What Happened to Size 9 for Boys?
By Glinda
I’ve got an eight year old who has always been on the taller side for his age.
Reliably, I could buy one size up and it would always fit him. Maybe a tad bit too long, but nothing to cause anyone to point and stare. Sooner rather than later, he would grow into them, and all would be well with the world.
Except this fall I go to buy him some cold weather pants (he prefers fleece cargo pants) and I blithely order a size 10/12 online, because he’s already got 8’s and they are beginning to look like high-waters. I inadvertently used the term “high-waters” in front of him, and he looked at me like I was a creature from another planet. Mother, what is this strange language you speak?
Anyhoo, the 10/12’s arrive and they are about three inches too long, and falling off at the waist, even with me trying my darnedest to shrink them. Shrinking never works when you want it to, does it?
So I start looking for the obvious thing, a size 9. If a size 8 is too small and size 10/12 is too large, then size 9 it is!
Except nobody really makes a size 9 in boys’ clothing. Oh a few do here and there, but they are mostly jeans, and my son refuses to wear jeans.
Do clothing manufacturers have some sort of problem with the number nine? Do they think that boys suddenly stop growing at a size 8 and suddenly shoot up three inches overnight?
He hates the long ones more than the short ones, so he’ll just have to go around looking like Pee Wee Herman for a while.
Insert deep sigh here.
November 18th, 2010 at 9:15 am
I’ve had the same problem for m 8-year-old girl. Size 10-12 clothes are not only too big, the styling can be too…..adult. Gymboree has size 9s for girls…that’s all I can remember. Good luck!
November 18th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
What Diane said.
Both my girls are tall and skinny, so their pants get too short long before they’re too small. My husband refers to them as “Floods Mackenzie,” which they think is hilarious even though they don’t get the reference.
November 18th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Just pull out the cuffs hem. Since they are fleece it should at least look better than the highwaters.
November 18th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
This is a just a warmup for when he is a slim, tall 15-year-old and you have to move him into menswear sizes. Ayyy. Maybe belts will come back in style for that age by the time the Munchkin gets there.
November 18th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
At least with girls, you can do dresses with leggings to get them through that transition period.
I’m having the same problem with my 15-month old. He’s tall and lean, and in order for pants to fit him around the waist, I have to buy size 6 months. Which means that they wind up looking like capris. Or, I get them long enough, and they’re falling down his bum all day long.
I should just give up and buy more overalls for him and be done with it.