Zippers or Buttons: What's Better for Young Children

There are dozens of choices when it comes to kids clothing but most of the items have two types of closers: zips or buttons. Which is best and easiest for your kids?

Having a young child between the age of 12 months and 3 years can be quite a trial at times - especially when it comes to keeping clothes on. Some children don't mind staying dressed but others are proficient at removing layers as fast they are pulled on by a parent. For the second type of child, it's a good idea to get the most difficult to remove clothing possible. So what exactly should you look for in children's clothing?

POLARN O. PYRET Happy Argyle Cardigan (Baby)

Zippers

Zippers are a fast and easy way to do up a top or a pair of pants. But are they necessarily the easiest? There are two important reasons that zips can make keeping a child dressed more difficult:

Zippers are easy to pull down, even for small hands. And once those hands figure out how a zipper works they won't let it alone.
Zippers break fairly easily, especially on cheap clothing items. A broken zipper can leave a warm winter garment as almost worthless.

Buttons

Buttons are a well kown traditional choice for hoodies and all types of tops. Why are buttons so good? Well they are usually fairly hard for a child to undo and they also usually come in groups so that the loss of a single button won't ruin an outfit. And of course, if you lose a button, you can easily replace it.

The only problem? Buttons can often let in more air especially if there are big gaps between the buttons or very little overlap between the layers of fabric.

So which should you choose? A zipper or a button?

In the end, the best option is usually a button if you want a garment that's going to last as well as be difficult to remove. Sometimes this isn't possible but it's a good plan to try and get clothing without zips. But there is also is one other option - use both!

By buying a top or hoodie that has both a zipper and buttons, it's easy to make sure that the garment is both wind tight and also fairly finger proof - a perfect solution!