Another thing I'm not a fan of? Those t-shirts with the snarky-ass but supposed to be cute lines, like "If Mommy says no, ask Grandma." AAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHH! Noooooo! That goes against EVERYTHING I stand for as a Mom! Who thought THOSE were a good idea?!?While Nick was still very small and sat still in a carseat where you put him, I got used to the idea that when you walked into a clothing store, 75% of the kids section would be made up of girl clothes. The remainder of the floor space, which usually includes one small rack of clothing, would be for the boys. (Granted, those girl clothes are very cute and I'd be buying them if I had a girl, but regardless, the boys seem to always get the short end of the stick! Don't you people realize how TOUGH boys are on their clothes? We need more of them!!!)
The other day we were at Cabella's - boy Mecca if ever there was one - and thought with the weather getting cooler I'd look at the sweatshirts and find one for each of my boys.
I walked into a sea of pink.
What the heck?!? I walked a loop around the entire clothing department, seeing lots of cute women's jackets and a sea of camouflage and men's things, finding myself right back where I'd started.I actually sought out a sales associate and asked her if she could show me where the boys' clothing section was.
"Oh," she replied, "all the kids clothing is out together. You'll find the boys and girls stuff next to one another."
Mmm-okeeey. I glanced at the sea of baby-blue camo and lavender pullovers and asked if she could point me in the right direction for sweatshirts in boy colors. She took two steps toward a rack of clothing and stopped, realizing she didn't see any.
"Well, all our fall stuff isn't out yet." HUH?!? Most stores had fall stuff out in friggin' JUNE. "We'll be putting more stuff out over the next few weeks."
Well, that did it for me. I pointed out, not so nicely, that the ONE place I expected the girl-to-boy clothing ratio to be more even was at a place like Cabella's. She didn't really have anything to say to that, and not that I expected her to. I'm sure I was just another lovely customer she went home to tell hubby about.
Not that its her fault...she just puts out what they have. I'm just wondering WHY it always seems a fight to find cute things for boys, and why retailers wouldn't consider - uh, hello! - that whereas usually there are more women's clothes because women are bigger consumers, that MOMMIES (uh, those same women) will buy equal amounts of clothing for all their children, regardless of their sex.
I did find a sweatshirt for Nick that day, but I would have been much happier to have had more of a selection!
22 comments:
I can SO relate! I struggled finding cute things for my boys also.
...but then I had a girl....
=P
I have the same problem. Walked into Old Navy on a sale day and the boys clothes were wiped.out. Girls still had at least half their ginormous inventory (and that half was more than I ever see for boys). I don't mind the licensed characters too much, since I otherwise just have the same shirt in four colors...but it seems Gavin's not always into a character or decoration on the shirt. I told him he's not allowed to be so picky when there's so little to choose from but he's four and ignores me. ;)
At least Cabela's has a large assortment on their online shop (though that whole shipping thing is a bit of a deterrent sometimes). Good luck! and if you come across any 18M and 4T-skinny clothes gimme a holler. heh heh
I completely understand your pain. I hate walking into stores and not being able to find a single cute thing for my boy. All shorts, logo ts, jeans and ugly polos. I've seen boys in cute clothes so I know it's possible, but God I have a hard time finding them. And don't even get me started on trying to locate the dress clothes that aren't completely hideous.
I've managed to resist the whole wearing Barney across my chest thing (although I did relent and buy my daughter Dora underpants today!) But some of the t-shirts I have seen on sale with so called witty slogans make me want to SHOUT OUT . . . NOOOO!
Read em and weep http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/fromdawntillrusk/2008/06/keith-urban-loves-slogan-tshir.html
I'm laughing, but only because I feel your pain. Boy clothes are either boring or ridiculous.
Although girls aren't much easier. I just try to find things that don't make them look like miniature prostitutes. Oy.
http://www.tamragirl.com
Ugh I know that feeling. Thats why his dad shops for him. Its not that bad.
Since I have 3 boys, I know how slim the clothing selections are. I like Oshkosh B'Gosh...
