We Demand Better Girls Clothing Options!
Update: I originally wrote this post-August 17, 2015 and 3 years later, we are still faced with poor clothing options for our girls and it really needs to change.
I am writing to you, designers of girls clothing because it’s been a long time coming. You need to stop trying to make all girls look alike.
News flash, not all girls are the same. Not every girl enjoys spaghetti strap tank tops, tight cap sleeves on their t-shirts or short booty shorts. Not every girl wants to douse them in pink or purple from head to toe. Some girls wish to just be comfortable, wear loose clothing with a bigger color selection. There are girls that do not want pictures of rainbows and unicorns on their shirts and girls who wish to have sporty girls clothing and still be able to move freely in them. There are girls who do not want flare sweatpants or girls who do not want pink or purple on their athletic shoes. The thing is, these items are next to impossible to find in the girl’s section.
Girls Are Active
Girls Clothing Designers Listen Up!
As a parent of an 11-year-old girl and I am tired of shopping in the boy’s section for clothing. She has never, ever, liked wearing pink or girly clothing. Since she was 5 years old we’ve been forced to shop in the boy’s section. You see, I allow her to be who she is, always have and always will. She is very athletic and feels most comfortable in boys basketball shorts, boy tee-shirts, and baseball hats. If she could have the comfort of the boys clothing in the girl’s section, we’d be all over it.
Next time you are at Target or any other department store, take a walk to the girl’s section grab a t-shirt and then head over to the boys and find one of theirs. If you compare clothing, you’ll notice that girls styles are all tapered to the body and will usually have some sort of capped sleeve. The boys, on the other hand, are loose fitting with regular sleeves allowing for boys to move, run and play without being constricted. That’s what we want for our girls.
I’ve have shared a few stories of my youngest and the things we have had to deal with regarding her clothing, the way people look at her or the things they say. It is my belief that if you start making girls clothing with the same comfort and flexibility as you do the boys, many more girls will be wearing them and you will help to build individual character and confidence in our young girls.
Girls Enjoy Comfort
I do not want to have a cookie cutter child. She is so strong and confident in her skin and that makes me envious and proud of her. She loves to be active, plays video games, plays softball and basketball. Loves Spongebob and Minecraft, arts, crafts and cooking. What she doesn’t love, is girls clothing. I ask you to stop and think about what “some” girls really like to wear. I believe you are missing a huge target market with tremendous potential for success. And, if you need help, my daughter and I would be more than happy to help you brainstorm a cool, tomboy-esque fashion line that will knock it out of the park!!
Sincerely,
Mom To A Very Active Young Girl
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Do you have a tomboy or are you a tomboy yourself? What is your biggest tomboy fashion gripe?
My daughter does what is easiest… and sometimes that leads us down a rabbit hole of long sleeves a me telling her to go to her room and “please change”
Good post thanks for sharing!
There had been many fights when this clothing thing first started with her and one day I decided to just let her be out of pure exhaustion on my part. She had found a love for the Hanes white undershirt, would wear them every.single.day and to this day they are her favorite pieces of clothing! lol
I grow up wearing boys clothes too because I couldn’t deal with all the pink and girly stuff. As an adult I still buy things from the gents department but I think there should be a change, not every girl loves pink.
Great post
http://www.distinguisheddiva.com/2015/08/10-steps-to-happiness.html
Thank you!! Exactly my point! I even buy some t-shirts in the mens section too because they are looser and I too feel more comfortable!
Your daughter should be able to feel comfortable in whatever she wears, she’s beautiful regardless! It’s a shame that she has to struggle finding options because their aren’t many out there for girls that are tomboys.
Thanks Joanna! 🙂 It’s really just about the comfort of the clothes. If they just fit a bit looser I am sure we’d be purchasing from the girl section. And, in all honesty, I don’t even like wearing some women’s clothing because it’s all the same. I don’t want a tight sleeve or boob hugging shirt! HAHA!!
Now that I have my own daughter I have come to notice how limited the girls section is. Everything is SO overly girly! My toddler is tutu and purple obsessed, so she’s happy as a clam.. even if it makes me gag! ha!
Gianna totally started out loving all things girl but as she started to develop her little personality I allowed her to dress how ever she wanted when she wasn’t at school or a party, etc… As she got older she just resisted so much and I decided to pick and choose my battles. It really wasn’t that big of a deal to let her go to school every day wearing a plain white t-shirt with camo shorts! LOL
Hear hear! Eve is too young still to have much an opinion over what she wears, but *I* get tired of dressing her in pink all the time. And even at that age the shorts are shorter than the boy shorts! I would gladly dress her in blue, red and green. Once when she was a few months old I had her dressed in a blue, gray, and yellow shirt that we received as a present — it was probably my favorite article of clothing someone gave her — and a pair of adorable overalls that we borrowed from friends (who had a boy). She also had a lot of hair so we did put a bow in her hair. This woman came over and was like “You must be a boy because you wearing boys clothes!” I responded that she’s a girl. The woman then turned back to Eve and said “Well you must be wearing hand-me-downs!” What a friggin obnoxious thing to say, on so many levels. I say good for your daughter for breaking out of the mold and wearing what makes her comfortable, but it’s ridiculous that she has to shop in the boys’ section in order to do so. What kind of message are we sending our girls if the only option to not wear clothes that are super girly, are pink and purple, are fitted and smaller, is to shop in the boys’ section?
That’s horrible Bev! I would have been so pissed off if someone said that. We have had many, many instances where cashiers would refer to Gianna as a him or he and I have never said anything because I didn’t want to make the other people feel uncomfortable but then I started thinking about that. Why would I want to make someone else more comfortable than my own child. I have started to correct people now and I don’t care if they feel like an idiot. Perhaps they shouldn’t be so judgmental. With the start of school, (she just started 6th grade, new school and a lot of anxiety to begin with) and two, not one, but two of her teachers referred to her as “Sir”. She came home from school so upset that I emailed each teacher. I did get a call from the principal and he basically said he will be using that situation as a teaching method for his staff. It made me feel much better knowing that maybe in some small part, Gianna helped to pave the way for other “tomboy” girls at her school. I wish I could design clothing because between Gianna and I, we have a lot of ideas floating around!
This is so true! We haven’t gotten to that point, but yes, everything has some sort of design on it. And what’s with the no pockets on anything! All my daughter wants is pants with pockets!