Do Shit: Get Everyone Ready For School

Anna Kristín helps you navigate the best deals for your kids

It isn’t easy to navigate the Icelandic household’s back-to-school season, the autumn, when it’s time to restock your kids’ wardrobe in general, get them a bigger bed, new backpack and find the right clothes for the oncoming winter. The Grapevine asked Anna Kristín Sigurðardóttir, whose day job is to run Vesturbæjarlaug, to help us figure this out by recommending a few places and methods of getting this chore done as economically as possible. The general idea is that you start by browsing the secondhand options before buying new items.

Barnaloppan

Located at Skeifan 11A, Barnaloppan rents out booths to those who want to sell their used children’s clothes. With more than 300 such booths, you’ll be able to find anything there from outdoor clothing to everyday wear, handknitted items, books in various languages, to car seats and strollers for your kids. The website makes it easy to find what you need in terms of sizes and types, and once you are on location, you’ll be happy to see they have a play area to keep the kids occupied while you browse. Kids grow fast. Buying new things is expensive. This solves it. There are other similar places, such as Gullið mitt in Kópavogur. Be mindful to check the quality of what you are buying, and try to be aware of what items are sold for new, as some used items are priced a little high. You can’t return these items.

66°North Outlet

Located at Faxafen 11, the 66°North Outlet stocks the last (and the last before last) season of 66 clothing. Before your kids reach the age of fashion awareness, they won’t mind wearing last year’s outdoor clothing, and the price is rather reasonable. Also good to stock up on warm hats (often in very bright colours) and gloves, often fairly priced, and as you know — often easily lost, thus needing replacing.

Polarn O. Pyret

Found in Kringlan, this Swedish clothing brand tends to have quality clothing with a long shelf life. Often a bit more of an investment, these clothes are likelier than many others to either last long enough for the next kid, or still be in good enough shape to be sold secondhand, once your kids have grown out of them. They also have great wool gloves. You can never buy too many of those. Every now and then they’ll have a sale. Those are worth checking out.

C to C

Never make the mistake of overlooking Facebook Marketplace or the homegrown bland.is to buy or sell children’s clothing or other items you might need for school. There you are also able to advertise for things you specifically need but haven’t found elsewhere.

Góði Hirðirinn

At Köllunarklettsvegur 1, Iceland’s largest secondhand store has kids’ clothes, but also other things, such as ice skates, skis, sleighs, toys, puzzles and children’s books. They also carry furniture that may be a fit for your kid’s room.

Lindex

Also located in Kringlan shopping mall, Lindex may not the most original choice, but they do have fairly priced everyday clothes, but most importantly, they have an array of different reflectors / reflective badges, essential in a country that stays pitch black half the year.

As We Grow

Located downtown at Hafnarstræti 19, As We Grow has pricey but long-lasting slow fashion clothes for your kids. Beautiful designs, though indulging a bit heavily in the “sad Scandi-pastel” aura, this is the perfect place to get your kids the right outfit for special occasions: birthdays, Christmas, etc.

Labelyourself.is

Kids lose their clothes EVERYWHERE. They are the kings of misplacing gloves, hats, shoes, and jackets. To ease the retrieval of these items, it is very important to label them with a name and phone number. Labelyourself.is allows you to get those labels printed and sent to your house. Solves that.