Everyone loves buying baby clothes. Your sister, your aunt, your neighbor, your neighbor's sister, you. It checks all the boxes for gift giving:
✓ Tiny
✓ Cute
✓ Practical
✓ Affordable
Plus people who already have children usually have lots of clothes they’re eagerly waiting to pass on to the next baby in line. What often happens is that expecting parents are bombarded with way too many baby clothes, both new and handed-down. This random assortment of clothes may not fit their own style, may be the wrong sizes for the season, may be so well loved that they’re not worth keeping.
Our approach to baby clothing is different. We often start our registry consultations by saying you only need five things to welcome your baby home – and clothing is one of them.
We do offer responsibly made, high quality clothing from brands like Quincy Mae and Colored Organics that will last through multiple children. These pieces will continue to circulate after their first use, whether they are handed down or resold. They make excellent baby shower gifts, going home outfits, and feel special to mix in a baby’s wardrobe.
But what about the rest of the clothes a baby needs? The clothes that make up their actual wardrobe. There’s so much more to consider than how tiny, cute, practical, and affordable an individual piece of clothing may be.
Most baby registry checklists try to eliminate the guesswork by taking a “more is better” approach. Not sure exactly how often you’ll do laundry or what the weather will be like when the baby arrives? Add 12 short sleeve onesies and 12 long sleeve onesies just in case. This mindset has real consequences, though. It fuels overproduction and overwhelms us on both an individual level and at a global scale. Too much laundry to do; too much mental energy wasted; too much money spent; and actual mountains of discarded clothing.
enter baby’s first wardrobe – all the clothing and seasonal wear your baby will need for the first 6 or 12 months of their life
PJs, rompers, outfits, bodysuits, booties, hats, and seasonal items are thoughtfully bundled by size and season to give you exactly what you need and nothing more. Outfits are assembled to coordinate with each other, taking the guesswork out of dressing your baby each day, and season-to-season.
we’ve considered laundry frequency, mental energy, environmental impact, and cost in building baby’s first wardrobe, so you don’t have to!
laundry frequency
Hate to be the one to break this to you, but you’re going to do laundry more often once you have a baby. Every 3-5 days is a good frequency to get comfortable with. Baby’s First Wardrobe has just the right number of each clothing type to get you from one laundry day to the next.
mental energy
You don’t have to spend your time figuring out the ideal quantity of pajamas, or which shirt to put with which pants, or what a baby needs to stay warm in the winter. Decision fatigue is real, but with Baby’s First Wardrobe, you can skip thinking about all of this!
environmental impact
When something is so overproduced and over consumed that it saturates the secondhand market, we encourage families to shop for those things used. Our well established buy, sell, trade program ensures a healthy supply of gently used clothing and essentials in excellent condition for everyone who wants to take a sustainable approach to clothing their baby.
cost
We offer two options, a 0-6m Wardrobe and a 0-12m Wardrobe. Here’s what’s included in our 0-6 Month Wardrobe:
item
|
quantity | ||
0-3m | 3-6m | 6-12m | |
PJs | 8 | 8 | 6 |
rompers | 4 | 4 | 4 |
outfits | 4 | 4 | 4 |
extra bodysuits | 2 | 2 | 2 |
extra layer top | 1 | 1 | 1 |
booties/shoes | 1 | 1 | 1 |
newborn caps | 1 | 1 | 0 |
seasonal hat | 2 | ||
scratch mitts | 1 | 0 | 0 |
jacket/bunting | 1 | ||
swimwear | 1 |
We include brands like Gap, Primary, H&M, Old Navy, Zara, Hannah Andersson, Mini Boden, and Tea Collection, all in excellent gently used condition.
Our 0-6 Month Wardrobe costs $375. That's 47 items for an average of $8 per piece. Shopping for this same assortment of clothing and accessories at the Gap would cost between $1000-$1600 depending on what’s on sale. That’s at least triple the cost of Baby’s First Wardrobe! Even shopping at H&M would cost twice as much.
Choosing a secondhand wardrobe not only saves money, it also supports a circular retail system where families can earn credit for the items they sell while other families benefit from plentiful access to high quality, affordable used goods.
It’s a win-win-win.
And we hope by this point you’ve forgotten that we told you you have to start doing laundry twice a week :)explore our gently used offerings online
Baby’s Wardrobe - First 6 Months
Baby's Wardrobe - First 12 Months
Shop all Gently Used Clothing
Want to learn how to register for secondhand clothing, newborn essentials, and large gear like strollers, bouncers, high chairs, and more?
Book a free baby registry consultation to get started!
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