Parents have been left seeing red over an $8 children’s top on shelves at Best & Less, with some even calling for a boycott.
The cream-coloured T-shirt features animated tomato drawings with the text ‘sweet cherry tomato’ and ‘snack size’.
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For Western Sydney mum Tahnee Marie, 26, it was the slogan coupled with the cropped style that concerned her.
She said the cropped style was consistent throughout the section, however the retailer has since defended its sizing.
“The baby girl selection is mostly crop tops, that would be about as much coverage as a sports bra. Much shorter than the top pictured,” Ms Marie told news.com.au.
She expressed her concern to the staff who “seemed to have the same thoughts about it that I did”.
The mother took a photo of the tomato top in store in the newborn size, and posted it to her local mothers’ Facebook page where outrage reached boiling point.
“It’s very disappointing, and by the reaction of 99 per cent of the mums commenting on my post, I believe their [Best & Less] sales will be very low,” she said.
The parent explained in the post that the retailer sells “so many beautiful little girls’ clothes” but purchasing the cropped style made her feel “odd”.
“I wanted to buy things, but just felt so odd about putting my little girls in crops that are literally the same size as a bra,” she wrote in the post.
Parents in the comments were quick to point out the item’s flaws.
“The ‘snack size’ is really off-putting … I wouldn’t allow my kids to wear things like this, no matter how old they are,” a mother wrote.
Another asked: “Why are they getting approved? I would not ever put this on my daughter at any age”.
“The crop is bad enough,” a third added.
“I’m really open-minded about a lot of things, but I believe babies and kids shouldn’t be dressed like adults,” another parent pointed out.
One mum reposted the image with a very pointed message to the store, calling for a boycott.
“What the hell is this, Best & Less? Absolutely disgusting, and [it’s] time we stood up to this garbage,” she wrote on Facebook.
“The messaging, the crop design, the placement of the cherries? No one in their right mind looked at this for toddlers and thought, ‘yeah, this is appropriate.’ I call on Best & Less to remove all stock of this immediately. We need to boycott this”.
Some parents failed to recognise any issue with the style or the print.
“I’m pretty sure it’s like oversized look like it’s not actually a cropped shirt. It covers their whole stomach; it’s just like ‘oversized cropped’, but it’s not actually a crop top; it covers them fully. I don’t think it’s that deep, personally. I mean, they are snack size,” one user said.
Another wrote: “It’s a newborn size? I feel like on a baby it would actually not be that short? I feel like this is an over-reaction.”
A spokesperson for Best & Less told news.com.au that the garments are not designed as crop tops.
“They feature a modern, boxy silhouette, which can appear shorter on the hanger due to the small proportions of baby clothing,” they said.
“The wider shape can also exaggerate the appearance of the length. Comfort, fit and appropriate coverage are always important considerations when designing our baby ranges, and all styles are fit tested to ensure they are comfortable and provide appropriate coverage when worn.”
The retailer also shared a photo of how the shirt is meant to fit on an infant.