Mother slams 'gendered' labels on children's clothing at Kmart: 'Why the hell are all the cool T-shirt’s labeled ‘boys’?'
A mother has slammed Kmart for "gendered" labels in their children's line of clothing. The woman from New Zealand started a petition against labels like "boys" and "girls" after she came across a "boys" label when buying a dinosaur shirt for her daughter from a local Kmart store.
The woman said that she was disgruntled to find that the piece of clothing that her daughter really wanted was labeled for boys aged between one and seven. She did buy the apparel regardless, and also posted a picture of her 2-year-old daughter smiling while sporting the clothing on her Facebook page.
"Why the hell are all the cool T-shirt’s labeled ‘boys’ what makes this T-shirt a boys T-shirt anyway?!? Girls can only wear a dinosaur T-shirt if it’s pink and full of sequins?! Honestly it is beyond ridiculous get in the modern world you archaic bunch of fossils...down with gendered kids clothes and down with lame girls clothes..." she fumed in the post.
She added: "Sure there are heaps of bigger things going on in the world right now but I happen to think that it is pretty important to allow our children to wear whichever clothes they choose and not feel shame or stigma because that piece of clothing has been assigned a specific gender."
She posted the same message in the petition she started on Change.org.
Regarding the issue, Kmart told Daily Mail Australia: "At Kmart our store design is set up to assist customers with a convenient shopping experience based on their shopping behavior. At Kmart we are constantly listening to our customers and incorporating their feedback to both future product ranges and store design."
The woman's demand sparked mixed reactions among parents on social media.
"We don't fill her world with pink sand sparkles, pink is one of many colors and sparkles have their place but that's not everywhere. She loves dinosaurs, sharks, pirates, unicorns, blue and bright colors. We let her pick what she wants to wear at shops from either the boys or girls section," one mother wrote, talking about her daughter.
However, another parent disagreed with the woman's demand. "Cut the damn tag off if it's that much of an issue," they wrote. "The kids will see what they like, whether it be in the boys or girls section. They don't read labels anyway," the social media user said.