Colourful kids clothing - Bubbablue and me

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.

Colourful kids clothing - Bubbablue and me

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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11 Comments

    1. Thanks Laura. It is so hard to find. I do check what other people’s kids are wearing on instagram too when I see something nice. But definitely harder to find the older they get.

  1. Ah I’d never heard of Kite or Frugi so I will definitely check those out. We love Boden and usually get a couple of outfits for my daughter’s birthday from family, so hopefully we will for me new boy too! #SharingtheBlogLove xx

  2. I have 2 girls so not a problem for me (although some ranges for girls try to dress them like adults too soon for my liking). Great ideas for parents with boys. I love boden and frugi for colourful kids clothes. #sharingthebloglove

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  4. Since Alice has moved to the older girls range, I’ve found that all the leggings are either blue, grey or black and it’s so boring. Having a range that goes from 6-16 is too big in my opinion, as what a 6 year old and a 14 year old want to wear is so different. Thankfully M&S have extended their younger range and I am mainly shopping there at the moment. Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove

    1. I totally agree about the size of ranges. Some are even 4-15! Although when the ranges cross over in boys, with 1-6 and 4- whatever, the younger range is always then too young really. We kind of need a primary vs secondary age range.

  5. Thanks for this post, I suspect we’re about to struggle with this! I hate logos and slogans, and I do like bright colours, so I’m dreading when I can’t dress Max in JoJo anymore. I do like Joules and Boden, but they are pricey, so you need a range. I do find quite a lot I like in Next online, whereas I can’t remember the last time I bought anything from there in store. There seems to be an expectation that people want to dress their boys in black or grey and with superhero cartoons all over them. I’m desperately trying to steer Max away from those, although his Dad did buy him a Lego Ninjago t-shirt the other day – I guess this is the start? Thanks for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove

  6. I have two girls and a boy and there is such difference in clothes choice. So much choice for girls beautiful colours and styles. For my Alfie I definitely struggle, everything is dark!! I will be checking out some of these stores. #sharingthebloglove

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