The topic of kids and their clothing is one I'm practically a mommy expert on by the sheer volume of experiences involving apparel over the years. With five children spanning the ages of 17 all the way down to twin 3 year olds; I have purchased, washed, sorted, folded, hunted desperately for, argued at length over, consulted lovingly on, and sentimentally handed down a lot of children's clothes. And while they may just be made of fabrics and threads, I've seen first hand how passionate my kids feel about their clothing and accessory items.
You know Linus and his blanket? A hoodie, tee, shirt, pants, or even jeans deemed "awesome" or "slick" by any of my kids becomes practically the equivalent. (Although, I do pry it off them for washings.)
I've found the key to countering the need to have that one "special" item clean all the time is to do my best to make sure they love ALL the clothing we purchase. In other words if they say they hate that shirt in the store, I'm not buying it anyway. Reality has taught me that they won't grow to love it over time and that the ongoing battle over how cute they look in that red sweater is soooo not worth anyone's time. If they like all 3 pairs of jeans or hoodies they own, then your golden even if just one of them is clean when needed.
My advice on finding a wardrobe of things that your kids will love?
You don't have to take them shopping with you every time, but I'd suggest you take them a couple times to get a feel for what they really like. The goal is to try to narrow things down to a few favorite brands. If you can pinpoint brands that your kids are drawn towards and these are brands that you like too, you are most of the way there. Next you just need to verify the clothing is of great quality, that you can find the items at a good price, and that the items fit your children well over time. The final bit of advice would be to keep in mind personal hates and likes such as fabrics and color preferences. (My son was in a no scratchy stuff and no red phase when I bought that red wool sweater, doubly bad call.) Make a list of what works for which kid and don't forget to note current sizing. I keep it all on my iPhone to make life easier.
Some brands that work for my kids?
Each of my five kids have very different personalities, different body types, and different senses of style including my twins boys. However, we have found a few labels that seem to overlap into virtually everyone's column such as Haddad Brands. You may not recognize that name immediately, but Haddad Brands is the company which designs and distributes all apparel for Nike Kids, Jordan Kids, Nike 6.0, Levi’s Kids, and even the Levi's Denizen collection we previously reviewed.
First, let's talk Levi's Kids:
What's not to love about Levi's Kids? The boys items run from 0-7 in the bottoms, 0-20 in the tops, and the girls items run from 0-16 tops and bottoms. Additionally, they offer a huge accessory line. The best part, is that the quality and value has stood the test of time. Narrow your focus on the fun part like color, style, and of course fit. I'm a big fan of the levi's slim straight 514 style for my little guys. They have a snap fly and an adjustable waist making it easy for me to match the twins in apparel but still size them both properly. The Taper 520 jeans also are a staple on them (again featuring that hidden adjustable waist). And how handsome are these dip dye brown flannel shirts? I'm thinking these are going to be making a Thanksgiving appearance. The twins latest fashion kick? They deem a shirt as "fancy" if it has buttons on it.
No surprise, my only daughter is the pickiest of the five and for her to love 4 pairs of jeans at the same time is nothing short of a miracle. She's an open book about how she feels about clothing. She's the one you fear will get clothes she hates from grandma on Christmas, know the type? She just can't fake excitement over fashion misses. Did I mention that 3 out of 4 of her current jean favorites are Levi's? Cordelia's latest fashion kick? She's discovered the art of layering. She has really gotten into layering items like the Levi shirts over a cami or tee.
Find Levis Kids on twitter at www.twitter.com/kidslevis
Jordan Kids:
My oldest two sons are big into team sports. Our 17 year old is a junior who plays Varsity H.S. Football, played J.V. H.S. basketball, and runs on the schools Varsity Track Team. It looks like he'll likely go on to run in college too. Our 13 year old son plays the same 3 sports at a 7th grade level. His basketball season just started last week. The younger boys fall into the sports fan and soon to be athlete category. They want to wear the same stuff the older boys wear including cool matching sweat suits, warm ups, and the likes. Needless to say, I can't go wrong picking any of the boys items from this brand. They could all live in the athletic pants. Other favorites include a red mesh dri fit hoodie perfect for pre an post workouts, and the incredibly cute and comfy matching hoodie and pant sets for the little guys.
Find Jordan Kids on twitter at www.twitter.com/jumpman23kids
Nike 6.0:
We are from Chicago so of course we know all about Nike Kids and Jordan Kids, but we did not know about Nike 6.0 line until a couple weeks ago when samples were sent. However, it was love at first sight with the Nike 6.0 line for all of our sons. The Nike 6.0 line is comprised of clothing inspired by and perfect for action and extreme sports. As I mentioned, my older kids are both heavily involved in team sports and love the comfort and feel of those kind of styles. When not on the track, field, or court, they like street clothing with a bit "swagger" as they put it but it can't be anything impractical or over the top. This collection is just right. It includes great fabrics like thermal, dri-fits, and cottons. Our oldest plucked a long sleeve thermal 6.0 tee to wear on a date within 5 minutes of me unpacking the box. The older two boys are not normally the Christmas list in early November types, but they both have their eyes on a few more Nike 6.0 things including one of their hoodies and a jacket.
The 6.0 line extends to the littler boys too. One of the twins really got a kick out of matching one of the older boys for fun instead of his twin brother.
Find Nike 6 Kids on twitter at www.twitter.com/nike6kids
Something to look forward to, Haddad Brands tells me to be on the look out for their upcoming Converse Kids line.
*Much thanks to Haddad Brands for providing samples for the above post and review, please note that no other compensation was given. This post is based on my (our) own personal opinions.