ugh ugh ugh! Stores discriminate against boys!

[Melanie]

Yes, I know this should be in the b*tching post, but it's about clothing!

I went to 3 department stores, 3 retail chain stores and 1 independent store which claimed to sell "kids" clothing. What they meant was 95% gorgeous dresses and a few tuxedos.

I wish I had the knowledge and the where-with-all to start a BOYS clothing store!

These stores had all t's & jeans, some had those little boy suits - NOTHING in-between. They had dressy girl's clothing, but nothing for boys! I don't like to dress my son like a little man! I like to dress him like a little boy, why is it so hard to find this type of clothing?!

Finally at the LAST department store I found something that might work for our late summer evening wedding, but we'll see what I find at the Carter's Outlet first.

/end whine

[mharling]

I hear you Melanie! I looked all over for an outfit for ds to wear to my niece's baptism. I refuse to believe that the market for boys clothes would be any different than the market for girls clothes. Regardless of the gender, there are all kinds of parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, friends, etc. with wallets wanting to shop. I don't get it.

I had a similar thought about starting a boys clothing store! :)

Mary & Lane 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b3237413c427 - New 6/18

[s_gosney]

Okay...so this isn't really the same, but it reminded me of how my DH always complains about there being so many more women's clothes than men's clothes....strange how that is.
Okay...everyone can go back to talking about baby clothes...that was just my random late night thought for tonight.

[Andrea S]

I had the same problem in June looking for an outfit for Andrew. I ended up finding something at a children's boutique.

Andrea
mom to Andrew 8/14/02

[ddmarsh]

Hi - Have no fear, there are cute clothes for boys to be found, it just takes a bit more work :). Here are the stores where I have done most of my shopping for the boys:

Gap
Lands End
LL Bean
Talbots Kids
Dillards (I don't know if you have this chain, they typically carry a
great selection of moderately dressy boys clothes in the
Tommy and Polo brands and have a nice store brand as
well)

For the most part, speicalty shops are a losing proposition for boys clothes in my experience. I just don't go for the look they tend to carry for boys and when they have your common brands such as Polo, etc. they are more expensive than you can find them at the department stores.

Good luck -

[jojo2324]

Yeah, I used to work in a children's clothing boutique, and it was grossly disproportionate. There were literally 25 racks for the girls stuff, and 7 for the boys.

FYI, it's no better at the trade shows. It's ALL girls stuff...So, really, people can only use what they have to work with. There are a few companies out there that make nice, boyish stuff that I like, but it's usually expensive. Of course! :P I used to harbor dreams of opening my own kids clothing store, with boys stuff actually in it!

We are getting to the age now where it really is just jeans and khakis, tees and sweatshirts. :(

[Marisa6826]

Mel-

Have you tried Talbots Kids? I was just there yesterday and they had some cute stuff.

-m

[lukkykatt]

Yes! And shopping for winter coats is the worst. It's like 6 racks of girls coats and 1 boys coat in 2 colors. One major department store actually told me that they weren't getting *any* boys coats in that winter!

Good luck in your search.

[Melanie]

THanks for the suggestions, the only one of those stores that we have is Gap and they don't have 'party' wear. Actually I am irrirated b/c I saw something cute that might work in the downtown Seattle store, but it had just arrived and I wasn't paying full price. Now I can't find that line at any other store.

I usually find him cute stuff on eBay, but I don't have time to wait for something to be listed. +)

[mommyj]

I've noticed this as well. It's totally stupid on the stores' part, because shop-a-holics like me would buy a bunch more cute outfits if I could find them.

[samiam]

I was just in Gymboree looking for a gift for a newborn boy and had no choices. 95% of the store was girl clothing. Very cute girl clothing mind you, but forget about the baby boy gift.

[newbelly2002]

I'm right with you.

DS baptism is coming up soon and he'll be 13.5 months at the time. I'm obviously not going to dress him in a christening gown and the only other options I've seen so far are $100 and up linen or raw silk wedding suits. I'll be off to check some of the boutiques around here next week, but darn this is hard work. Grr....

Paula, Mama to Dante
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b32384e84594 -6/25 update

[sntm]

our gymboree is awful in that respect. they don't even have all the new lines featured on the website (and since there are only 2, it shouldn't be that hard.)

shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[josephsmom]

There is a brand called Good Lad of Philadelphia that might have what you're looking for. I know they carry it in Lord & Taylor, so it's probably in the other Federated Department Stores as well. There's a second brand name on the tip of my tongue, but I can't think of it right now. I'll post again if it comes to me. I've seen it in Baby Depot. Good luck! I totally agree with you (and everyone else) that there aren't many nice clothes for boys. After you get out of the 12m size, all you can find are miniature men's clothes. No cute little boy things. Sigh.

Helene
mommy to Joseph 12/29/01

[Melanie]

Good Lad is my favorite! It is the one thing I found at Macy's that would work okay. I love Good Lad stuff. He's wearing one I got off of eBay today, it's so cute! Another is 'Samara' but I think they run small b/c he grew out of one labeled 2T and everything else he wears is 24 months.

Thanks for the tips on where they are sold, of course we don't have those here.

