Children’s Holiday Outfits: #2 – The Classic Red Sweater for Boys

Posted by Loobalee in Shopping Tips

Nov|6|2008

This month, we’re reviewing 2008 trends for dressing your children this coming holiday season.

For our second review in this series, we searched for the perfect, classic red Christmas sweater for boys – always a sure winner. We found some great sweaters to consider this season in every price range.

Again, Red is for Resale – And try these 4 tips for buying the red Christmas sweater to optimize your resale opportunity:

Fine fabrics like cashmere, lambswool, merino, and fine gauge fade-resistant cottons.
Buy designer brand names
Color is king! Look for lush, true red Christmas colors. Generally, your more expensive sweaters and finer fabrics will have and sustain better color.
Necklines in both V or Crewneck are most popular, but button cardigans, shawl collars, roll neck collars, and zip or half-zip all have good resale opportunity as well – if designer quality.

Here’s our recommendations for this year’s red Christmas sweaters — for baby, little, and big boys. Remember – prices, stock, and promotions can change daily. Please share if you see prices drop by commenting below! And, refer back to our bi-weekly Sales At A Glance article for all the current sales promotions.

BUY:
- 77 Kids
  - Cable Neck V for Toddlers: $24.50. Although we aren’t sure how well 77 Kids will re-sell, this looks like a stylish basic sweater that will outlast trends.
- Crewcuts
  - Boys Rollneck Sweater in Holiday Red: Just $29.50 (Take care not to over wash if you plan to re-sell)
  - Boys Lambswool Crewneck Sweater in Vivid Red: $54 (Wait a couple weeks — this may go on sale)
  - Boys Shawl Collar Sweater in Holiday Red: $39.50 (reg: $49.50)
  - Boys Cotton Cashmere Cardigan in Vivid Red: Best Buy! $39.50 (reg: $68) NOTICE: We think this one may have sold out already since yesterday! But, watch on-line, we have also noticed that the Crewcuts sale section is a bit haphazardly managed and it will possibly re-appear.
- Childrens Place
  - V-Neck sweater for Little Boys: $12.50. Wow – this is an unbelievable price. We didn’t expect a ‘find’ at the Children’s Place to make our BUY list. This sweater may actually have pretty good resale value for the brand. The color appears rich and the style is classic.
  - And, the same is available for Big Boys: $14.50
- BabyGap - we love the Russian Red color this season!
  - Cable Knit Sweater Hoodie: $29.50
  - Sherpa Mock Sweater: $34.50
- GapKids
  - Uniform V-Neck: $24.50 (take care with washing)
- Gymboree
  - Use a 20% off coupon, or buy during upcoming Circle of Friends sale to save an additional 30% on top of these current 25% off sale prices:
    - Sherpa Trim Sweater for Little Boys: $32.50 (Note: this is a fun, casual style, but the color isn’t ‘true’ Christmas)
    - Sherpa Trimmed Cardigan #34.50
- Janie & Jack
  - Cable Half-Zip Sweater: Best Buy! $23.99 (reg. $42.00)
- Lands End
  - Offers a wide range of basic, cotton styles in ‘Red’. View Boys / Tops / Sweaters for selection ranging from $29.50 – $35.
  - Cashmere Crew for Boys: Found in Overstocks! Great Buy! $49.50 (was $89(
- Crazy8
  - Pocket Half-Zip Sweater: $5.99 (reg. $24.50) — For that price – definitely a Best Buy. This should be relatively easy to wear for virtually free (providing it holds up nicely to re-sell).
- LL Bean
  - Boys Fisherman Cable Sweater: $39.50
    *
WAIT:
- Hanna Andersson
  - Everywhere I go Zip Front sweater: $59.50 (wait for this one to go on sale – at least 30% off)
- CrewCuts:
  - Boys Cashmere Cable Sweater in Vivid Red: $99.99 (reg. $148). This is one of the nicest sweaters we found. At 33% off now, we still think there is room to wait. Other color options in this sweater are down to $69.99 (less than 1/2 off).
  - Boys Cashmere V-Neck Sweater in Vivid Red: $89.99 (reg. $128). Ditto above comment. This sweater should go to 50 – 60% off (possibly before Christmas).
- Lands End
  - Cashmere Crew in Rich Red: $99.50. Again, better to wait until it goes on sale. While this is likely a high quality sweater, this quality isn’t usually associated with Lands End, so it may be difficult to re-sell.
- Most Boutiques and High-end Department Store Designers have red dresses too. You’ll find these and more at Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, and Saks 5th Avenue. But wait — they are classic styles and will go on sale. Buy them at the end of this season at 60 – 80% off for next season.
  - Ralph Lauren
  - Quiksilver
  - Burberry
  - and more!
AVOID:
- 77 Kids:
  - Boys V-Neck Sweater: $24.50. A contributing factor to why we would avoid this sweater is that the resale demand is unknown at this time. But, the main reason is that the true color of the sweater is very questionable — every photo of the sweater is looks different.
- Old Navy
  - Boys Button Front Mock Sweater: $20 (reg. $26.00)
  - Unrecognizable brands from low to mid-range variety and deparment stores such as Target, Kohl’s, Mervyn’s, Lord & Taylor, Marshall Fields, and Macy’s.*
    *
NOT AVAILABLE — We didn’t forget! These popular children’s retailers are not offering an solid red Christmas sweater for boys this 2008 season:
- Naartjie
- Strasburg Children
- Crazy8
- Garnet Hill
- Abercrombie Kids
- Mini-Boden