Italian kids are fashion-conscious and pay attention to the trends. Girls wear fashion tennis shoes in various colors, low-slung pants with either fitted T-shirts or wool sweaters, depending on the season. Boys also wear low pants with larger T-shirts or sweaters. Many people wear nice fashion jeans all year long. For fancy parties, girls wear gowns or skirts and boys wear suits but without ties. Even though kids say they like to dress casually, at the same time they care very much about brand names and being fashionable. Much of this is choosing the perfect accessories like belts and sunglasses. There are fashion magazines directed at kids and they always come with some small free gift (as in American cereal boxes). This could be a bracelet, a belt buckle, a pair of pink sunglasses or a pair of funky socks.

Italy is an amazing place to shop for clothes. Some Italian designers and brands are famous worldwide and the famous brands are found in the smaller boutiques. Many adult Italians spend up to 50% of their salaries on clothing. One reason for this is that Italians often inherit a family home and have no expenses relating to a home purchase. Another reason is that it is very important in their society and in their jobs to look as is expected.

Only kids at elementary school have to wear a uniform. For girls, that's a blue apron with a ribbon whose color indicates which grade the student belongs to. Some older girls who really want to be fashionable sometimes get into trouble with their teachers when they show up at school wearing clothes that expose more skin than allowed.

In the cold season kids might like to wear colors like blue, brown, dark green, gray and black. In spring and summer, they may choose to wear pastel colors. But kids' choices are mostly guided by their parents and the fashion trends, so they also choose their colors according to what is in style in any given year.

The northern alpine regions near the Swiss and Austrian borders have the coldest climates. There it is often snowy and the temperature can drop to 12 degrees. The fall is humid and rainy and in the spring, even though the weather is milder, people still have to wear their coats. During the summer the temperature might be between 86 and 96 degrees. It's warm and sunny and sometimes even hot but people do not really wear shorts except at the beach.