Archive for the ‘Shopping Around’ Category

If you are looking for girls athletic clothing for the upcoming spring and summer months, check out some of these online stores.  All of them are girl-friendly sports wear stores and brands that have a wide variety of active wear for any sport your little girl has in mind to try out.

• Dude Girl focuses on women’s active lifestyle apparel, but also offers high quality girls cycling jerseys.
• Especially for Girls was created with the sports-enthused girl in mind.  Their line of girls sportswear includes skirt sets and Capri sets, both of which include shelf-bra tops.
• GirlMax Sports offers athletic sporting apparel for girls, with a focus on casual wear, as well as girls athletic apparel for soccer, basketball, and softball.
• Girls Gotta Play offers shorts, shirts, sweats, socks, and other accessories for basketball, cheerleading, fastpitch softball, field hockey, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis, and volleyball.
• Just for Girls Sports is an online store dedicated to athletic girls and teens.  They offer athletic wear for most girls’ sports: basketball, cheer, cycling, dance and spirit, equestrian, exercise and fitness, field hockey, figure skating, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey,  lacrosse, skateboarding, skiing and snowboarding, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, yoga and even zumba.
• SK8*GRL is about inspiring and empowering girls through action sports.  They offer tees, hoodies, and tanks for girls who like to skateboard.
• SportsKatz has a great selection of colorful, comfortable girls active wear. They offer clothing for softball, soccer, swimming, volleyball, dance, riding, basketball and cheer.  You can shop by product type or sport.
• Sweet & Powerful carries girls athletic wear for nealy every sport imaginable.  Shop by sport or clothing types, which include shorts, hoodies, tees, bottoms, sports bras and team wear.
• Soffe while not girl-specific, is a sports apparel company that has a wide variety of girls’ bottoms, tops, hoodies, sweats, warmups, performance, yoga & workout, loungewear & sleepwear, cheer & dance clothing.

Of course, there are always the Nike’s of the world. This is just a sampling of stores that are dedicated to girls and women’s athleticism.  I thought they deserved some attention, too.

If you know of any other girl-friendly sports wear companies, please add them to your comments. Thanks!

Last fall, Earnshaw’s posted it’s 2010 Spring Preview issue of Little Steps.   At the time, it seemed way too early to share some of what’s to come, but now that it’s starting to feel like spring where I live, I thought I’d pull the issue back out.

Little Steps is a trade publication that highlights children’s footwear and accessories for retailers interested in seeing new brands and products.  These retailers will soon be making the following little kid’s shoe styles and designs available to you, if they haven’t started already:

• Fish-patterned outsoles, butterfly motifs, seahorse appliques, chameleon tails, and even bats will make appearances on Merrell’s wild, spring line-up.  Polliwalks, Weboo Kids, and others are just as eager to share their wild shoe lines.

• Keen will expand on their adjustable fit shoes for little feet.

• Stylish baby sneakers and Mary Janes are coming in fun colors and vintage looks from See Kai Run, Elk Kids, and IsaBooties.

• Look for Mickey, Minnie, and Pooh to show up on boys and girls clogs and sandals from Birki’s in the licensed character arena.  Batman, Hello Kitty, and Peanuts will also make appearances.

While there are many more children’s footwear styles and trends to look forward to, this is just a sampling to help get you ready for spring.

I’m going to keep going with the button theme.  Lately, I have been seeing blue buttons pop up everywhere I look.  Turns out that they represent clothing and shoes made using a people- and environment-friendly manufacturing process.

The blue buttons originated in 2006, when Dutch-founded sustainable fashion organization MADE-BY decided to create a symbol that consumers could use to easily tell if a fashion brand is making efforts to use organic cotton and work with sewing factories that have a social code of conduct.

MADE-BY isn’t a clothing company itself, but they work with clothing companies to improve production and then let the public know about it.

Kids Clothing Brands that partner with MADE-BY

Earlier, when I said I’ve started seeing the button everywhere, I meant on kids’

Photo courtesy of MADE-BY.nl

clothing websites.  Though MADE-BY works with brands that cross the age spectrum, kids clothes are what I’ve been paying attention to.  Right now, most of MADE-BY’s partners are based in Europe, but of the clothing, shoe, and accessory brands that offer children’s products, there is also one brand from Australia.

• Edun
• Imps&Elfs
• Inti Knitware
• Kidscase
• Kik-Kid
• LE BIG
• Little Feet
• Mim-Pi
• Moodstreet
• Purebaby
• Snoozebaby
• Suite 69

How does it work?

