Super slim boys' pants

[Susie]

aka, my annual plea for extremely slim cut, currently available boys pants styles.

I need to buy pants for DS (5) for fall.  He's about 46" tall (94th percentile) but only 40 lbs, giving him a BMI of about 13, and < 3rd percentile.  His proportions are really difficult to shop for.  His summer shorts and swim trunks were a mix of 3T and 4T, which worked fine, but he's at least a size 5 by inseam for long pants.  

In the past we've relied on pants with functioning drawstrings, and I tie them just tight enough for him to pull them over his hips to use the bathroom.  He doesn't love that, and always asks for them to be tied tighter because they're loose on his waist, but I don't have a better idea.  He's starting kindergarten this fall and can't tie his own shoe laces/drawstrings yet.  

Brands are hit and miss.  Every year some Cat & Jack work, others don't.  Same for ON, Gap, Hanna, etc.  So I'm hoping someone with a similarly built kiddo has tried a few of this year's offerings and can advise?

[nicolewi]

Take this with a giant grain of salt, because I do not have a very long and lean kid, but it always seemed to me that Lands’ End was cut slim.

[beerlover]

My DS is really slim also, and I always bought the adjustable waist pants from Carters.

[sparty04]

In the past I've tried Lands End slims and they ended up being too tight for my kid who was tall and skinny-ish. Might be worth a try. I also do a lot of joggers with my kids because the length doesn't matter as much. I prefer under armour for athletic pants. The kohls jumping beans brand sometimes runs longer too.

[sparty04]

Sept 4, 2024 21:30:03 GMT -5 sparty04 said:

In the past I've tried Lands End slims and they ended up being too tight for my kid who was tall and skinny-ish. Might be worth a try. I also do a lot of joggers with my kids because the length doesn't matter as much. I prefer under armour for athletic pants. The kohls jumping beans brand sometimes runs longer too.

Also some cat and jack stuff at target is available in slim. I've tried the slim leggings for my daughter who is almost 5, tall and thin and they were too tight but boys might be more generously cut.

[countthestars]

I find H&M joggers to run slim

[imimahoney]

Children's Place and Old Navy make slim cut pants.

[pinkpeony08]

There is a line of Cat and Jack pants that come in slim and Hannah Andersson makes some pants in slim as well. Those have worked for my slim kid. The Target ones are often out of stock and ship only so I usually have to check back a few times to snag them.

[ssmjlm]

Check primary. Their pants worked best for my slim girl. She's sized of out them now, sadly.

[lessel]

For jeans, maybe try Old Navy boys skinny jeans in the slim style. They're slimmer than the slim. And I think they start at size 5. Some of their other jeans start at 6.

[magma]

My son was super skinny as well - Boden had very skinny cut pants. Also, for jeans and basic sweats you can try the girls section, they are sometimes cut slimmer. At one point my son was wearing girls black leggings but they looked like black sweatpants on him. 🤷‍♀️

[purplepenguin7]

My daughter is the same and adjustable waist pants are a must. I don't have a problem finding jeans with that at any of the basics stores: target, old navy, carters, children's place etc. You may have to stop in a store to make sure the ones you are buying are adjustable waist but usually it does say online. I buy for the length and adjust them as tight as needed. Here's just one example.

oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?pid=723743002&rrec=true&mlink=5050,12413545,onproduct1_rr_3&clink=12413545#pdp-page-content

[stemmie]

I found the Gap slim-sized (they have slim, regular and husky in many styles) with the adjustable waist worked well at that age. For uniform pants/khakis French Toast used to work.

[Susie]

Thanks for the recs.  I haven't noticed as many boys' pants as girls' advertised with the adjustable waist, but shopping in person is prob a good idea to find that.  DD used to wear the adjustable waist girls jeans from Osh Kosh and they were good.  DS prefers knit to woven/denim materials, but if he runs out of sweat pants I'm guessing (hoping) he'll wear whatever is clean!

