Mom’s Awesome Viral Letter Forces Lands’ End To Make Some Science Tees For Girls
Lands’ End already makes my favorite comfy mom shoes, but now this forward thinking company has given me another reason to love them.Lands’ End is now making science themed T-shirts for girls, thanks a Facebook letter from an unhappy customer.New Jersey mom Lisa Ryder and her nine year old daughter were excited to find NASA, sharks and dinosaurs on the T-shirts in the boys’ pages of the back to school Lands’ End catalog, but were quickly disappointed to realize these awesome science shirts weren’t available in girls’ sizes.
Ryder posted a letter to the Lands’ End Facebook page, explaining their feelings on the lack of options for girls’ clothing:
We immediately flipped forward in your catalog to find the equivalent shirts in girls’ sizes. But when we got to the available t-shirt designs for girls on page 56, instead of science-themed art, we were treated to sparkly tees with rhinestones, non-realistic looking stars, and a design featuring a dog dressed like a princess and wearing a tutu.
My daughter was very confused. Lots of her friends that are girls love science, too. Why were there no cool science shirts for girls?
Ryder’s post received a ton of comments from fellow customers who shared her feelings, and yesterday Lands’ End announced their new science themed shirts for girls, including a sneak peak of this solar system long sleeved T that looks so soft and comfortable and I wish I could get it for myself.
Can we please start a slow clap for how awesome this is? I have two sons and two nieces all around the same age and every time I step into a clothing section, it’s very easy to spot the girls’ section- it’s the side you turn away from to guard your eyes. I’m not judging anyone for dressing their daughter in head to toe pink sparkles if that’s what you or she wants to do- I myself was a bit of a girly girl growing up, but it’s nice to see a company acknowledge that not all girls want to dress like that- at least not all of the time.
I find it particularly odd that there is this gender divide in children’s clothing, but not so much in adults. I have purchased toddler T shirts for boys with sharks, bugs, even complicated math equations on the front, but I’ve yet to see the equivalent for little girls. And yet, at some point between size 5T and the Woman’s section, this divide breaks down. Ladies rock shirts from their favorite sports team, sci-fi movie or Game of Thrones gear and clothing companies actively market these items to women. I was at Star Wars Days in Walt Disney World this past May and there were fantastic adult dresses stylized to look like R2D2 and Luke Skywalker selling like hotcakes. Too bad they didn’t make them for little girls as well.
Lands’ End is definitely moving in the right direction by offering girls clothing options which depict things other than stereotypical girl interests. Let’s hope that more companies start to follow their example, but until then, has anyone seen my sunglasses? I have to walk by Justice.
