Mission:Explore

"From the very start it was essential to us that girls and boys were equally represented in our work. We're disgusted by how book shops maintain pink and blue sections of dangerous books for boys and glamorous books for girls. The active segregation of children based on gender has negative and harmful implications and it must be challenged. We audit our children's books to ensure that girls and boys are equally represented and not stereotyped into gender roles, a practice that we encourage other authors and publishers to follow."
Daniel Raven-Ellison, co-founder of Mission:Explore

Letterbox Library

Letterbox Library was established 25 years ago by two single mothers, who were inspired (and provoked!) by the lack of appropriate books for their own daughters – so they decided to search out and provide inclusive children’s books.

"Letterbox Library has a glorious record of providing books for children that celebrate our cultural diversity along with books that point us in the direction of how the world could be a fairer place. Ideally, every school and playgroup in the country would be using Letterbox Library’s catalogue if for no other reason than to balance the mass-market book club catalogues and book fairs which do not serve the reading needs of all children. Here’s wishing all the very best for the next 25 years."
Michael Rosen, Children’s Laureate, 2008

Anorak Magazine

Hello
I am Anorak, the happy mag for kids.
I am a happy mag aimed at both boys and girls, aged between 5 and 10 years old. But older kids read me too!
You can buy me 4 times a year.

Supermundane is my creative director and every issue, we carry lovely stories, illustrated by people such as Marcus Walters, Simon Peplow, New Future Graphics, Tsz Wan, Rob Flowers, Tad Carpenter among others. We have some fun fashion pages, a ‘good stuff’ guide, which covers new stuff as well as exciting places to go.

We have a gang of 'Little Editors' who review books, dvds but also do some cool drawings too.

Polarn O. Pyret

"Polarn O. Pyret makes clothing for children. It may seem obvious, but our belief that both boys and girls need good fit and function makes us unique. We aim to make the world’s best jacket, knee sock, t-shirt and sun hat. Who wears what – and what colours – is up to you. But both boys and girls need good looking clothes that are strong and versatile. That’s what unisex means to us. Making our production better for the environment is a natural ambition, and our range of organic clothing grows every year. Look for our ECO label if you want to buy organic clothing. This guarantees that the garment is made from 100% organic cotton."

Tootsa MacGinty

Have a look at the "Tootsa MacGinty" catalogue and you’ll notice something unusual – all our clothes (apart from a few dresses) are unisex. For girls or boys.

And they’re not just colourful and fun, they’re excellent quality and hard-wearing too. Which means that once your little one has sprouted, you can keep their clothes for the next one…or pass them along to other tiny friends and family.

Kate Pietrasik, the designer, has very strong opinions about her clothes. After working in fashion in Australia and France, she moved back to the UK last year with her baby daughter, and was shocked by the stark gendering of children’s clothes – sludgy colours and camouflage for boys, glitzy princess themes for girls, dubious slogans the little wearers couldn’t even read.

Micro-scooters

Micro Scooters make the page because in their last catalogue they headed a page up with the title – Who Says Pink is just for Girls! And there they were, a whole row of boys riding pink scooters and wearing pink clothes. We loved this and for that alone we think they qualify for Pinkstinks Approved. Please keep up the good work Micro-scooters!