teenage girl clothing budget?

[tommya60]

Really, after reading the thread, I have to repeat, buy an outfit or two, then shop after she sees what others are wearing. My DD and her friends don't wear Aeropostale at all, they love Rainbow sandals, Keds and Uggs for winter. DD hurt her knee, no flip flops---I think not wearing the Rainbow flip flops was a bigger deal to her than the knee brace.
If the "fitting in" thing is important (and really it is to a certain extent) then I'd do a couple of starter outfits and then wait and see. Some things you can pick up on sale--tshirts for instance, but I'd stick with Abercrombie (extra 30% off clearance) and American Eagle for those--they seem to be more universally liked.

 

[sk!mom]

Really, after reading the thread, I have to repeat, buy an outfit or two, then shop after she sees what others are wearing. My DD and her friends don't wear Aeropostale at all, they love Rainbow sandals, Keds and Uggs for winter. DD hurt her knee, no flip flops---I think not wearing the Rainbow flip flops was a bigger deal to her than the knee brace.
If the "fitting in" thing is important (and really it is to a certain extent) then I'd do a couple of starter outfits and then wait and see. Some things you can pick up on sale--tshirts for instance, but I'd stick with Abercrombie (extra 30% off clearance) and American Eagle for those--they seem to be more universally liked.

Agree! If clothes are important to your DD, then buy a few things and then let her decide after school starts.

My DD doesn't wear Aeropostale, at all. She had a hard time spending a gift card from there recently.

 

[shortbun]

The girls around here supplement their clothing budget with thrift store purchases. There are three near us and they are all worth shopping once a week or so. There is a young person specific store called 'Ragorama' and it's really a great place for teen clothes or accessories. They have used formals at prom/homecoming, used jeans, great shirts and shorts for guys too. Also, shop clearance racks or good sales only. Nobody pays retail except Grandma, kwim?

 

[rszdtrvl]

Aeropostale is still popular here.

My son will be getting his school clothes probably Labor Day weekend. He is eating all the time, and I know he is going to be growing a lot this summer (he is always hungry - 13 years old).

Your best bet for figuring out what is popular in your area is to go to a local shopping mall and people watch. See which types of bags the girls your daughters age are carrying from which stores.

The popular clothes vary so greatly from city to city, state to state.

 

[mfd25wife]

Don't forget to see if your area does a "free tax" day or weekend. It helped us a lot to combine the sales and the sales tax days.

I forgot Charlotte Rouse and Pac Sun. Abercrombie owns Hollister so their styles are similar with different logos.

 

[cruisnfamily]

Rainbow sandals and sperry's are quite popular here too! No footwear regulations at all in high school. Up until high school it was always "closed toe and needs a back" but at high school they don't care and the vast majority wear flip flops!

 

[Priorityonecb]

Aero is popular here for the middle age set. Once they get to high school it's "out". Sperry's and Rainbow's are the shoes of choice.

 

[fiveforall]

My girls are 15 and almost 13. We spend about $400 during the month of August and then about $250 at Christmas. My girls shop at the following stores:

Buckle....the jeans are expensive, but they really do fit better

Charlotte Russe

Hollister

American Eagle

Ambercrombie

Ross....they can get tons of fitted tops for very little cost

They also want Coach purses, Rainbows, and Converse.

 

[ceecee]

I've notice that in HS Aero is less popular as well. I think when they started marketing to the younger set (like Ltd Too did) they lost a lot of older kids. When the 8 year olds are wearing it, the 14 yr olds do not want to.

 

[minniebeth]

My dd, almost 13 wears a uniform to school but shops at most of the stores already mentioned for dress-down days and out of school. (And Kohl's has great sales!) We shop really carefully, lots of sales and clearance, but I would say we spend more than $200/$300 a few times of year between clothes, and shoes. Clothes add up very quickly even for a few items, so depending on where and what you are buying, I would budget at least $250 to start.

Although I have to say, when DD spends her own $ on clothes, she seems to find the best bargains around!

 

[Trixiezzz]

Check out Hollister right now. They have the Hollister t-shirts that the kids wear for $6-$7 ON SALE. I bought both my girls several.

THANK YOU for that tip! DD wanted some tees and I was able to get 5 for around $35 +tax.

 

[southbarringtonjen]

Our school clothing budget is a negotiation. It begins around $1000 and depending on how many pairs of shoes are needed, it seems to quickly go up from there.

