Maybe your young son loves wearing pink, or your darling daughter craves a spaceship-adorned skirt — or perhaps your wee one (Caitlyn?) wants to don both. Now there’s no need to wander the aisles of Baby Gap or Gymboree, desperately searching for something that doesn’t scream “girl” or “boy”: These children’s clothing lines — featuring unisex onesies, dinosaur-printed dresses and pink T-shirts emblazoned with sharks, dump trucks and motorcycles — break all the gender stereotypes.
buddingSTEM
What to do when your daughters dig conventionally “boy” things like astronauts and dinosaurs — and the only clothes with those designs are sold in the boys’ section? Seattle moms Jennifer Muhm and Malorie Catchpole decided to create their own line of girls’ clothing that features dinosaur- and rocket-ship-printed dresses and leggings. Their Kickstarter campaign was a success, and the e-commerce store will launch in July, with prices (and sizes) to be set.
Girls Will Be
“Where are the girl clothes without the girly?” That was the question Texas mom Sharon Choksi asked herself after recognizing the lack of “adventurous” togs for her daughter, Maya. Her answer was to start Girls Will Be, a line of T-shirts for ages 4 to 14 that feature graphics of sharks, robots and girls playing soccer, as well as inspirational messages, such as, “Be Awesome.” But it’s also about the fit: T-shirts are less boxy than unisex shirts ($24), but are not “overly fitted.” Same with the shorts ($24 and up), which are described as “not too tight, but not too baggy.” There are even designs by real girls, like Zoe, whose silhouette doing a tae kwon do sidekick appears in the new spring line of T-shirts. Girl power!
Sewing Circus
Based in the UK, this site offers custom-made, unisex clothing for ages up to 7 with clever dinosaurs, robots, insects, sea horses and constellation patterns — and all items, even dresses, are bow- and ruffle-free. There’s a big range here: shorts, skirts, dresses, pants and even accessories such as hats and headbands. The new summer collection includes an adorable Big Bugs skirt ($29.93) and Gingham Robot Culottes ($32.93).
Handsome in Pink
The idea sprang from the mind of Jo Hadley, a California mom whose 2-year-old son fell hard for the color pink — and refused to wear any other color. The problem? All the pink items she found were decorated with ribbons, rainbows, flowers and other “girly” things — and her toddler kept being mistaken for a girl. So she created a clothing line for boys who love pink — without all the trimmings. It’s expanded since 2007 to include unisex onesies, girls’ T-shirts that read “Forget princess, call me president” ($23), hair clips with airplanes and dinosaurs ($6) — and not just pink, but also purple T-shirts for boys.
Lil’ Mutts at Muttonhead
Since 2009, Canadian brand Muttonhead has been making sustainable, gender-neutral clothing for adults; it recently launched a kids line, Lil’ Mutts, which includes chic gray hoodies and sweats, as well as Muttonhead-branded T-shirts in bright orange and turquoise — colors suitable for boys, girls or anyone in between. Kids’ sizes range from XS to XXL, with prices that range from $28 to $60.
Jessy and Jack
After launching a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, mother-of-two Courtney Hartman realized her dream to create a gender-neutral line of baby and toddler clothes and accessories, for newborns to 6-year-olds. There are no girl and boy categories (though there are “girly” tees, which have fitted cap-sleeves); the T-shirt prints here skew for the younger set — think owls, monkeys, elephants, along with the occasional robot ($20).
Twotara
Start ‘em young! With pink on one side, and the ability to reverse to blue on the other, this line of double-duty baby clothing and accessories isn’t so much gender-neutral as gender-specific — though it’s up to you which side you choose to show the world. Items range from hats to rompers to gowns, $5 to $35.