Why Style: How our Clothes Help Us be Us

Power Suits, evening dress, and comfort clothes, are all ways of describing the type of clothing you might wear. We all know that clothing options can change the way we feel about ourselves on any given day. Wear a powerful color can make you feel stronger. Wearing a specially tailored and cut suit can make you feel powerful and put together. Wearing sweatpants and a favorite old shirt can make you feel safe and protected. Clothes are important to adults. But did you ever stop to think that clothes are just as important to kids?

According to the Utah Education Network, people wear clothes for 5 very important reasons:

1. Adornment: Added decoration or ornamentation.
2. Protection: Clothing that provides physical safeguards to the body, preventing harm from climate and environment.
3. Identification: Establishing who someone is or what they do.
4. Modesty: Covering the body according to the code of decency established by society.
5. Status: One's position or rank in comparison to others.

All of these reasons make sense for adults, of course, u they also make perfect sense for kids. As adults, we tend to belittle kids a lot. We reason away their feelings, their fears, and their achievements all because they seem trivial to us. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things yet, so why should it matter to us? But their world is very real to them. It is not imaginary, it begins and ends every day just as ours does, and it has real repercussions for them. Why wouldn't we want to help them navigate through it with more ease?

Clothing seems like such a small part of who we are, but in reality, it is one of the most constant parts of us. Our style may change over the years but it is one of the easiest ways to present ourselves to the world. it also is a lot like a suit of armor for us in many ways. Not only can it express who we are, but it can also protect us in moments when we need help, strength, or comfort. many adults claim to have a power suit, power dress, power shirt, or power color that they turn to when they need to deliver that presentation at work with confidence. Many of us have an outfit that can always bring a smile to our face and make us happy and ready to look on the bright side. These are all incredible things for clothes to do for an adult, so why wouldn't it do the same for our kids?

One of the reasons The Boy's Store was created was to harness the power of style in young boys. Stores often focus on style for girls, bringing them better clothing options, colors, cuts, and fabric. Boys are often forgotten in this department. Cargo pants, t-shirts, sneakers, and a hoodie have become a tried and true uniform of sorts for boys all over the world. But is it enough? Bringing color into the worlds of boys, texture, and diverse style options can give boys more confidence in their abilities. It can give them more of a chance to express who they are, what they are feeling, and what they are capable of. We strive to bring a multitude of styles to boys and girls alike. After all, if we give them the tools our kids can change the world.