Anyone in the rag trade will tell you that mainstream clothing design is about as intellectually and artistically challenging as blinking. The monotonous, boring “street clothes” which comprise the uniform of the average human being are a good example of design values in a coma. Office clothes are marginally better, but only because of women’s clothing. Men’s clothing continues to linger in about 1920, but with far inferior quality materials.

Ironically, the best clothing materials are the organics. Wool and cotton are infinitely more versatile than the polymers, which are pretty much stuck with their ability to stretch and that’s really their only trick, except for the new nano fibers and metal- incorporating weaves coming on the market in eclectic dribs and drabs, mainly drabs.

Wool suits are perhaps the best example of genuine quality. These are standout items of clothing, and they have to be good. Prior to synthetics, they’d have another organic, silk, as their lining. Unbelievably comfortable, and incredibly durable, these suits never really went out of fashion. Forget lapel sizes and mindless blather about cuts, good fabrics simply out-present anything else. Anyone can see they’re superior clothes.

Tweed is another example. This is a virtually bullet proof, tough, material which simply refuses to die. You can buy an old tweed in any op shop for peanuts, and you’ll have an item of clothing for life. Again, a superior fabric, a much better design concept, and the “Tweed image”, and this is a type of clothing which like a Rolls Royce simply sits there and proves it’s a better product.

The market for wool and cotton

The market developed through the real need for better quality kids clothes, particularly girls clothes, which if cheapish were also nasty, patronizing things usually of appalling quality. (Who wants their daughter to look like a sack of potatoes or be a deafening neon pink, anyway?) Another factor was that the synthetics were also identified as being fire hazards capable of causing serious burns. A combination of parental irritation with inferior quality and the real needs of kids for decent clothes created the new market for organics.

The return to organics started through kids denim and wool tops. These clothes don’t fall to pieces if a bit of sunlight hits them and don’t have to be washed by hand under a full moon to avoid color loss. The synthetics were nowhere in this race.

You really would think that someone could have come up with a fireproof synthetic which didn’t need to be treated like priceless art in the washing machine, wouldn’t you? Well, they didn’t, and that’s where the organics came roaring back into style.

Good clothes will always beat inferior clothes. Go for quality, and you can’t lose.

Who’d have thought what started off as such a traditional business would now be launching a cutting edge site.

But what kind of social networking site would a shoe Company launch you may ask? I did ask this, out loud and to myself, and then proceeded to investigate.

It turns out the Start-Rite Shoes social network is for all parents to meet online, share parenting tips, and so on. Here his how the Smart-Rite Shoes community describes itself:

“Write a parent diary / blog, make friends and get advice
Find out anything you need to know about being a parent
Share your hard earned know-how by answering questions”

It sounds pretty neat. Remember, this stuff is completely free, so if you’re a parent, or child’s shoe enthusiast (that sounds bad), why not head on over and start your very own free blog.

Interesting though this all may be, where’s the kids clothing deal?

You will see at the bottom right of the social network is a place for you to enter your email address. This will subscribe you to the newsletter, but more importantly it enters you for a chance to win free shoes. I have a friend of a friend who actually makes a significant amount of his income by signing up to all sorts of contests like this – it works.

There are some quite interesting blog posts already being published on the Start-right community, so it looks like it’s getting off to a good start. It seems a lot of parents have discovered their own ways to save money when they buy clothes for their kids and they are sharing their tips.

Start-rite have made shoes for the English Royal family, over 1500 pairs over the years, so if you feel like an ego trip, give them a go.

Now given what I’ve just said, where do you think the best place to shop online for kids clothes would be? (This is a lesson in funk by the way and the first paragraph should be read in a black-American accent). It’s the clothing section of eBay of course! You’ll save money and get your kid a completely unique look, which I think is a good way to show them that they can make their own trends and don’t need to follow the shallow commercial ones of the modern day. If your not a natural at putting together good looking sets of clothes you way want your husband/wifes advice on this one, for the sake of the child, and for my sake. Happy bidding!

That is why I’ve tracked down some great online deals for you. Amazon has something for every kid, no matter what they are into. They have Batman-themed hats and gloves to bright pink Disney themed ones and items with no theme at all. What’s great is most of them only cost roughly $10!

I tend to let my ski-jacket double up as a winter coat which is great because it saves money and is nice and warm, but often it’s too warm for those ‘in between’ days, which is where having an addidional winter coat would come in handy.

On Amazon there are some tempting deals for designer winter coats for kids, which I hope is just what you are looking for. They come in all sorts of colours and you can shop for them by brand if you like (there are quite a few Sportier ones on sale). They are all below $50, some more than half that price.

Amazon.com stocks a wide selection of kids clothes for boys and girls of all ages. Their price range is really big too so whether you are on a strict budget or a bit of a spending spree they can fit your needs, and hopefully your kids! Whether you want to shop online with them peaking over your shoulder or not is completely up to you!