Back to school options for teens?

[angierae]

DD16 is ready to start back to school shopping. Last night while at Penney's buying a pair of shoes she's been drooling over we wandered into the junior's section and left in disgust.

Fully half the junior's department was cheap flimsy teeshirts. There were very few well-constructed shirts. She usually does her shopping at a mix of JCP and Kohl's but unless JCP is going to put out new clothes between now and the end of the month, JCP is totally out.

Other options? She's not a name-brand buyer (no Aeropostale or whatever) but we're looking for some decent clothes for her. Where do your teens buy non "mall brand" stuff?

 

[SaraJayne]

I know it's brand name, but Hollister honestly has some of the nicest Tshirts I've found anywhere. It's a great quality cotton and holds up wonderfully.

 

[angierae]

I know it's brand name, but Hollister honestly has some of the nicest Tshirts I've found anywhere. It's a great quality cotton and holds up wonderfully.

She won't wear any of that. She's really backlashing against all the "popular" kids at school and won't wear anything they wear.

(And hey, it's cheaper for me, so I try not to argue. )

 

[HM]

My DD16 loves the thrill of the hunt in places like TJ Maxx or Marshalls. You could try those type places and save some money too.

I find that most clothing for teens is poorly constructed and flimsy. DDs favorite store is Forever 21....it's cheap, and there is a reason. Those clothes don't last all that long.

 

[momof1princess]

OP, we had the same issue at JCPenney a couple of weeks ago when we were school clothes shopping for DD13. not only was the junior's department full of cheap-looking, see through t-shirts, but anything that didn't fit that description was a tank top! that place was crawling with tank tops! ugh, DD's middle school doesn't allow tank tops at all, so we left there empty-handed.

 

[ceecee]

DD gets a lot of things at Aeropostale and she has Hollister too, I think the quality in tees are about the same but a lot cheaper.

 

[groovygirl927]

My daughter just graduated from high school. She never liked wearing name brand clothes and having the name of the brand across her chest.

She did a lot of thrift store shopping. She liked wearing things that other people weren't wearing. She alos bought clothes at old navy and kohls.

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Ahh! I love our uniform school!
But we like Ross, Burlington Coat Factory, Kohls, Target, and Costco.

Oh and I second old navy!!

 

[angierae]

We'll have to try Old Navy. We've never shopped there much. She hasn't been able to find anything at Target since she stopped wearing boys tee-shirts almost exclusively.

(Well, she still buys jeans at Target because even at 16, she's only 4'9" and can buy 14Plus jeans from the girl's department for $10 a pair.)

 

[NotUrsula]

For ordinary plain tees, I find the best quality at Eddie Bauer.

Someone posted earlier that Land's End Canvas is today's Living Social deal; they have some nice quality things that are more youthfully cut.

As to the tees/tanks at JCP; the idea (though I think it's silly) is to wear the tanks UNDER the flimsy tees, which makes them not see-through. My problem with "tissue tees" is that they really don't hold up to machine washing.

 

[chris31997]

I second the take her for the hunt. If she does not want to wear the brand name. Take her to a thrift/consignment store.

 

[Darcy03231]

TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Kohls, Burlington Coat, Charlotte Russe, Old Navy and Limited are where DD shops.

 

[SaraJayne]

We'll have to try Old Navy. We've never shopped there much. She hasn't been able to find anything at Target since she stopped wearing boys tee-shirts almost exclusively.

(Well, she still buys jeans at Target because even at 16, she's only 4'9" and can buy 14Plus jeans from the girl's department for $10 a pair.)

If you're looking for tshirts, skip Old Navy. The tshirts are crap quality and see through.

Probably not quite the look she's going for.

 

[MinnieForMe]

If she doesn't care about the name brand, then, I would shop Lands End. The solid tshirts are always a nice quality and you can get three different types of fit so she could get the tighter fit that is popular with the teen crowd.

 

[TinkPirateMom]

We can usually find decent things at Old Navy and Gap. What about Macy's Junior's department?

This is the first year I have to do back to school shopping for DD. She has been in a uniform since kindergarten. I am taking her to some outlets next week. This should be interesting!

 

[Fire14]

I honestly have had the best luck finding t shirts at Sears/lands end.

 

[mom2threecuties]

I love the tees at J.Crew

 

[AntePrincess]

I'll second/third/whatever-it's-up-to Land's End. Everything we've gotten from Land's End for our eldest has survived virtually unscathed for our younger daughter to "inherit." One or two pizza sauce stains got the iron on patch from Michael's treatment, and that's it. (Nowadays, I'd probably just dye over it, but it hasn't come up again.)

 

[snarlingcoyote]

For cool t-shirts with hip sayings, give Zazzle.com and Cafepress.com a try.

 

[Cindy B]

My daughter loves Tshirts from Garage.. I'm not sure if this store is in your mall, but she loves them.

She also has some Tshirts from NY & Company. (I was buying clothes there). Since the demographic for the store is more mature, there were limited see through shirts there.

She has one from American Apparel that has held up nice as well.