybomiller]

Annalisa,

We're very big fans of baby gap, but sometimes you can find some really cute clothes for a pretty good deal at target and wal*mart. I think the target brands are circo and one other I can't remember and wal*mart has mcbabies. We've only bought a couple of things from these places but they've been a pretty good quality for a good price.

I've never been to NYC so I don't know if either of these stores are around/popular, but it's worth a shot. Generally there's a pretty fair section of unisex clothes at target.

On another note, I'm very impressed that you're not finding out the sex of the baby. There's no way I could have that much patience - I was always the type who unwrapped then re-wrapped my Christmas presents! LOL.

Good luck with the clothes shopping.

Candy
Mommy to Matthew
5/22/02

[anna lisa]

Thanks Candy,

We don't have a Target or Walmart in the city, but I venture out to the suburbs once a week to do grocery shopping (1/2 the price!) so I'll check out the clothes in Target.

I never really looked at the clothes there before, I was unaware of the quality. But I'll check it out now that you mentioned it.

Next month I'll be going to SuperWalmart (I know I'm nuts to be excited, but I am!) and the McBaby brand is on my list to check out.

DH has talked me out of finding out the sex of the baby. He wants it to be a surprise. He just feels it's a "bigger event" if all the details are revealed at once. I'm trying to take my mind off of the gender by just using all my free time to prepare the nursery. Keep busy and have no down time to think. I'm just now okay with it.

Thanks for your suggestions!

[cuca_]

Annalisa -

I am not finding the out the sex of my baby either. As in your case, my DH convinced me not to, because he felt it would be a bigger event to. Actually, he had some pretty good emotional type arguments, while I only wanted to know for purely shopping purposes. I am actually glad we did not find out, and really looking forward to the big surprise.

Anyhow, I have bought mostly sleepers since it is sort of hard to find gender neutral clothes. I did buy a cute romper at Bloomingdale's on sale. You should check their selection, they have a store brand called Bloomingdale's essentials. I would also check out Marshalls and TJ Maxx, I have gotten a lot of sleepers there for great prices. They usually have Absorba, Bon Bebe and other brands. Other than that, DH and I agreed that I would by a couple of cute boy outfits and a couple of cute girl outfits, so that I could satiate my shopping needs. (I argued that everyone nowadays finds out the sex and that I was therefore deprived).

Hope this helps, despite the fact that I cannot yet talk about the quality of the things I have bought as baby is yet to be born.

Good luck,

Carmen
EDD 5/31/03

[bluej]

I don't know if the H&M's in NYC have a children's section or not. When I lived in Germany that was one of my favorite places to shop for my kids. Cute clothes at very reasonable prices (comparable to Target prices, maybe a tad more). Oh, how I wish they would expand and come to the midwest!

Jen

[egoldber]

The Nordstroms house brand is called Nkids, but it is very gender specific. Actually most stores and brands are very gender specific which really distresses me.

For unisex basics, I think that BRU is a good bet. BuyBuyBaby does have a few lines of basics (including a housebrand) that are good items.

Carters makes a lot of things in yellow and green, many of which are very cute.

Lands End and Hanna Andersson have lots of adorable unisex things.

Also, in my opinion, if you had to choose, I woul buy a little on the boy-ish side. I think you can get away dressing a girl a little boy-ishly, but not a boy in girlie things.

Also, I actually get a fair number of things for Sarah at Costco! They sometimes have Carters and Little Me things, and a brand of sleepers call (I think) Agabang that are really cute.

Someone mentioned Target. I get a lot of things at Target, especially now that she is older, I can get summer basics (shorts, tank tops and T-shirts) very inexpensively. Their Lullaby Club layette line is veyr adorable, but in my experience shrinks terribly! Their Circo baby line holds up a bit better.

