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It's easy to find gender neutral baby clothes but can be more of a challenge for toddlers and older kids. Rest assured you do have options when it comes to unisex kids clothes.
Before I move on and talk about where to find these items, be aware that it may not always make sense to buy gender neutral clothes for your children.
When it doesn't make sense to buy gender neutral clothes
Know that in many situations it may be a false economy to buy unisex.
With my first child, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to buy unisex outfits for as long as possible as a way to save money and be eco-friendly when it came to a second child in the future. However, when I mentioned this strategy on a phone call with my mother, she said "Well... you can only reasonably do that up to a certain point. Beyond a certain age, children's clothes tend to be gender-specific and it becomes harder to find gender neutral." That turned out to be good advice and I started worrying less about getting gender-neutral clothing and just picking clothes that worked for my child's gender. If you've come to the same conclusion for your situation, then you might like to check out my article on the 6 best trendy yet affordable children's clothing brands.
Advantages of gender neutral kids clothes
If you're still with me and interested in finding out more about gender neutral clothing, yes, unisex children's clothing does offer plenty of distinct advantages which may be ideal for your situation. Let's take a look at these benefits:
- Save money on your children's clothes if you have children of both genders - these clothes do double duty as hand me downs for a boy and a girl
- More eco-friendly since it's easier to pass along outgrown clothing to other families because the clothes can be used for either gender
- Ideal if your child doesn't personally like strongly gendered clothing. In particular, if you have a girl it can at times be hard to find clothes that are not pink, purple, or floral.
- Often socially and environmentally conscious. Most (but not all) of the gender neutral children's clothing brands tend to have either a socially conscious or environmentally conscious mission. If this is important to you, these brands may interest you for that aspect alone.
- Quieter designs that you or your child may prefer. Often, gender-neutral kids clothes come in muted colors reminiscent of nature. If you or your child aren't into "loud" graphic tees, shopping gender neutral lets you find what you need.
Children's clothing brands which are gender neutral (or at least not strongly gendered)
Many of the brands below are purely gender-neutral - you don't shop for a boy's tee or a girl's tee there, you shop for a child's tee.
Other brands are split into boy and girl clothing, but the designs themselves are still not particularly gendered; this may be for you if you don't want loud clothing or if you're more interested in supporting an environmental cause than looking for unisex clothes per se.
I'll explain which category each brand falls into.
Little & Lively
Little & Lively is a Canadian brand of comfortable and ethically made children's clothing. Their tops, joggers, and shorts are completely gender neutral - you shop by size not by gender. They also have items geared towards girls such as dresses, skirts, and leggings - these have more feminine designs. Swimwear is gendered.
The look at Little & Lively involves soft muted colors and patterns, so if you're looking for fun alternatives to loud graphic tees, then you're in the right place. I particularly appreciated the range of colors and patterns. The pieces are designed to work together well, so you can put together several different looks.
Let's take a look at the fabrics and sizing. Comfort is key in their clothing design, so all items are made with a soft cotton-bamboo fabric blend. It's gentle, durable and more environmentally friendly than other synthetic fabrics. If your child has sensitive skin, he or she might benefit from the clothing at Little & Lively. Sizing goes from baby (0-6 months) all the way to size 13/14 years old.
All of their items are made locally in Canada (not imported from China!) so you know that you're supporting North American jobs when you buy from Little & Lively.
Petite Revery
Petite Revery ("little dream") has a strong environmental mission. It's also a Canadian brand and specializes in fun playwear in soft pastels. The clothes are super cute. The gender neutral items are tops, shorts, pants, and joggers. For these, you shop by size, not by gender. There are also gendered items such as skirts, dresses and leggings, although the patterns are not strongly feminine, ideal if your girl is not into overly girly colors.
Sizing goes from toddler (12 months) to 9/10 years old. Their fabrics are soft and comfortable, and they use materials with a low environmental impact. There is a strong focus on high quality and durability so that the items may passed along to another child once they have been outgrown.
Nest Designs
As the name suggests, the clothing from Nest Designs is for the very youngest of children - from newborn to 3 years old. Nest Designs is the parent company of Petite Revery that we covered just above, so the colors are similar - but for clothing suited to babies and toddlers such as onesies, sleep suits, T-shirts, and more. Nest items are not strongly gendered - again, you shop by size not gender. In a few cases, a color or pattern option might lean very slightly towards one gender or the other, but for every item of clothing there are always plenty of non-gendered patterns to choose from that work equally well for a boy or a girl.
Besides baby and toddler clothing, Nest Designs has every fabric item you need to get set up for baby, from swaddle sleep bags and crib sheets to cute hooded bath towels. Nest uses fabrics that are safe for baby and for the planet, for example GOTS certified organic cotton.
Nest Designs also has specialty clothing for parents - it's well worth taking a look.
Tentree
Tentree has completely gender-neutral kids clothes for toddlers. Sizes go from 12-18 months to 5T. They have t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, pants, and accessories. Colors are earth-inspired and you can choose from patterns or solids.
Tentree has the strongest sustainability mission of all the brands mentioned here; they're a certified B corporation and are climate neutral certified. What makes them stand out from other kids clothing brands is that they plant trees for every item of clothing you buy. You even get to see where your trees were planted when you input the code on the item's tag. Yes, the trees are planted even if you don't enter the tag code, but this way you get to see exactly where your item's trees were planted.
The sustainability doesn't stop there. Clothes are made to high quality standards to ensure they can be passed down. Items are manufactured in a socially responsible manner by partnering with factories who pay a fair wage to their workers. To complete the life cycle of newly made clothing, Tentree aims to keep clothing out of landfills by partnering with resale specialist Treet and textile recycling service SuperCircle.
Conclusion
There are several options of cute gender-neutral clothing brands for toddlers and older kids: Little & Lively, Petite Revery, Nest Designs and Tentree. These brands feature soft nature-inspired designs with a minimalist look and an environmentally or socially conscious mission. These unique kids clothes are ideal when you're looking for something which is versatile and can be handed down more easily. You may not have heard of these alternative kids clothing brands before, but rest assured the ones I mentioned here are reliable and reputable.