Cool clothes for teen boys

[Tattylou]

I have an 11 year old 6th grader. He wears Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, etc - mainly tshirts, hoodies, and basketball style shorts. Sometimes he will wear a sports team hoodie. That seems to be the look of most of the middle school boys around here. He's particular, so I do bring him with me to shop and he likes to shop...well he likes it when it involves buying stuff for him lol.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

OP, in my experience, this can be another one of those regional things we often talk about here. I'd pay attention to the brands his peers are wearing. He probably knows what brands the cool kids wear. FWIW, I'm not saying your DS isn't one of the cool kids. I'm just using that word, because you did.

This is true, I wash and fold so many items I don’t recognize, from boyfriends, their friends, their friends boyfriends... With three girls and two boys, it drives me crazy, especially for items no one can identify. My sons lose their winter coat every year, plus sweatshirts.

Exactly this - I always wonder if the boy's moms mind that they are essentially buying clothes for other kids. At least with her girlfriends they usually Swap clothes so it seems slightly more equal. But the poor boys must never have any hoodies for themselves to wear.

OT, but these posts made me laugh. We went through that with DS. He was constantly losing his & accumulating other's clothes. It was especially frustrating, when I would look for a specific outfit for him to wear to an event & discover the shirt, pants or both no longer lived at our house. He wouldn't have a clue which friend had them. They did the same with shoes. I didn't really have to worry about girls stealing his jackets or hoodies, because there's not much of a need for outerwear here. If there were, I have no doubt his would have disappeared. Growing up in NC, I was guilty of taking home a couple letter jackets, before the boys' parents even got to see them. Being the considerate person I am, I made sure to show them how nice it was, when I saw them at a game.

On a similar note, I've had a lot of random dishes, silverware & cups from girl's houses live here temporarily, until they were carried off & left at another most likely temporary home. Not to worry, their parent's tableware has been replenished with my once matching sets. DS is now living with us to go to grad school & it's gotten worse than it was in high school. We're constantly having to replace stuff he's carried off & not returned. I told DH I was going to restock everything as cheaply as possible, until he moves out for good, then I'll purchase the same quality I once had.

 

[tcufrog]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I’d thought I’d provide an update. It turns out my son is meeting up with the girl at the dance. For me, this is a big deal (although I’d never let him know that) because he has Aspergers and can be quite socially awkward. I always secretly worried it wouldn’t happen for him so this gives me hope that he will figure it out. Bullying has been an issue for him for a very long time. We switched from private to public school this year at his request and I think it’s been very good for him. He’s blossomed in ways I didn’t expect.

As for him or I noticing what the other kids wear, there is a problem with that. The school has standard dress (similar to a uniform) so I rarely see the kids in regular clothes. The Halloween dance is a costume dance so that won’t help either. Since we are new to this huge middle school I don’t know the parents and haven’t figured out how to meet them.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I’d thought I’d provide an update. It turns out my son is meeting up with the girl at the dance. For me, this is a big deal (although I’d never let him know that) because he has Aspergers and can be quite socially awkward. I always secretly worried it wouldn’t happen for him so this gives me hope that he will figure it out. Bullying has been an issue for him for a very long time. We switched from private to public school this year at his request and I think it’s been very good for him. He’s blossomed in ways I didn’t expect.

As for him or I noticing what the other kids wear, there is a problem with that. The school has standard dress (similar to a uniform) so I rarely see the kids in regular clothes. The Halloween dance is a costume dance so that won’t help either. Since we are new to this huge middle school I don’t know the parents and haven’t figured out how to meet them.

That definitely makes it more difficult. Does he have a teacher that knows your DS's situation that you could ask?

 

[Hikergirl]

Both my ds's went through a phase where all they wore were dri-fit shirts, basketball shorts or track pants.
It lasted a couple years. Thankfully they are both past that stage.
They still wear that stuff, but not exclusively anymore.
They do most of their shopping at Hollister, American Eagle and Aero.
They also like going to the outlets, Tommy Hilfiger and Nautica specifically.
Champion hoodies and crews are pretty popular around here so my younger ds has some of those.

 

[wgeo]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I’d thought I’d provide an update. It turns out my son is meeting up with the girl at the dance. For me, this is a big deal (although I’d never let him know that) because he has Aspergers and can be quite socially awkward. I always secretly worried it wouldn’t happen for him so this gives me hope that he will figure it out. Bullying has been an issue for him for a very long time. We switched from private to public school this year at his request and I think it’s been very good for him. He’s blossomed in ways I didn’t expect.

As for him or I noticing what the other kids wear, there is a problem with that. The school has standard dress (similar to a uniform) so I rarely see the kids in regular clothes. The Halloween dance is a costume dance so that won’t help either. Since we are new to this huge middle school I don’t know the parents and haven’t figured out how to meet them.

Is he possibly on social media yet? If so, the two of you could look at some of his friends social media accounts to see what others in your area are wearing. At least, according to my son, it's more about being confident and comfortable in what you are wearing - but and it's a big but - he enjoys being known as "unique" so he may not be the best to give advice.

 

[tinkerhon]

Another vote for Hollister!

 

[tinkerhon]

Hollister has sales very often - especially $25 Jean sales

 

[wenrob]

My 13 yr old is now taller than me, but much slimmer, lol. I mostly buy him shirts and hoodies from adult men’s in XS or S. His waist is small and he is still too skinny for men’s pants so I have had luck buying him size 16 Old Navy jeans and some athletic wear from Adidas and Nike, etc. I miss dressing him up cute in Gapkids, he no longer fits into anything there. He will tell me if he doesn’t like to wear something, but yet he won’t go shopping for clothes. So I have to do a lot of online shopping, and a lot of returns as a result of that.

This is almost exactly my DS. The Old Navy 16s are too short for him so I’ve been buying the Levi’s 28/28 style 512 (slim and tapered) *Just* long enough but too big in the waist (he has a 26 waist.) It is what it is I guess. The bonus for me is that his twin sister decided she wanted last years Levi’s (she likes she can actually fit her phone in her pocket) so I didn’t have to buy new jeans for her this year.

 

[Southernmiss]

I had 3 boys.

All 3 had different styles and tastes as teens.

Oldest wore a lot of American Eagle (worked there for a while).

Middle was skater style- shaggy hair, hoodies, Van's, baggy jeans. He has always been more into comfort. And is more bothered if clothes are scratchy or don't fit right. He has bigger bones than the other 2 so his build is thicker.

Youngest is taller and thin. He wore skinny jeans and flannel shirts.

Especially with a child with possible sensory concerns, I would take him to a couple of different stores and see what he likes.

 

[low-key]

Mom would get me cool stuff in the Husky department