A guide for parents
What do children's clothes actually cost?
Around £2,500 from birth to starting school, and the reason isn't the price of clothes. It's how briefly each size is worn.
What's in here
- What clothing a child costs, year by year
- The number that actually matters is cost per wear
- But is secondhand any good?
- What secondhand, selling and swapping cost instead
- Where our 85% comes from
Children's clothes aren't expensive, that's the funny thing. A supermarket sleepsuit is a few quid, a Next jumper is a tenner.
It's the sheer number of them that gets you.
What clothing a child costs, year by year
A child gets through roughly 300 garments between birth and starting school. Not because they wear out, but because they grow through eleven sizes in five years. Spending settles at around £450 a year after the first, which is the expensive one.
| Age | Sizes | Per year | Total | What drives it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth to 1 | 6 | £700 | £700 | Six sizes in twelve months |
| 1 to 2 | 2 | £450 | £450 | Fewer sizes, pricier clothes |
| 2 to 5 | 3 | £450 | £1,350 | Roughly a size a year, bigger each time |
| Birth to school | £2,500 | Around 300 garments | ||
Indicative, based on around 300 garments birth to school at typical UK high street prices. Your number depends heavily on where you shop and how much you're given.
The number that actually matters is cost per wear
Nobody works this bit out, and it changes how you look at the whole thing.
A £6 newborn sleepsuit worn for three weeks, perhaps fifteen times, costs 40p a wear. A £12 jumper in 2-3 years, worn across a whole year, costs pennies. The same wardrobe is wildly more expensive at the start of a child's life than at the end of it.
| Item | Price | Times worn | Per wear |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newborn sleepsuit | £6 | ~15 | 40p |
| 0-3m sleepsuit | £6 | ~25 | 24p |
| 2-3y jumper | £12 | ~60 | 20p |
| 4-5y coat | £35 | ~90 | 39p |
Which explains that feeling you get in the first year, that you're constantly buying clothes. You are! And they're costing you far more per wear than anything you'll buy later.
Where the money actually goes
Not on expensive clothes. On the same cheap clothes, repeatedly, because a size is outgrown before it's worn out. Four in five children's garments are replaced because they no longer fit, not because they're damaged.
But is secondhand any good?
Fair question, and it deserves a proper answer rather than a pat on the head.
Children's clothes are the one category where secondhand is structurally better than in most others. Four in five items are replaced because a child outgrew them, not because they wore out. A 0-3 month sleepsuit has been worn perhaps twenty times before it stops fitting. It's not worn out. It's barely used.
So the average secondhand babygrow is in far better condition than the average secondhand adult jumper. A garment worn for six weeks has most of its life left.
The real risk isn't the clothes, it's not knowing what you're getting. A bundle photographed from a distance, a stain that doesn't show up under a kitchen light, a stretched neckline you only notice at home. That's what makes people wary, and it's fair to be wary of it.
It's also the problem we set out to fix. Every item on Swapaboo is photographed individually and checked before it goes anywhere: no holes, no stains, no heavy wear. Each piece is graded for condition, and the grade is shown before you claim it, so nothing is a surprise when the parcel opens. If something arrives not as described, your credits come straight back.
Nobody has to trust a stranger's judgement about what counts as good condition, which is the part that goes wrong everywhere else.
What secondhand, selling and swapping cost instead
Buying secondhand typically runs 60 to 80% below new for the same items. Vinted bundles, charity shops, and NCT nearly new sales all land somewhere in that range, and the clothes are usually barely worn because that's the nature of children's clothing.
Selling what you finish with recovers a little. A bundle of four or five baby items typically fetches five to ten pounds, so across a whole childhood you might recover a couple of hundred pounds for a substantial amount of effort.
Swapping costs nothing for the clothes and only the postage to move them. That's the model we built, and the honest number is below.
Where our 85% comes from
We say Swapaboo works out around 85% less than buying the same clothes new. Here's the arithmetic, so you can check it.
| Bought new | Through Swapaboo | |
|---|---|---|
| ~300 garments, birth to school | £2,500 | £0 for the clothes |
| What you pay instead | — | delivery or collection, from £1.99 |
| Roughly, across a childhood | £2,500 | ~£350 |
Based on around 300 garments birth to school against UK average clothing spend, moved in bundles at the collection or delivery fee. You pay the delivery or collection fee, never cash for the clothes.
The clothes themselves are free because you earn them: what you pass on becomes the credit you spend. The cost is moving them, and that's where the remaining 15% goes.
The first year genuinely does feel like you are always buying clothes. You are! It does settle down, I promise.
🌱 Swapaboo
Photograph what your children have outgrown, we check and value each piece, and that value becomes credits you spend on the next size up from another family. You choose every piece yourself, everything is checked and graded, and the only money that changes hands is the delivery.
We're opening in small batches and it's invitation only for now.
Common questions
How much do children's clothes cost in the UK?
Roughly £2,500 from birth to starting school, covering around 300 garments. The first year is the most expensive relative to use, because a baby goes through about six sizes in twelve months and each is worn for weeks.
Why are baby clothes so expensive?
Individually they are not. The cost comes from volume: a baby grows through six sizes in the first year, so the same few pounds are spent again every few weeks. Cost per wear is far higher for a newborn sleepsuit than for a coat that lasts a year.
How much can you save buying children's clothes secondhand?
Typically 60 to 80% against new for the same items, whether through Vinted, charity shops or NCT nearly new sales. Children's clothes are usually barely worn, since four in five are replaced because they have been outgrown rather than damaged.
Are secondhand children's clothes in good condition?
Usually better than people expect, because four in five children's garments are replaced when they are outgrown rather than worn out. A sleepsuit outgrown at three months has been worn perhaps twenty times. The real risk is not knowing the condition before you buy, which is why checked and graded items are worth more than a photograph of a pile.
Is it cheaper to swap or to sell children's clothes?
Selling a bundle typically recovers five to ten pounds for a morning of listing and posting. Swapping recovers the value as credit toward the next size instead, so nothing needs selling and nothing needs buying, and the only cost is moving the clothes.
How many clothes does a child get through before school?
Around 300 garments across eleven sizes, and most are outgrown rather than worn out. That is why the total is high even though individual items are cheap.