For as long as we can remember, pink has traditionally been deemed a colour for girls, and blue for boys, right? Well, mother-of-two, Kristin Higgins, is challenging the traditional stereotypes of what colours and prints children are expected to wear, with her genderless kids line.
We were all shocked to learn that around the time of the 1920’s, blue was the dominant colour for girls, and pink was ideal for boys. If anything, this now helps us understand that ‘gender norms’ are restricting labels created by ordinary people, and it is us as the consumers, who have the choice to challenge them.
Higgins is the passionate mother and business owner of the genderless clothing line Jessy And Jack. The line is tackling the stereotypes in kids wear, and making genderless styles for children more reachable for parents. As a consumer to children’s clothing, Higgins stated that she would ideally want her daughter to be able to get up and not have to think of the ‘girl’ identity when getting dressed.
“I want her to just get up and put on the clothing without thinking of putting on a costume, an identity.”
The intention of Higgins brand is very clear when clicking onto the Jessy and Jack website. The home page reads; “HI! WE MAKE CLOTHES WITHOUT CLICHES FOR HAPPY LITTLE HUMANS.”
“We believe dividing children’s worlds into “boy stuff” and “girl stuff” is silly, so we make clothes with themes that all kids can love.”
The label mainly stocks t-shirts in various colours and themes. Some shirts have chimps, robots or elephants printed on them, all in gender neutral colour palates that steer away from the traditional pink and blue. The “Mr Nice Guy” was released by Jessy and Jack to show that boys can proudly wear clothes that promote kindness and love.
Higgins isn’t the only one that has interest in breaking the gender norms for children. Many parents are creating start-up businesses to meet their own needs. Clothing lines such as Handsome In Pink, Lands End, Primary, and Princess Awesome are all a result of this. These clothing lines all have one thing in common- they are supported by passionate and like-minded parents of new age children.
Although a lot of mass market stores are afraid to rock the boat, there are some fast-fashion retailers that are making small changes to their offerings, and support genderless clothing. Zara recently released a line called ‘Ungendered’, and Selfridges with their Agender campaign. Although both of these lines are more focused on adults clothing, we can see a development within the industry.
Source: zara.com
Marshal Cohen from the Market Research Group is an expert in the analyst game, and he thinks that majority of children’s clothing buyers are grandparents, who mostly embrace more traditional ideas. So we probably won’t see large scale change in children wear until the next generation begins to have children.
“Once we get past the cultural discussion, that’s when you’ll see the (major) brands step out”.
We at FIB are staying tuned, and hope to see an outburst of cute cupcakes on boys clothing, and printed dinosaurs on girls’ clothing. It is exciting to see the direction that parents are now taking, as they become more socially aware of the importance of letting the identity of their children evolve naturally.