The Macy's had one and only one outfit, which happened to be Ds' size, so I bought it. The woman told me it is from their new 'winter' stuff (even though it's shorts) and it probably was purchased at another Macy's who'd already received their's and then returned where I was shopping. Being the woman I am, I like to check out EVERYTHING before I buy, so of course I have to go to another Macy's tomorrow to see if there is more of a selection before I just end up using what I already bought. =)

I checked Carter's today and they seem to be inbetween seasons with their partywear b/c it was all on clearance and nothing I liked in Ds' size. I did pick up a few other things though...they are starting to sell their cute searsucker one-pieces in toddler sizes. Ironically, the 24m was BIGGER than the 2T.

Too bad we're not all in the same town and could go in our our 'boys only store!'

[brubeck]

I find that the best in-between boys stuff (ie: not super casual and not super fancy) is the rugby look. Andrew wears a lot of this because it's also his Dad's look and I LOVE dressing a mini-DH. :-)

Land's End, Mervyn's (Sprocket's Brand), Carter's and The Children's Place seem to all make lots of nice polo shirts and slacks, and most of these places also have polo rompers (long and short legged).

If I want to go fancier than that (and I haven't except for the Christening where he wore a family unisex gown) then I would go for the mini-suit things.

[Denyse]

The gymboree here is also like that. They have TONS of extremely cute girls clothes but all their boys clothes, IMO, aren't cute at all. It's mostly plain, solid color onesies and plaid or plain shorts/pants. Very disappointing.

[Melanie]

I love that look, too! We all dressed like that for our Christmas photo last year. I need fancier for a Wedding, though.

[josephsmom]

Melanie, I think the other brand I was thinking of yesterday was Baby Q. I'm not sure if they go above 12m, but Joseph had some cute outfits from them last year--seersucker overalls (some short and some long) with polo shirts and little matching shoes. Fairly similar to Good Lad but cheaper. I wonder if Good Lad has a website? Anybody know? Another possibility to try is Little Me. They have a lot of outlets. If you're already going to a Carters outlet, maybe you'll find Little Me at the same outlet center. Let us know what you find!

Edited to say: That other brand was bt kids, not Baby Q. Sorry.

Helene
mommy to Joseph 12/29/01

[josephsmom]

Melanie, in the new BBB, there is a listing for a Good Lad website that offers online shopping. It's www.goodlad.com. Let us know what you find there. I'm sure we all have special occasions coming up!

Helene
mommy to Joseph 12/29/01

[C99]

I'm now joining you in the quest to find something suitable for a 7-month-old to wear to an end-of-summer wedding! I really liked some of that LeTop stuff from the web site Karen (stillplayswithbarbies) posted last night, but my favorite outfit, a little sailor suit w/ long jacket and short pants, was sold out.

[memedee]

http://www.oneofakindkid.com/imp5632.html
Florence Eisman makes very cute baby dress clothes
I like the velvet for a wedding.

[memedee]

http://www.oneofakindkid.com/kco34170bl.html
this is real cute too

[stillplayswithbarbies]

What about something like this? probably not dressy enough.

http://www.kidsurplus.com/pbc-ball-inf.html

They have some Good Lad stuff too, but in toddler sizes.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[Melanie]

Did that link work for you?

[nathansmom]

I love Mervyn's Sprockets brand.

[Roleysmom]

What about www.orientexpressed.com? It's pricy and may not be everyone's taste but I think the shortalls would be very cute for a late summer wedding.


Paula
-- mom to Roley Julia 01-04-02

[sweetbasil]

I know I've mentioned this place a bazillion times, but I just love www.houseofhattenoutlet.com

http://www.strasburgchildren.com/ has great dressy items too (not all really fru-fru) but they're much pricier

Let us know what you find!

Good luck,

[sweetbasil]

Cute store, Dori! Thanks for the link!

[amp]

I used to work for Strasburg Children! They do have nice stuff, but like everyone else has noted, they have sooo many more girls outfits than boys! And they can be pricey, but if you find something you like, what can you do?! It's great to see that others have found some good places to find boys dressy stuff, since I am sure I will be in need of something one of these days! Good Luck!

[josephsmom]

I was at the Prime Outlet Center in Williamsburg, VA yesterday, and saw that they now have a Strasburg Children outlet. Perhaps they are at other Prime Outlet Centers as well.

Helene
mommy to Joseph 12/29/01

[amp]

They do have stores at many malls and outlet malls. Check their website to see if they have it listed now, or you can call their phone # and they can tell you if there's one in your state. I used to take those very same calls all the time! :)

[sweetbasil]

They have a dropdown on their home page under Catalog/OE For Less that has clearance-priced outfits (nothing over $44)...several are really cute and might just be appropriate for what you need!

[C99]

Nevermind...

[sweetbasil]

Look on their home page, under Customer Service/Clothing Sizing Chart. It's still kinda cryptic, though ;)

[Melanie]

Thanks for the Orient Expressed link, that's totally my taste, I love their things! I got the Fall Wooden Soldier, too. (drooling!)

So, I took back the Good Lad outfit to Macy's as it was just okay...and not even on sale and for the bargain price of $7 from the Carter's Outlet, paired with a Good Lad polo from Ds' Easter Outfit, here it is:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/86416/outfit1.jpg


Mommy to Jonah