Like you, I HATE those T-shirts with the sassy sayings, "Sister for Sale" or "Buy One Parent Get One Free", etc. When I see a kid wearing one, I know he's trouble, and his parents are absolute losers.
It seems as if everyone who has a boy has this problem- yet the clothing industry does nothing about it. Oh, and I cannot stand character clothes too! Even worse is when the mom is wearing character clothes too!
I completely understand. I was spoiled after having Porgie. I had so many cute girl clothes to choose from. Poor Izzy lives in white onsies, because why waste money on boring boy clothes?
So there with you:P
I'd never really thought about it, but you make a good point. And the clothes all kind of together? Odd.
Amen on ALL of it!!! Old Navy didn't even have any socks for boys last week. There was plenty of pink and purple ones though.
I totally hear you! You're not alone! lol. I used to have the most horrible time finding good, cool (not too cutesy) durable clothes for my nephew. Then I stumbed on www.red21boys.com and it's been gravy ever since! They're only boys clothes, and lots of it is cool trendy stuff. No dumb characters or brands on the chest, just fun designs. Pretty reasonably priced too. YOu should check it out. OMG I can't believe not even Cabela's had more little boys clothes!
That's funny.
We don't have Cabella's out here, but we went to one when we were driving across the country, and yeah, I would think that should be the one place you could find "boy" clothes!
We've been very fortunate to not have to shop for clothes. Somehow we have gotten really nice hand me downs all along.
However, now that they're getting older, and harder on their clothes, the hand me downs are not so readily available. I will probably have to join you on your painful quest, and I know it's a problem because when I was studying textile design, people were always saying to me "Design Boys Clothes!"
I can relate as well. I have two boys (3 and 5) They are so into characters. I try not to let them wear them to school and only for "playtime" or on errand day to make them happy. I will say the Gap has some pretty slick Star Wars shirts right now. For $22 a pop they better be nice.
I love your Cabela reference because I once found a hot pink sweatshirt for myself there!
You said it. Shopping for little boys is a form of hell. I always had good luck at Carters and the Oshkosh B'Gosh stores, but then when they hit size 5? No one makes jammies for little boys anymore. Guess they're supposed to sleep in underpants like their dads?
This post had me laughing so hard. I love your style of writing and I agree totally about the snarky comment shirts. I hate them too.
Sister I so know what you mean. I have two boys and it's a nightmare trying to find them cute stuff. For every 6 cute girls outfit you'll be lucky to find something nice for a boy. And for getting dressed up, forget it - I'm sorry polo shirts are nice and all, but I like my boys to have suits for Christmas and Easter - I know, I know, I'm mean like that. I mean, while I can still control what they wear, they'll wear a suit twice a year if I say so, dammit!
And it's so funny - just today I put a brand-new with tags Elmo overall outfit in to the goodwill bag - someone gave it to Molly and well, I'm sorry, I just can't bring myself to put her in it.
Yep, I'm with you, there just isn't enough selection for little boys as there is for girls.
OMG. Don't even get me started. I agree wholeheartedly with all of what you said and repeat it daily in a louder more irritating voice.
The Cabellas thing is CRAZY. I would have expected more as well.
My other pet peeve which nicely coincides with this is let's say you DO happen to find some decent dress clothes for a boy that doesn't require a second mortgage on the house and won't get him beat up at church...you go to get his brothers (let's use two other brothers for this example) coordinating, but NOT MATCHING clothes because if they are matching their father may not attend church with them and yep, you guessed it there is only ONE other item of dress clothing in the store. So, score! You have found clothes, but your search is far from over because now you have to start from scratch to get the third boy clothed.
WHAT IS WITH THE LACK OF BOYS CLOTHING IN THE WORLD?????
I have two boys and YES it is hard finding clothes for them. On the other hand, we don't have worry about them dressing like Britney Spears at the ripe old age of seven. Girls clothes have their problems, too... I have a niece and I've been shocked sometimes by the hoochy stuff that's out there for little girls.
The lack of choice is frustrating and I agree - Disney characters on clothes = not all that cool.
I'm shocked that Cabella's didn't have boy stuff. When I do find something cute for the boy I tend to want to buy it in every size I can!
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