Price Per Wear: The Sneaky Math Behind Baby Clothes That Actually Last

This article is brought to you in partnership with Gerber Childrenswear, supporter of Peanut and women alike.

Styling your baby is, undoubtedly, half the fun of having one.

The teeny-tiny outfits.
The matching sets.
The adorable little hats.

But alongside all of the cuteness exists entire categories of the baby clothes experience that nobody has bothered to name. Which makes them harder to spot, harder to complain about, and much harder to avoid.

So we’ve named a few.

A short glossary

The One-and-Done (n.) A garment worn maybe once before it is outgrown. Usually the nicest thing they own. Always the most expensive.

The Hall of Fame (n.) The drawer of things that no longer fit and cannot be given away, because they took their first steps in that one.

The Costume Change (n.) When it stops being a diaper change and becomes a full outfit change. For both of you.

The Optimist (n.) Buying 6/9 months in March on the grounds that surely it will work for summer. It will not work for summer.

The Legend (n.) The garment that survives everything and gets more valuable for it. Top of the pile, back in rotation, in most of the photographs. You only notice how much work it's doing on the day it's in the wash.

Now the maths

Here's the thing about a One-and-Done. It isn't really a clothing problem, it's a budgeting one. And it's worse than it looks, because we've all been comparing the wrong number.

We look at the price. We should be looking at the price per wear.

A $24 sleeper worn four times before it's outgrown costs $8 every single time you put it on.

The same $24 sleeper, if it lasts sixty wears, costs 40 cents.

Same garment. Same receipt. Totally different value, decided entirely by whether the thing survives.

So what makes The Legend legendary?

Three things. 

It’s still soft in month five. Babies live in their clothes. Sleep in them, eat in them, play in them. None of us would spend a Sunday on the sofa in scratchy loungewear, and babies feel exactly the same way. They’re just less subtle about telling you (hello, mystery cry). Softness that survives the fortieth wash is everything.

It gives. Arms that suddenly refuse to go through sleeves. Everything is easier when the fabric moves with them. A bit of give also means it keeps fitting. You’re not sizing up every five minutes.

It comes out of the wash looking the same. Not technically washable as promised by a label. Washable and still completely fine afterwards. Still soft, still the right shape, still looking like you paid attention when you got dressed that morning.

Tired moms & their babes need a little Wiggle Room

Babies need room to move, stretch, play and grow. Their clothes need room to keep up with all of it. And we could probably do with a bit of room to breathe. So could our bank accounts.

Which is why Gerber designs children's clothing with "Wiggle Room" to grow, move and play. Their clothing is designed with either: soft stretchy material that allows your kids to wear each item a little longer (via Stretchwear™), extra room to move play and grow with comfortable durable material (via WiggleFit™), or features that allow clothing to grow with them, like adjustable waistbands, pant or shirt cuffs, and multiple rows of snaps (via AdjustaFit™).  

Which is another way of saying they’re designed to be The Legend.

More wear in every wear™.

Browse the full collection here.

A little something for you

Click through to shop and get $10 off your purchase of $50 or more, your discount will be auto-applied to your cart at checkout, no code needed.

Claim $10 off $50+ now.

Go and have a look.

We think you’ll find a couple of new favorites, and quite possibly a Legend in the making.