Parenting Australia

Let's Call It Curtains On Couture For Kids

This blog post is going to come as something of a surprise to those of you who know that I own my own store, which does in fact, sell children’s fashion. Even as I write this, it occurs to me that I’m being hypocritical. Read on, and let me know.

There are some delightful designer duds out there for kids. Designers have great creativity and style, and many are producing high quality and appropriate designs for little people. What I do find bothersome though, is the culture now for parents to actively seek out the designer name for the sole purpose of having it emblazoned across their child’s chest. It worries me.

Mihiri Udabage

I guarantee you there is a whole gaggle of little girls out there who honestly think their name is Fred Bare. And there will be some kids starting school next year who only know that A is for Abercrombie, B is for Burberry, C is for Collette and D is for Diesel. It’s not their fault. I blame mum and dad for running to the shop, nay boutique, to buy one of everything as soon as a designer announces their fab new range for kids. I blame mum and dad for taking great pride in knowing that sales assistants know them by name and greet their kids by name too. It’s these parents for whom a good day is defined by strolling down the street just knowing that people are admiring their carefully chosen stove pipe jeans and Ed Hardy t-shirt….for their 2 year old.

So what’s the problem? Forget the whole ‘they grow out of it so quickly’ rationale. That’s a no-brainer. What about what it represents in us as parents, that we then choose to represent to our children? I think it’s sad to have one’s heart set on emblazoning someone else’s name and identity across your own child’s chest. We take so much pride in naming our kids, and then to actively seek to stamp someone else’s name across their back pocket makes no sense. And yes, the kids can’t read and don’t know what they’re wearing, but they soon learn and make choices for themselves. So they are most definitely under our influence, and that is a huge responsibility and privilege. To teach them from a young age that someone else’s name across their chest makes us as parents proud, happy or excited or gets us engaged and interested in their life is meaningless to me.

I read an article a while ago and in it the author (an editor of a women’s magazine, and a mum) justified why spending hundreds of dollars on designer outfits is worth every penny. She repeated a line her mother said when they were choosing her baby’s first birthday outfit, “Every child should wear Collette on their first birthday”, and followed it up with her own opinion - “Too true.” Hmmm. Really? I wonder if mum and grandma know that there are 1 billion children living in poverty TODAY. That’s one in every two children. I wonder what they suggest those children wear on their first birthday?

Speaking of children in poverty, did you know that 99% of cotton, so revered as a material for our children’s clothing, is grown in developing countries, and that cotton farming uses more child labour than any other crop? Did you know that even in Australia there are thousands of sweat shops paying workers as little as $3/hour to make the garments we rush to buy?

I suggest that our consumer choices are extremely powerful. What we do at the checkout has a direct link to what we care about. And I’m quite certain the children are watching, and learning from us (take the example of the editor and her mum). There a plenty of ways we can connect and engage with our children. Instead of trawling through the latest glossy magazine for kids’ fashion, how about writing in their journal and recording for them the funny moment you shared today? Instead of spending time dragging them from one boutique to another, how about making a screen printed t-shirt of their handprints and telling them how much you love it. Let’s teach them from a young age that they matter, not how we look when we stroll down the street.

What is important to you when you purchase clothes for your children? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.

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Mihiri Udabage is a 30-something mother of two, now feeling old enough to use terms like 30-something. She loves Sundays more than Saturdays but is grateful for both. She hates ironing. In between growing up two little citizens, Mihiri spends time working on her on-line Fair Trade and Organic business www.generationwonder.com, volunteering for global charity Room to Read, doing canteen duty at school, and entering Fun Runs she has no hope of actually running. Mihiri has a husband who thinks she is loopy but who supports her anyway. She wishes she had written Twilight but acknowledges that could never happen because she can never remember her dreams. However, Mihiri is about to enrol in a screenwriting course that will see her write a movie that will knock Twilight for a six. Mihiri continues to dream...

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