Children pick up on gender queues from a very young age. Toys, movies, books, and clothing play a big role in reinforcing what it means to be a girl and what you can achieve. Fortunately, there are girls’ clothing brands that are stepping up to tell young women that they can be anything they want to be, and wear anything they want while doing it. 

These brands don’t necessarily shy away from pink colors or traditionally feminine styles, but rather offer a complete range of looks which incorporate symbols of independence and intelligence for every girl. 

The first company is Piccolina. Started by a Yale-educated lawyer, Heide Iravani, this brand features plenty of typically feminine styles like dresses and ruffles, but with a range of themes including images of construction, aviation, and paleontology. Piccolina also has a line of t-shirts featuring trailblazing women, including the artist Frida Kahlo, the social justice activist Malala Yusofsai, and the astronaut Mae Jamison. 

Princess Awesome and Boy Wonder are two clothing lines launched by Eva St. Clair and Rebecca Melsky which combine feminine and masculine styles and themes such as dresses with astronauts and blue jogger pants with a glittery solar system motif. Their goal is to show kids that gender is a fluid concept by creating clothing tailored to a range of interests and preferences.

Lastly, Annie the Brave is a line launched by Chelsea Coulston who began the company after creating dresses for her daughter as a DIY project. Her line includes seven dresses with themes such as under the sea, insects, and back to school. 

All these companies have a few things in common. Not only do they offer more varied clothing choices for diverse kids, but they were also all created by mothers who were tired of the lack of options for girls’ clothing. These lines are good news for the future diversity of kids’ clothing, toys, and entertainment. And if you have a little one, consider shopping at one (or more) of these forward-thinking companies!