Spanish retail giant El Corte Inglés came under fire last week for stocking a girls’ T-shirt featuring a suggestive message.
“The undertone is unmistakably pe**philic,” a netizen wrote, while another questioned, “Who in the world approved this?”
The company was forced to pull the item from its shelves soon enough, but it may not have happened if mom blogger Kat had not first drawn attention to the issue.
Highlights
- Kat never expected her video to spark such a widespread response across Spain and beyond.
- The boy mom has built an Instagram account to draw attention to concerns about girls’ clothing.
- She urged brands to prioritize comfort, protection, and age-appropriate designs over adult fashion trends.
Bored Panda recently spoke with her about whether she expected her efforts to have such a significant impact and what she hopes sellers will take away from the incident.
“I want brands to let kids be kids,” she said.
A mom cried tears of joy after learning El Corte Inglés was forced to remove a problematic T-shirt
Kat had forgotten about her September 1 video calling out El Corte Inglés, as life with her own children leaves little room for other things.
However, Abril Valdez, the mom who originally sent her a screenshot of the T-shirt with the message “Small ones are more juicy,” reached out soon after to say the story had “spread like crazy across Spain” and that the company had removed the item from its website.
Kat’s reaction to the news was anything but subtle.
Kat, however, was quick to share the credit for the outcome with numerous parents “across different countries and languages” who came together to address something “they all agreed was wrong.”
“It was amazing,” she said of their shared effort, adding that “seeing my videos translated into so many languages on Instagram feels surreal to me.”
Kat was especially appreciative of her collaboration with Valdez, which she described as “two moms who had never met” coming together to bring about “real, tangible change.”
Being a boy mom did not keep Kat from standing up for girls
Kat shared several messages of gratitude she received after El Corte Inglés removed the T-shirt, but one in particular gave her “full body chills.”
A mom named Claire commented, “You may not have a girl, but you sure are a girl mom.”
In response, Kat explained that there was never a time when she did not feel strongly about standing up for girls, despite not having a daughter herself.
Among Kat's posts calling out design flaws in girls' clothing are videos about sequins that reveal a pattern when moved and brands selling crop tops and tennis skirts to toddlers.
The problem with the first design, she argued, was that it invited other children to play with the decoration and potentially touch a girl's body, while the second simply concerned how revealing the garments were.
Lauren, another mom, told Kat she could relate to these concerns because “she was a girl before she was a parent.”
That comment, Kat said, “stuck” with her because it was “so true.”
Kat called on businesses to keep children’s clothing “innocent”
Kat believes brands worldwide have much to learn from the El Corte Inglés’ controversy.
For one, she said, it is “never too late” to admit fault and correct a mistake, as she believes actions such as pulling a problematic item from sale can ultimately earn parents’ respect.
The second takeaway, she detailed, is to avoid putting questionable designs on the market in the first place.
“Let kids be kids,” she urged manufacturers.
“Clothing for children should be innocent, protective, comfortable and appropriate.”
She also addressed the troubling differences between boys’ and girls’ clothing
Just last month, Kat filmed a video highlighting the difference in clothing sizes for boys and girls of the same age.
“This is what Old Navy thinks your five-year-old should be wearing to go down the slide,” she said while holding up a pair of tiny denim shorts that resembled underwear.
For comparison, she also held up a pair of much longer “quick dry” khaki shorts made for boys.
While commenters on Kat’s video told her the gendered size difference was justified because boys are naturally bigger, she argued that the measurements on the garments suggested otherwise.
She read out details including height and weight ranges on clothing tags to make her point, before asserting that “it’s just the amount of fabric they’re given that is different.”
We asked Kat what she believed was causing this disparity.
“I think a lot of it comes from girls' clothing following the same trends as women's clothing. But girls are not women,” she said.
“They deserve to be comfortable and protected, just like boys are. Let's let them be little while they're little.”
"Hold the corporations accountable," a social media user siding with Kat said
