Where to buy colourful boys clothes over age 6

Buying boys clothes isn’t the easiest once they hit 6 years old, or move out of ‘toddler’ or younger boy clothes ranges. If you’re buying on the high street, you go from having colourful options, to having ranges full of grey, black, jogging trousers, skinny jeans and lots of writing and taglines all over them. We don’t really do big logos or writing on clothes, and grey and black is so gloomy for a 6-7 year old. I still want to see N in colourful clothes, without it being really expensive.

Most people suggest buying on the internet. There are so many more options from online children’s retailers. With the demise of Mothercare on the high street, the other shops that sell children’s clothes, are department stores, or kids clothes are just one of the small ranges they stock. Plus boys clothes options are minimal compared with the areas in stores that girls clothes take up.

For online stores, we like:

• Frugi – colourful boys t shirts and trousers up to age 8. Good quality cottons
• Kite – lovely range up to age 11
• Joules – good for smarter polo shirts and rugby shirt style tops, with a countryside feel
• Boden – expensive, but they often send discount codes and money off vouchers. Sale clothing goes fast so get in quick. The trousers are often ribbed waists rather than adjustable so won’t necessarily work for slimmer children, so check before you order.

I’ve also seen online reviews for clothing from deal websites where they offer discounted designer ranges under one website (think ASOS but for children), and from Scandinavian clothing brands which tend to be more brightly coloured, patterns tops.

Unfortunately, online stores also tend to be a bit pricier with smaller ranges than larger shops. But you can often use cashback sites (try my referral link for Top Cashback).

On the high street, my experience of older boys clothing ranges can be summed up by store:

• Sainsbury’s – dark and gloomy or garish for summer
• Tesco – lots of jogging trousers and sweat shorts, or gaming and Minecraft clothing. Fine for sport, but not my choice for everyday wear. And not all children are into gaming or want to wear character clothing.
• Asda – occasional brights if you can find them
• Primark – jogging trousers and lots of jeans (mostly skinny leg). Quite ‘old’ fashion feel (more teen style than younger boys wear). T-shirts all seem to have logos and garish prints apart from occasional plain striped tees
• H&M – lots of greys, blacks, sweatshirt material, odd sizes, and a few nice jumpers
• Matalan – jeans, darks and a few nice motif shirts, but limited in choice in the older boys range.

High street finds – for brighter choices

• Gap – nice chinos and shorts, lots of brighter sportswear and fun t shirts. More classic traditional jumpers. Lots of branded tops and hoodies if you like that kind of thing.
• Debenhams – you have to look because there’s a lot of quite classic look with Jasper Conran ‘designer at Debenhams’ range (ie polo shirts, rugby shirts and neutral colours), but occasionally you find bright shorts or chinos amongst the greys or garish neon t shirts
• Mountain Warehouse – not somewhere I’d usually shop but they tend to have nice bright t shirts with fun pictures, or nice bright fleece tops and bargain prices
• TK Maxx – hit and miss and a bit like a jumble sale to shop in, but sometimes you can find nice clothes from expensive brands – we’ve had nice Converse t shirts from TKMaxx before, and some Ralph Lauren polo shirts.
• Independents – there’s a really nice independent shop in Oxford covered market although the sizes stop around age 8. I’ve found nice Hatley coats and pjs, Kite for t-shirts and jumpers, and other less known brands.

When you’re buying boys clothes, it always feels like there’ll be be a limited choice unless you want to search the internet. But ask around friend, be prepared to dig around and potentially try second hand.

How do you find boys clothes once they’re over 5 years? Where do you like to shop for them?

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