Ready for Fall: Boys’ Clothes That Don’t Suck

As the mother of a young boy, I’ve dealt with five years of shopping frustration. Clothing designers and manufacturers either feel my son needs to wear skulls & crossbones to be “cool” or cheesy golf plaid and polo shirts; neither fit my son’s personality. Just this week, after a visit to the Apple Genius Bar (oh those stores are just torture for gadget geeks with empty wallets!), I made a random stop at a store I rarely find offering modern designs: Gymboree.

I understand that Gymboree’s style suits many a mama out there, but this mama doesn’t get it. The gumdrops and plaid…my eyes hurt while walking by. And yet, something drew me into the store that day – actually inside the place I had just recently made fun of to my Facebook friends. The girls’ fall line? Very much, um, not my style. I’ll just leave it at that (because “pukey” is not a nice word said about someone else’s work outside of parentheses).

But…the boys clothing lines at Gymboree this fall? They are cool, for the most part. I actually walked out of the store with four items for my son, and none for my daughter. A first! Here are a few of our fave fall designs:

What do we love about these designs: they simple but strong use of color, the incredible handiwork in the details: the stitching of the dinosaur on the sweatshirt, the cracked effect of the silver screenprinting on the motorcycle shirt, the craftsmanship of the cut-out of the orange shirt revealing the T-Rex.

Kudos, Gymboree. You get an A for design on your boys’ fall lines!

PS – Gymboree is having a huge fall sale right now! The above motorcycle shirt was just $10!

Tags: clothing, fashion design, kids clothing