Why does girls clothing have to look so....?

I was shopping over the weekend at one of my favorite big box stores. My husband and I split up to find what we needed and as he strolled through the girls department he heard two women comment to each other, "Why does girls clothing have to look so trashy?"

Yes, why does it? I have two daughters, ages 6 and 3 1/2 and when my first daughter was only an infant I asked the same question. The answer to my question was the birth of Annie's Clothesline. At the time I didn't think about it getting worse with the age of the girl, but of course it does. Now that my oldest daughter is wearing clothing from  the girls department and not the baby/toddler section I find that shopping for her is much harder. I don't want my daughters wearing short-shorts, cropped shirts, tight fitting pants, and clothing with inappropriate sayings or images of commercial characters on them. Alas, that's what we find available at those big box stores.

I'm thankful that I can sew and that I love to create and my business partner feels strongly about the same issues. Again, we'll resort to what we know best, our own skills of creating quality clothing that is age appropriate, does not overwhelm with gender specific colors, and is reminiscent of children's clothing styles from eras of the past. I think we may see a bigger push than I anticipated to expand Annie's Clothesline to sizes larger than 5. There is a need for clothing for girls that keeps them looking like a girl and not so....well you know...