Back home I used to moan about school uniform but now we need normal clothes for back to school and where do I go to get them? My daughter is 12 but very tall and thin. She will only wear denim jeans and a T-shirt...luckily any T-shirt will do so far. Where can I buy reasonably priced jeans and trainers? The supermarkets have some stuff but not very cheap or very nice. So which shops or internet sites should I head for.
I love shopping the SOLDE sales for kids clothes and hit Okaidi, but never for shoes. C&A is great for T-shirts, and my 7 year old always seems to find a dress or shorts for cheap. Decathlon is good for shoes.
Fussy!
I remember when my middle brother arrived - parents were totally unprepared as the adoption suddenly happened so he wore my pink frilly outfits for the first few weeks. Think he has never got over the trauma...
In fact Decathlon has to be one of my all time favourite shops - something to do with spending winters in the Alps and summers on the Med for many years. Going off thread a little but we buy all the kids bikes there, then take them back to the Trocathon 2 years later when they have grown out of them. I get 50% of the original price back in vouchers as they are in good nick and put that towards the next size, then repeat the exercise about every other year! Luc just is not happy with pink hand me downs of any kind for some reason.
Other than ordering online, we do Decathlon for trainers too. Du Pareil au Meme (or DPAM) is good and reasonably priced but depending on how she dresses she may start aging out of their style. Okaidi is also not bad but may be more expensive I think. My daughter liked Monoprix for certain things at that age. The good news is she is thin which is ideal since the clothes in France are generally cut for that build.
Orchestra is good for kids clothes too, get a club card (you pay for it but it's cheap) and everything is half price. Everyone else has already mentioned Decathlon, then there are the standard Kiabi, Halle aux Vêtements et al.
Ahh, same sex, much cheaper but has it's difficulties too I'm sure. I have an older daughter and a younger son so practically nothing is handed down. My friend has an older boy (younger than my son) who passes everything down to his sister - even underpants when they were tiny!
My difficulty is that my daughter is extremely tall, 1.38 and she just turned 9 this week - LOL, I am only 157 so she is going to pass me soon - however, the serious side of being so tall is she grows out of everything so fast. I have to buy her 12 yr old clothes here but at her age, they are too grown up for her. Also, despite being very slim, she has her daddys German build so french clothes just don't fit her, on the other hand UK clothes with their generous fit these days are too wide for her, you just can't win.
I agree Veronique, I only wore Start Rite or CLarks as a child and find the haphazard style of fitting over here very stressful. We buy the kids a new pair of Clarks every time we visit the UK (once a year or so) so their feet are regularly measured at the local shop in my old hometown. This time I am have rigorously followed the measuring instructions on the Start Rite site, researched the size differences and I am buying the same shoes as the kids had last time but in a bigger size. I have also ordered the measuring gauge which is now available and goes up to size 8 adult. If they don't fit I will take them back at Christmas. my son has very narrow feet too, skinny little wench!
Gap.eu -- great quality, generous, consistent sizing... not too expensive, and delivers quickly from UK via DHL.
Cheers!!
My girls have scrawny feet which is why they were in start-rites until they came out of their size range - nobody else did narrow enough fittings. Even now it isn't that easy finding shoes for them.
I usually get the local shoe shop to measure their feet and then order the size. It appears all shoes are standard sizes unless you have particularly wide or thin feet. Then you would have try them for size.
Is mail order OK for shoes? I am neurotically obsessive about fitting so I have never bought shoes à distance - I wouldn't for myself either. Or am I just being silly?
I agree re the outgrowing Tracy but I'm lucky in that I have 5 the same sex so outgrown things get handed on fairly quickly, which explains why I find PB/okaïdi etc good value - I have some oshkosh dungarees that have done all 5 & levis inherited from a cousin in the US that are now on their 6th wearer. Denim seems to get better as it ages unlike all their other stuff. Otherwise I buy things in sales a size or so too big so I have stock! Now my elder daughters just help themselves to my clothes... as we tend to live in jeans/converse/shirt+jersey it is easy.
I recently purchased my boys trainers and shool shoes from M and M direct. They also do adult shoes and clothes. They have a French site but I ordered from the English site as it’s cheaper than euros. I also searched for discount vouchers on line which enabled me to get delivery to france for 3.99 pounds. They are all designer labels at very reasonable prices.
On line from the UK is best. H and M are OK, we find Petit Bateau, Okaidi etc too expensive for the rate that kids grow. Like you say the supermarkets here are rubbish for the money whereas Tesco and George are great for cheap kids clothes - my 6 yr old wears the knees out of his jeans before he grows out of them. We use Tesco, Next and M and S - although now it comes from France M & S is not as good.
Decathlon brill for trainers and sandals and casual clothes. Am just about to take the plunge and get some Clarks ordered on line for my mum to post out. Good kids shoes are my 'bete noire' 80 odd euros, several times a year and they only measure one foot - urghhhh. Now know the style that fits the kids best and sticking with those in bigger sizes - 40 quid seems a bargain. AM with Veronique in that good shoes are a must for the future.
James has just posted that M & Co are offering free international delivery as well, they are usually quite good for reasonable stuff.
It depends on where you are - GAP do good jeans for the tall & thin, H&M are good for most things even if you have to poke about a bit. Petit bateau for good solid t-shirts & underwear. Okaïdi was a good source of quite a lot of stuff when my children were younger (they go up to age 14) for shoes I go to my local shoe shops in town as they do proper fitting but I also get their shoes in Germany as I have family there & one daughter has enormous size 41 feet so not much choice here - & for sports shoes Intersport or Decathlon. I also don't mind spending money on good shoes (which can't be handed down) because I see it as an investment for later.
trainers we do Decathlon.... and either Kiabi or H&M ..... or actually mostly online from the UK...I find kids clothes very very expensive here