John Lewis ditches boys and girls labels on children’s clothes
We won’t reinforce gender stereotypes, says firm
JOHN Lewis has become the first major retailer to ditch ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ labels from its children’s clothing range.
The chain has also ditched ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ signs from its childrenswear departments to avoid ‘reinforcing gender stereotypes’.
Instead, new genderless labels say either ‘Boys & Girls’ or ‘Girls & Boys’, and are on all own-brand clothing from newborn to 14 years. Even floral dresses and skirts have unisex labels.
The only exception is school uniforms, which will switch to unisex labels soon.
The retailer has also introduced some ‘non-gender specific’ clothing ranges, including trousers, jumpers and dresses featuring images of dinosaurs, toy soldiers and spaceships.
Pictures of its latest collection show girls wearing mustard and blue trousers and boys wearing tops with coral and pink detailing.
Parents have praised John Lewis on social media for its move towards genderneutral clothing.
But the retailer faced accusations that it risked taking political correctness too far and was pandering to campaigners.
Caroline Bettis, the head of childrenswear at John Lewis, said: ‘We do not want to reinforce gender stereotypes within our John Lewis collections and instead want to provide greater choice and variety to our customers, so that the parent or child can choose what they would like to wear.’
John Lewis said it was also reviewing its online shopping site, which still includes boys’ and girls’ clothing options. It comes after several retailers faced a backlash
‘Risks confusing youngsters’
over their sexist clothing ranges. Clarks came under fire for labelling its school shoes for girls ‘Dolly Babe’ while the boys’ range was called ‘Leader’.
Gap was criticised when an advertisement promoting its new clothing range referred to girls as ‘social butterflies’ and boys as ‘little scholars’.
Asda was pilloried for selling boys’ Tshirts with slogans such as ‘Future Scientist’, ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ and ‘Rock N Roll Star’ while putting logos such as ‘Ponies Rock’, ‘Pretty Rock’ and ‘Hey Cutie’ on its girls’ range.
Reacting on social media yesterday to the move by John Lewis, Lauren Apfel, co-founder and executive editor of Motherwell parenting magazine, wrote: ‘Well done John Lewis. Love seeing this gender neutral labelling.’
Shopper Esther Beadle, of Newcastle, tweeted: ‘Hurrah John Lewis for your range of gender neutral baby clothes.’
Judith Byrne, of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, tweeted a photograph of a dinosaur smock dress with a ‘Boys & Girls’ tag on and wrote: ‘Thanks John Lewis. Gender neutral clothing with style for kids.’
But critics pointed out that adult clothing sections differentiate between the sexes and questioned why childrenswear should not do the same.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘I have no idea what would possess John Lewis to do this.
‘Boys and girls labels and signs are informative. I think removing them could be very confusing for the consumer. It appears political correctness continues to march and, whether it is going in the right direction, is a point for debate. I cannot see many customers buying a dress for their six-year-old boy.’
Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘John Lewis is a reputable and admirable retailer and I have no doubt that getting rid of gender labels is well-intentioned. In isolation, one retailer introducing unisex clothing and labels would not be an issue.
‘But by following this fashion to go genderless, I fear they are supporting a wider movement which risks confusing children and foists adult worries on to young people.
‘There is a dangerous social phenomenon occurring of gender identity theft, which says there is no difference between boys and girls when of course there is.’
John Lewis said it had consulted campaign group Let Clothes Be Clothes before making the changes. The group said: ‘We believe John Lewis is the first high street retailer to remove its gender signs and labels.
‘It’s fantastic news and we hope other shops and online retailers will now move in the same direction. A T-shirt should be just a Tshirt – not a T-shirt just for girls or just for boys.
‘Higher-end, independent clothing retailers have been more pro-active at creating genderneutral collections, but we hope unisex ranges will filter down to all price points. We still see many of the supermarkets, for example, using stereotypical slogans on their clothing.’
While John Lewis continues to sell some traditional pink and blue styles, it also now has unisex collections which it says are ‘specifically designed with both boys and girls in mind’.
Its Artroom babywear collection, for example, features ‘unisex graphics that appeal to all children’, including a cream romper with safari animals on.
‘We design exciting, contemporary prints and graphics that we hope will be loved by all children’, it said.