Can there be a more compelling reason for the masses to have more kids than to have a ready made recipient of endless hand-me-down articles of clothing? Here's a way to show that quality never goes out of style and one (like this, anyway) is enough.
Strategically design an extra pair of smaller sleeves and pant legs on midsize garments. Then a smaller version of the adult-to-be can put them on and wear them stylishly loose fitting until one's arms or legs lengthen and one must graduate to the larger pair of sleeves or legs. Extra fabric could be held out of place with snaps or Velcro. Hey, my kid the transformer!-- reensure, Sep 13 2000 Some sort of method for folding cuffs inside would keep my kids from looking like they shrunk in the wash.-- Scott_D, Sep 14 2000 The idea is clear enough, but how would something like this control population?-- BigThor, Sep 16 2000 Expandable clothes -- cool idea! Kids' clothes could have zippers at all the seams, and additional material, sleeves, legs, interchangeable collars, etc. could be available to grown into and accessorize. The inital fabric panels could really be worn "for life."
Although zippers might not work... I think adding panels would be preferable to carrying the extra fabric around.-- danrue, Oct 05 2000 Mama, are we poor?-- thumbwax, Oct 06 2000 The clothing a child wears is one of the traditional ways that they are differentiated from adults... childhood is in enough jeopardy without this infraction. Heck. It's bad enough all of the adults these days insist on looking like their teenagers. For an enlightening commentary on the state of childhood, read "The Disappearance of Childhood" by Neil Postman.-- Vis10n, Oct 06 2000 Children are differentiated from adults by being smaller and looking different. 'Childhood' will not be in jeopardy until there's some serious progress in biotechnology. Among the things that are in jeopardy are adult fantasies about childhood (innocence and freedom ones) and the specific ways in which current generations of adults lived and were treated when they were children themselves. On the balance, this is probably not a bad thing.-- Monkfish, Dec 03 2000 It wasn't until the 1800s that there was such a concept as "clothing for children"-- previously, kids wore miniature versions of whatever Mom and Dad wore. Corsets and farthingales on 9-year old girls-- not much fun for the kids.
Population control is best effected by the parents wearing prophylactics, not by making the kids wear special clothes.-- kitsune, Apr 17 2001 I have a set of clothes that grow.
It's called my birthday suit :)-- noviota, Jan 16 2002 Hmmm. I tend to make a distinction between my skin and my clothing. Nice suit, by the way.-- bristolz, Jan 16 2002 (hehe) how about just a nice, soft slow growing moss based cloth that will grow with the child..-- Garou, Jan 16 2002 Garou, you mean something like body hair? Hey, there we go...-- RayfordSteele, Feb 14 2002 Seems good at first... But most kids wreck outfits pretty quickly... much more quickly than they outgrow them. And it seems like all the extra fabric would make the clothes bulky and hot.-- Mad Scientist, Apr 25 2002 Fig leaves grow.-- popbottle, Apr 09 2017 The idea is clear enough, but how would something like this control population?
The same way that unattractive people don't get dates very often I suppose.-- RayfordSteele, Apr 10 2017 random, halfbakery