MADE-BY’s goal is to encourage clothing companies to produce things in a sustainable way.  To do this, they advise fashion brands on how to clean up their production process so that they use working conditions and practices that are good for the people that actually make the products, as well as for the environment.

Because making something involves many steps, each of which has its own people, materials and practices, MADE-BY also tries to create production chains – networks of suppliers, producers, etc. – that work together to make things from start to finish.  They also support these groups with social or organic certification.

As a consumer, it’s often hard to tell if something is truly made in a sustainable way.   This is where MADE-BY’s button and website come in.  You can then see which brands are working towards sustainable production standards – clothes with a button on them – and how well they are doing.

For this latter part, MADE-BY publishes scorecards to let you know what exactly a brand is doing to be/become sustainable and how it rates in terms of social certification, organic cotton usage, and other raw materials.  To see the scorecards, you can visit MADE-BY’s brand page, select a company and follow the link to their report.

More about MADE-BY’s sustainable production standards

MADE-BY’s website covers a lot of ground.  I found the best information on their downloads page, where they have their annual reports, scorecards by brand, and sustainability policies and standards.  Learn more at made-by.nl.

While school seems the last place to go when you want to have holiday fun, that’s just where the kids in my neighborhood go.  Decked out in snow suits, boots, mittens, and hats, these kids spend hours sledding down the hill at the local school every day during holiday break.  To be honest, I join in the fun when I can.  Who says adults can’t go sledding?

For a number of families, though, winter may also mean a trip to the beach to escape the snow. This often means planning way ahead of time and making sure that swimwear and shorts still fit…or that you shop for summer clothes off-season.

No matter what your family does during the holidays, look for clothing that your kids can wear to enjoy their favorite winter activities or a family vacation in comfort.

Children’s Winter Clothing

Cold varies by location, obviously, but make sure your child is bundled in whatever will keep them warm where you live.  Here in Utah, that means coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and sometimes boots, with more technical clothing – from long underwear to ski bibs –  for some of the outdoor activities we have available to us here.

You can stock up on every-day kids winter weather accessories at Target.com.

Sierra Trading Post’s Kids’ Corner offers discounts on a wide range of winter clothing for kids from major brands.

Find technical kids apparel by The North Face, Mountain Hardwear, & Cloudveil at KL Sport.

Tip: Thrift and consignment stores are also great places to look for gently used seasonal items…especially some of the more pricey items that they will outgrow before season’s end.  Snowsuits, coats, and gear are some of the biggies.

Children’s Summer Clothing in Winter

Many stores change out their inventory with each season, making it difficult to find kids’ summer wear once it gets cold outside.  Look for online stores that specialize in swimwear.  Often times they carry kids’ sun protective swimwear, shorts, girls swimsuits, sandals, kids rash guards, and sometimes even swim diapers, along with other beach gear.  SwimOutlet.com is a good example of this kind of store.  Alex & Me is another good option for children’s sun protective UV swimwear.

Tip: While this advice comes a bit too late, sometimes having the best summer gear for the winter season means shopping last season’s clearance.  Next year, anticipate your child’s size at the time of your vacation and shop the sales accordingly.

One of my friends grew up in a household where every member of the family received a new pair of pajamas as a holiday gift each year.  While she says that she and her siblings were not always very appreciative of them, this tradition stands out as a favorite childhood memory.  Her parents made an effort to find pajamas that were fun and matched each child’s personality…and the kids wore those pajamas until they wore out.

Make pajamas a part of your holiday tradition. Here are some great places for kids PJs:

BedHead Pajamas offers their own brand of luxury Mommy & Me Pajamas.

Target.com is an obvious choice for value-minded shoppers…and they have a great selection of children’s pajamas.

Sleepyheads.com specializes in sleepwear and has a wide selection of girls and boys pajamas, bathrobes, lounge sets, and slippers.

Perfect PJs carries pjs and nightgowns for girls and boys in infant, toddler, little kid, and big kid sizes.

My Baby Pajamas is a children’s pajama specialty shop offering boys and girls pajamas and sleepwear for babies, toddlers and children from a number of top brands.

Max & Maude’s offers an extensive collection of Kids Christmas Pajamas from At Home and Shag brands.

When you’re shopping for children’s sleepwear, be sure to look for pajamas that fit your child snugly or are made with flame resistant fabric to prevent the risk of burns.

You can read more about safety guidelines for buying kids pajamas in the post Buying children’s pajamas for safety.