 

[Diabolicdesire]

My daughter is almost 13. She loves Aeropostale and American Eagle. She always finds clothes she likes at Kohls. We shop clearance through out the year and she gets some hand me downs from her cousin. When "school" shopping comes around she gets a 100 dollar budget. She will tend to look out for a good deal or clearance because she knows that 100 won't go far if the clothes are not on sale. Also, we do not shop tax free weekend. Stores are far too crowded and sales are not so good. We find better deals if we shop before.

 

[polkadotminnie]

THANK YOU for that tip! DD wanted some tees and I was able to get 5 for around $35 +tax.

You are welcome!

 

[pyrxtc]

I would say that if you are just starting out, I would give a budget of $300-$400 to start. My DD gets clothes thru the year as she need them. Some years she needs a lot and some she doesn't. She gets some hand me downs and we supplement those with great sales and clearance. If you only buy in August, you will miss some great clearance stuff out now that will work for school.

Also, My DD wouldn't be caught dead with Coach or Vera Bradley. She says they are old lady things.

 

[cmjaffe]

DD is "almost" 14 and for the last year or so has been loving Hollister. Luckily she's a "lurker" on the BB and has learned to be a "good shopper". She's aware that Hollister's list price is a bit dear for our family's budget (unless she's in desperate need of something and can only find it that way). She's been quite cooperative of waiting a little bit and getting things at around 50% of list if not more. She's been a good shopper with redline discounts and also using discount e-mail codes we receive. She also is aware that you can't always go by the # for sizing there. Some things are cut narrow etc. Also things that are redlined sometimes might have been sized wrong. She just got an impulse t-shirt for $6.50.
Now that she's gotten a bit more curves and grown a few inches we'll start looking at AE. She's kind of "outgrown" Aero... find Hollister a better value of $$.

 

[ceecee]

Is it me or does Hollister run REALLY small? DD's friend has an older sister who says they are supposed to fit skin tight and they do. I don't really care for that look on teens.

 

[crisi]

I would say that if you are just starting out, I would give a budget of $300-$400 to start. My DD gets clothes thru the year as she need them. Some years she needs a lot and some she doesn't. She gets some hand me downs and we supplement those with great sales and clearance. If you only buy in August, you will miss some great clearance stuff out now that will work for school.

Also, My DD wouldn't be caught dead with Coach or Vera Bradley. She says they are old lady things.

We do $100 per shopping trip - excluding shoes, socks and underwear (mom handles those - but my kids are younger). Shopping trips happen a few times a year though rather than one big "back to school" spree. And only clothes are permitted with your $100.

 

[HaleyB]

Is it me or does Hollister run REALLY small? DD's friend has an older sister who says they are supposed to fit skin tight and they do. I don't really care for that look on teens.

They are cut slim and long, so it really depends on body type. They are not skin tight on my dd and she is slim but not skinny, very average IMHO. 5 foot 100 pounds. She is 12.5 and has lost the slight belly she had as a child and gained curves (where did my baby go??). She is in a size small now, was ex-small last year. In other brands she wears the teen (that is not the right word) small or medium. We don't buy their jeans/bottoms.

I like these shirts because the wash really well, are super soft, and I just love the bright colors (and thankfully so does dd). We both like that they are more than long enough to cover her jeans waistbands (which are so low these days) as we both (thankfully again) hate the exposed bit of skin above the jeans look. A couple of the colors are too thin, yellow I know for sure, so they cling a bit and also are a bit see through. We just don't buy those colors

 

[HaleyB]

Budget: We don't really have one.

We always look for great deals. We just bought 8 Hollister shirts for about $80, some were the $16, some $8, some even less. She was down to 4 that still fit and one of those had a stain on it (so will be reassigned to sleep shirt duty).

For shoes she likes Converse low tops. She can not stand some of the more trendy brands. We buy two pairs, she might get 3 this year because she currently has the same sized foot as me

Jeans. We don't buy those $100 jeans. We buy based on fit and I will pay up to about $50 a pair. 3 pairs at most at a time, she is growing like a weed these days. Then 1-2 pairs long shorts or capri's.

I actually let her get 20 pairs of socks (from Costco), 10-12 pairs new underwear, and whenever she needs a new size 3 bras (1 nude, one black, one pattern or 'fun' print- but she has to have one nude because if I can see it under the shirt she has to change it- I am mean that way).

She likes the Vera Bradley lunch box and wristlet. Backpacks are not allowed at her school.

She will not wear a dress except for band concerts, so she gets one black dress under duress.