With upcoming graduations and ceremonies as the school year winds down, there are a lot of kids’ clothes needed! Target and Amazon used to be great options for low-cost kids and baby apparel, but where are parents supposed to go to find something similar?
Cancel your Amazon Prime subscription. You might be saying – Oh no, cancelling Amazon Prime?? What if I need it?
The thing is – every other retailer you shop at doesn’t have a monthly or annual fee for free shipping. Costco and the like might have memberships you pay for, but the $65/year for an entry-level Costco membership is way less than Amazon’s $192/year. That’s $16/month, and if you’re not ordering more than twice in that time it’s not worth it. Even if you use Prime Video a lot, you can likely find other streaming services that also have the shows and movies you like as they don’t have a ton of original content.
Without Prime, Amazon is on the same playing field as other retailers for you, since all will have shipping costs. Why give Amazon an advantage? If you cancel and realize you actually need Prime for a particular reason, you can always re-instate it.
I finally cancelled my Prime subscription a couple weeks ago, and I was nervous. I had been a Prime member since 2010, and had relied on it for so long for making ordering things easier. Even though I don’t want to shop at Amazon, it felt weird to walk away. But, I haven’t regretted it once!
Local, Direct, and Non-Shopping Choices: Shop local stores if you have them available. Thrift stores are also an amazing option for kids’ stuff. I included a couple of larger thrifting stores in the list, but if you have a local thrift store definitely check ‘em out!
Direct: Usually in this category the brands have their own online shopping options. If you find a brand on Target/Amazon/Walmart you like, you can search to see if they have their own site or are sold by other retailers.
Free/No Purchase: Local Buy Nothing groups often have kids clothing and other items. If you’re part of a parenting group or have parent friends, host a swap party! They are super fun and a nice way to get together.
Shopping Options:
ManyMoons: Founded by married Columbia Business School grads and funded by start-up investors, ManyMoons is a circular fashion company and a Certified B corp. They have new overstock items from brands, called Rescues, but also run a Give Back program for Pre-Loved/Resale. With the Give Back program, if your kid outgrows something and it’s still in good condition you can send it back for a 20% credit of the original purchase price. They also have a rental program where you can rent for a minimum of two months if you’re looking for something seasonal. You can shop by price, including items under $15, to find the best deals.
Categories: Baby and kids for girls, boys, and unisex
Returns: Can return within 14 days of original purchase
Fastest Shipping Time: 3-4 days, based on 1-2 days for order processing and 1-2 day expedited shipping.
In-store shopping: No, online-only
Primary: Founded by two women, Galyn Bernard and Christina Carbonell, and funded by start-up investors. Primary focuses on gender neutral clothing with no logos or slogans and has been selling online at Target since 2024. Their prices are slightly higher than most Target items, but the quality is generally seen to be good, although it may have declined since 2019/2020 if you shopped there previously. They also have a lot of sales including a 30% off event this Memorial Day weekend.
Categories: Gender neutral for baby and kids
Returns: 90 days
Fastest Shipping Time: Overnight ($30 fee)
In-store shopping: No, online-only
Carter’s, OshKosh B’gosh: Traded publicly and largest shareholders are institutional investors. Carter’s maintains their commitment to diversity and inclusion and has a progress update against goals as of 2023. Carter’s quality is generally good according to Reddit, with parents being able to use items as hand-me-downs. Prices are comparable to Target when items are on sale, which they have often.
Categories: Baby and Kids for girls, boys
Returns: 90 days
Fastest Shipping Time: Overnight ($25 fee)
In-store shopping: Yes
Uniqlo: reviewed before for low-cost summer apparel for adults. Uniqlo is great!
Categories: Baby and Kids for girls, boys
Returns: 30 days
Fastest Shipping Time: Express, 1-2 business days
In-store Shopping: Yes
TJMaxx/Marshalls: reviewed before when looking at Home Organization. TJ Maxx Corporation supports DEI and has a diverse board of directors as well.
Old Navy: reviewed before for lost-cost summer apparel. Old Navy and Gap, Inc brands are generally okay.
Categories: Baby and Kids for girls, boys
Returns: 30 days
Fastest Shipping Time: Priority, 1-2 business days
In-store Shopping: Yes
Thrifting Options
Once Upon a Child: Owned by Winmark, a franchising company with other re-sale brands like Plato’s Closet, Play it Again Sports, and Music Go Round. Winmark is publicly traded with institutional investors as the largest shareholders, and does not have a dedicated DEI policy. Once Upon a Child sells gently used baby and kids’ clothing and also have a paid program where you can get money for clothing items no longer needed. However, the store has the ability to say no to certain items so I would be cautiously optimistic trying to sell anything to them.
Categories: Baby and Kids for girls, boys.
In-store shopping: Only in-store, no online options
ThredUp: Publicly traded with institutional investors owning the majority of stock at 61%. Interestingly, ThredUp is traded on Nasdaq and the Long Term Stock Exchange, which is focused on long-term profit versus short-term gains typical of a lot of stock investors. They also support DEI, though it’s not clearly listed on their corporate site (I had to dig through different documents to find it). ThredUp is a resale platform where you can buy or sell used clothing, shoes, and accessories. You can shop by price, including under $10.
Categories: Baby and Kids for girls, boys
Returns: Need to be postmarked/shipped within 14 days of delivery
Fastest Shipping Time: Expedited, 2-3 business days
In-store shopping: No, online-only
Not so great companies
The Children’s Place/Gymboree: Majority-owned by Mithaq Capital SPC since early 2024. Mithaq Capital SPC is a Saudi Arabian investment firm owned by the Al-Rajhi family, which made their fortune through the Al Rajhi Bank. Al Rajhi bank has been tied to terrorism through the 2012 Senate investigation report of HSBC money laundering, though they deny the claims. They are considered to be one of the richest families in Saudi Arabia after the royals. Carter’s also spent $40K in lobbying in 2024 on the de minimus exception.
My thoughts: I don’t want to throw shade just because an owner or investment group is Saudi Arabian, but there are some concerning issues with the Al-Rajhi bank and the family running it. I’d stay away from this one.
Kohl’s: Publicly traded with institutional investors as the largest shareholders. Kohl’s bowed to Trump and Republicans’ DEI pressure in March, changing the title of their Chief DEI officer to Chief Inclusion & Belonging Officer and removing all DEI language from their site. Kohl’s also spent $160K lobbying in 2024, focusing mostly on regulations and policies relating to their industry. I can’t tell through OpenSecrets what they were lobbying for or against, as they weren’t lobbying for a specific bill. I would not shop here based on their lack of resolve to continue supporting DEI.
Hanna Andersson: Owned by private equity firm L Catterton, which is tied to Bernard Arnault, the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy billionaire that I discussed when researching Sephora. Arnault has backed L Catterton since 2016, and they have some shady tax-avoidance ownership setups in Luxembourg. L Catterton has also been accused of using companies it acquired as piggy banks and bankrupting them with massive debt loads. I’d stay away from this company.
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