HTH,

[parkersmama]

I didn't find out the sex of the baby on either of my first two kids! I agree with your husband...it's more exciting to find out in the delivery room and get to share sex, name, weight, etc. with everyone who's waiting to hear! I loved that aspect of it. But, the 3rd time around I knew that I'd be really disappointed to hear "it's a boy!" again in the delivery room and decided we'd better find out so I could get used to the idea a little more if we would be raising 3 boys! Happily, this baby is a girl so I won't be hearing that phrase! :-)

From my experience, I would recommend that you not buy very many gender neutral baby clothes. Some onesies and sleepers or gowns and a couple of blankets, socks, and a hat. Then also buy a few boy items and a few girl items. Don't wash these and make sure to leave the tags on them. When you find out what the baby is and come home, you can wash the correct items for the baby to wear and then return the other things in a few weeks (or have someone else do it) and buy more of the appropriate sex items. I promise you that you'll get sick of dressing your little boy or little girl in mint green and yellow VERY quickly. You'll also get sick of always have to answer the question, "Is it a boy or a girl?" quickly and want the baby to be in more gender-specific clothing so people will just know! One of my little boys was a very "pretty" baby and people always thought he was a girl if he wasn't dressed in boyish clothing.

As far as recommendations for gender neutral clothing, I think Carter's has a really cute line out right now that is "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle (based on his book/drawings) and several of the items are neutral but still really cute. Also, I second Beth's recommendation that Hanna Andersson & Lands' End have a good many neutral items that are really cute. Plus, these will be excellent quality and you'll be able to use them a second time around very easily. HTH!

[Shirale]

Ditto on the Target shrinkage! I am a major fan of baby Gap, adorable stuff, they do have some yellow and green unisex stuff, and they have amazing prices! Anna Lisa- if you live in NYC then right over the GWB on Rte. 4 is a great mall- the Bergen Mall, and they have a Marshalls, off Saks (with kids clothes) gap outlet, Childrens place outlet (I am not a childrens place fan b/c of the shrinkage)and they all have great stuff! Also, a little bit further down on rte 17 (near Buy Buy Baby and BRU) is a Syms, which also has great kids stuff. I did not find out the gender of my baby b/4 hand, and acually bought nothing before either, just waited til she was born and sent out DH, Mom and MIL with my lists of stuff that I wanted! There is also a Kids R Us and a Daffys right across from the Bergen Mall- and you can find great deals there!!!! HTH!

[newbelly2002]

Aren't they great?! I love them. I'm always getting compliments on DS clothes and they're cheaper than many of the second hand shops here in Berlin. And the hats are irresistible!

When were you in D-land? and where?
Paula

[egoldber]

They are opening an H&M soon near here. I guess I'll have to check it out!

[Marisa6826]

Annalisa-

I ditto the TJ Maxx, Marshalls, BRU and Buy Buy Baby. Another really good place to check out is Century 21 downtown near where the WTC was. They have a huge kid department on the second floor. Also Burlington Coat factory on 6th and 23rd St.


Daffy's can be hit or miss, but I've always had good luck at the TJ Maxx on Route 17 in Paramus.


Another adventure you might be up for is Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth (near Ikea) - there's a Carter's and Gap outlet there among other stores. Check out their website for a list of all the stores.
-marisa

[bluej]

We lived about 20 miles west of Munich in a very small town, Eching am Ammersee. We were there from Sept of 98 to Dec of 01. We are not sure how it happened, but we never made it to Berlin. We thought we'd wait to go there when one of DH's sis's came to visit, but that never happened. How long have you been there?

Jen

[newbelly2002]

We've been in Berlin since last Sept. Two years ago we also spent a year in Bonn (2000-2001), and a while before that, a summer in Mainz (ohne baby). Berlin has been great and now that the weather is warming up and--shock of shocks--the sun is shining, I've finding it a great place to be. Did family draw you over?

And, Beth, you HAVE to check out H&M. The hats, for example, run between 3 and 4 Euros. The shirts run on average about 5-8 Euro and the pants in the 10-14 range. I love the fact that so many of the clothes are both adorable and gender neutral. They also are predominently all cotton in bright colors. For adult clothes, while the styles are cute, the clothes don't tend to hold up to extended hard wearings, in my expereince. But for babies, of course, they grow out before they wear out (I think there's some pronoun issues in that last sentence, but it's late and I'm tired). Where will it be opening?

