The Giants

The establishments listed below are the pillars of the retail industry: department stores, fast fashion chains, mono- brand giants, multi-brand online monsters, they are either completely kids-centric or have kids’ departments. Some of them are true trendsetters carrying the torch of boys’ fashion high; some of them follow the familiar path of the safe designs. Spread along the price range from high to low-end, these stores present endless opportunities for the frugalicious stylistas.  There are cool finds to be discovered out there at every price level and endless style opportunities for creative mixing of high and low.

The best approach for shopping the boys’ clothes selection offered by the following GIANTS should be “Seek and You Shall Be Rewarded”.

The Giants

The establishments listed below are the pillars of the retail industry: department stores, fast fashion chains, mono- brand giants, multi-brand online monsters, they are either completely kids-centric or have kids’ departments. Some of them are true trendsetters carrying the torch of boys’ fashion high; some of them follow the familiar path of the safe designs. Spread along the price range from high to low-end, these stores present endless opportunities for the frugalicious stylistas.  There are cool finds to be discovered out there at every price level and endless style opportunities for creative mixing of high and low.

The best approach for shopping the boys’ clothes selection offered by the following GIANTS should be “Seek and You Shall Be Rewarded”.

TAPE À L'OEIL

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Tape_aLoeil is a sort of French GAP with 170 stores around the world but none in the US, as usual. TAPE À L'OEIL offers fun and trendy fashions for children aged from 0-14 at irresistible prices! And who can resist this French twist, these effortlessly styled outfits, crinkled scarves, cheeky statements printed on pink and turquoise tees, sleek blazers and chic trainers. TAPE À L'OEIL is another hard to translate French idiom, which means fancy, posh, bling-bling, something that stands out, draws attention and easily seen.

Cons: Shipping to the US costs almost $30, which is insane! Team up with your friends for some shopping therapy and splitting the shipping charges.

 

TARGET

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Stores_Logos_7is the coolest place on earth to shop, seriously! Undisputable number One Baby Shower Registry destination (well, Babies R Us would definitely beg to differ), when it comes to nursery decorating, furniture, gadgets, equipment etc. We love their simple solid color t-shirts with creative declarative slogans such as “I Still Live with My Parents”, “Hello, My Name is Trouble” and so on, PJs, underwear and socks packs.

Cons: Too mass market… The chances you will see your carefully selected or impulsively purchased t-shirt, or pants, or shorts on at least 5 kids during a day, run disappointingly high. Call it a vanity, most probably it is. Otherwise you wouldn’t be still reading this, right?

THE CHILDREN’S PLACE

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childrens_place Occasional cool finds mostly accessories and cute sleepwear. Having said this I must make a correction due to some recent changes. Spring 2010 collection was full of surprisingly cool, colorful, cheerful shirts and vests that make wonderful wardrobe staples. So, it’s an interesting development and we should watch them closely. 

ZAPPOS.COM

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Zappos "Let her without an Impulsive Obsessive Shoe Disorder throw the first stone…” Incredible success of this shoe retail behemoth lies in its gigantic ever growing selection, pioneering free shipping (back and forth), next day free shipping for the VIPs, who are pretty much every customer with more than one purchase and 365 days return policy and incredibly friendly and customer oriented service. No corporate verbal diarrhea here! Their cheerful and chatty customer service reps are truly happy to assist you, should you err on the shoe size. They would ship out the right size immediately WITHOUT charging you extra for another pair and making you pay double in a meantime and wait for the refund forever. No kidding! How incredibly thoughtful and considerate especially at these difficult times! They would do a lot of other great things for you, making sure you keep coming back. I could argue about the free shipping concept, though, it’s a marketing illusion but let’s focus on a great stuff.

At Zappos.com you can satisfy all your shoe cravings and find the hippest, coolest, instant outfit making kicks for your little hunk, at the very reasonable prices

ZARA KIDS

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Zara Another online-phobic fast fashion giant, hailing from Spain - Zara. Despite of the slugging sales experienced by retail worldwide, Zara has been riding an unstoppable wave of worldwide expansion: hundreds of new stores popping up across the globe. The secret of this fantastic success is in refined yet affordable clothes with unmistakably European flair. The babies, toddlers and big kids collections are distinctive, chic and refined, yet in a totally hip, head turning way. The prices are more than reasonable and during the sales season become downright insane!

Cons: Not Available Online in the US! Not widely available offline either! Get online already!