[awkwardpenguin]

We do these in slim:

www.target.com/p/boys--39--stretch-straight-fit-woven-pull-on-pants---cat---38--jack--8482--beige-7/-/A-87972976?preselect=87972989

But we have school uniforms so we just need a zillion pairs of khakis.

[shauni27]

Sept 5, 2024 7:52:40 GMT -5 magma said:

My son was super skinny as well - Boden had very skinny cut pants. Also, for jeans and basic sweats you can try the girls section, they are sometimes cut slimmer. At one point my son was wearing girls black leggings but they looked like black sweatpants on him. 🤷‍♀️

this is what I did with S until last year. We would buy from the girls department at Old Navy. He wore leggings all the time, too.

[magma]

For a while there even the adjustable waist pants couldn’t get small enough for DS, we’d tighten them all the way and still not enough. Same with tying drawstrings as tight as possible. DS was sooooo skinny.

I don’t sew but my DD does - even when she was little she could easily fold over the back of the waistband of DS’s pants and sew it closed, making it tight enough for him. So that’s an option too.

I’ll say DS is now 14, he is still slim but not ridiculously so - “normal” pants fit him.

[lilac05]

My son wore a lot of Children’s Place jeans. They all have adjustable waist and some come in slims.

Sometimes the Jumping Beans brand at Kohls runs slimmer, too.

Also, 5s are generally more slim than 5T, so that might help a tiny bit, too.

[lucybrown]

Sept 5, 2024 10:29:50 GMT -5 awkwardpenguin said:

We do these in slim:

www.target.com/p/boys--39--stretch-straight-fit-woven-pull-on-pants---cat---38--jack--8482--beige-7/-/A-87972976?preselect=87972989

But we have school uniforms so we just need a zillion pairs of khakis.

Same. My long, lean kiddos are consistently at least 2 sizes difference between waist and inseam. These cat & Jack pants and Gap joggers are all DS (6) has worn for most of his life.

[isabel]

We have the same issue and similar proportions. I found some Under Armour and Levis pants at Nordstrom in the kids section that worked well for him last year.

I honestly am at a point where I think paying to have the waist tailored on cheaper pants that are long enough would be a better use of money than paying more for other brands.

[ny96]

My super slim kid wears a lot of Crewcuts pants.

[ny96]

Sept 5, 2024 11:34:16 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

Sept 5, 2024 7:52:40 GMT -5 magma said:

My son was super skinny as well - Boden had very skinny cut pants. Also, for jeans and basic sweats you can try the girls section, they are sometimes cut slimmer. At one point my son was wearing girls black leggings but they looked like black sweatpants on him. 🤷‍♀️

this is what I did with S until last year. We would buy from the girls department at Old Navy. He wore leggings all the time, too.

My son wore a lot of leggings from the girls department too, but I think he stopped at about 5.

[heygrey]

Levi 510s are the best jeans I've found for DS, still at age 10. He hates jeans though so at best I manage to coax him into them once a week.

On the more expensive side, Adidas makes some slim pants that DS loves, but at $30+ I only buy one or two.

Old Navy is terrible for changing their styles every season, but they usually have one that works if I go in person with DS and try things on. We buy one of every colour and three in black.


I have an older child now so I have fully embraced the current styles where tall socks and crop pants are supposedly cool. If he's happy, I'm happy. One of the parenting milestones I look forward to is when I don't have to dress my child. If I can just give him money and send him to shop for himself I think I will have arrived.

[jeaniebueller]

Nike is cut small

[heygrey]

Susie , after striking out at all my local stores (I'll drive into the city some weekend), I started searching online for places to buy pants for DS. This website looks like it could be promising - they ship from Connecticut and are made in the US. There are some great clearance sales if you can find some sizes that might fit.

www.pantsforpeanuts.com/collections/past-season-kids-slim-fit-pants/products/slim-fit-kids-jogger-sweatpants?variant=44308731953468