Paula

[bluej]

DH had an opportunity to be a guest engineer at DLR, so that's what took us over there. Can't beat those German work hours! The weather in Munich wasn't bad as far as winter goes. Of course most German's thought we didn't bundle our kids up enough. It would be 50 degrees and for us midwesterners that's fall or spring jacket weather, for German's it's full on winter gear! It took awhile to get use to all of the rain!

I agree, H&M's hats are too cute. And their tights for little girls. I just love everything about that place!

[anna lisa]

I never think of Jersey Gardens!! I went there once and didn't love the place, though I should go back now for baby stuff. I'm excited that they are opening an Ikea on Rt 17 this summer!!!

I went to H&M on 34th street and didn't quite love the place as much as others here do. Maybe because I checked out the adult clothing first (maternity) and it was horrible. Very thin, flimsy, not my type at all. The baby stuff was cheap, but I think the quality might be better a Target. They had cute stuff, but I wasn't in love with anything. I think for accessories like hats and tights, it's great. They had tons of infant sunglasses. Also, I wasn't able to find anything in terms of a layette. They had basically boys and girls sections. Maybe after baby is here I'll have better luck there.

Thanks for reminding me about Syms too!! I never noticed the one on Rt 17. I have been to the one on Park here in the City. Great for shoes!!

I was at the Daffy's in on 57th on Saturday and picked up a snowsuit discounted from $110 to $13!! Gotta love that place!

I don't normally go downtown (I like to drive to places to shop - I buy too much), but you did remind me of the Century 21 in Westbury, LI. Next time I'm on the island, I'll check it out.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

[Jodi]

I just want to second the comment above about not buying too many unisex outfits--I only had one or two, and she didn't wear either more than once. I also didn't know what I was having before hand, but once I knew that Ella was a girl, I didn't want to dress her in anything green or yellow.

I shopped at Baby Gap throughout my pregnancy and bought adorable girl outfits and boy outfits whenever they went on sale--and held on to all of my receipts--they have an amazing return policy, you can return anything at any time as long as you keep the receipts. When Ella was a couple weeks old, I returned all the boy stuff--I held up the line for a little while ;) , but I also didn't have to start buying her wardrobe from scratch and I got her beautiful clothing at amazing prices.

Just a reminder, Gap marks their clothing down on Tuesday nights/Wednesday mornings so it's best to shop on Wednesdays (and don't forget to go back 14 days later to get your price adjustment--I've saved hundreds on her clothing due to price adjustments!) I always had good luck at the Baby Gap when I lived n NYC--especially the ones at 76th and Columbus and 83rd and B'way.

Good luck!

Ella's Mommy 10/7/02

[MartiesMom2B]

I think it's fabulous that H&M is coming to Tysons Corner Center. They were trying to get them there since I was working there (left for NC 4/01)

I love shopping at H&M while I was in NY. Everything was so reasonable. I know that the adult clothes are kind of a "disposable" clothing idea, since the quality isn't that great, but one of my H&M still looks good. I don't remember seeing a kids section though. Maybe it's because I wasn't looking b/c I wasn't expecting then.

Sonia
EDD 4/14/03

[betsyjaffe]

Don't forget Century 21 if you are in NYC -- they have the cutest things, and great prices!

[Marisa6826]

AnnaLisa-

I went to Syms on Rt. 17 yesterday just to check it out. Really good stuff for cheap.

Got a four (!!) piece outfit (hat, t shirt, pants and diaper cover for summer) by Carters for $7, another Carters two piece romper (one piece and little sock/booties) for $10 and an Absorba one piece for $12 (originally $29).

They had all kinds of Carters undershirts and onesies for about $7, receiving blankets galore, etc. etc.

Definitely worth checking out!

-m