John Lewis has become the first retailer in the UK to remove gender labels from its childrenswear clothing ranges.
The change will apply to all childrenswear clothing except school uniforms.
The department store retailer has taken labels off individual items, designations sections have been merged in-store and own-brand clothing now have “girls & boys” or “boys & girls” labels on them.
The purpose of the changes is to combat gender stereotyping of children.
“We do not want to reinforce gender stereotypes within our John Lewis collections and instead want to provide greater choice, so that the parent or child can choose what they would like to wear,” John Lewis head of childrenswear Caroline Bettis said.
The news follows recent criticism directed at some retailers, such as Clarks, for having childrenswear campaigns that perpetuated gender stereotypes.
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