By Jeremy Smith

TO HIP SAN Francisco parents, a trip to the baby store is a sickening descent through pink-and-blue circles of suburban hell. New parents – who only yesterday might have been voting for Matt Gonzalez or protesting Bush's latest war – are confronted with row upon row of clothes seemingly designed to program daughters into Stepford Wife bliss, or sons into football-playing swagger. A glance at the tags and one shudders to contemplate the labor practices behind them.

Fortunately, there are plenty of groovy, locally designed alternatives. In seeking an escape from gender programming and cultural homogenization, your first step should be a trip to the Lit'l Lizards Web site (www.litllizards.com), which tags itself as "baby's alternative to the ordinary." "Have a lit'l revolutionary on your hands?" it asks. "Does your baby's playgroup resemble a mosh pit?" Owner Liz Terbolizard moved her Noe Valley store onto the Internet in February – driven out of the real world by the high cost of running a business in San Francisco.

"I also realized that I want to make things more than I want to retail," Terbolizard, 33, says. "I'm a single mom, and I was silly to think I could supply the merchandise as well as run the business." Driven by a very personal, colorful aesthetic, she designs and makes most of the baby clothes she sells, such as the Lit'l Monster T-shirt with a green sea monster on the front, which comes with a matching striped cap and leggings ($42).

Lit'l Lizards sells tiny T-shirts ($24) and onesies ($30) emblazoned with the faces and logos of Jimi Hendrix, Che Guevara, the Cramps, and Motörhead.

In seeking to provide an alternative to Baby Gap, Lit'l Lizards also sells work by a dozen other local designers. "I hope people pay more attention to their local economy and feel that they're getting something unique," says Terbolizard, who once made 10 garments in a night, cut freehand. Lit'l Lizards also holds periodic open studio sales at 767 Bryant, Ste. 206, S.F. The next one is scheduled for June 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

One Bay Area label sold through Lit'l Lizards is Funkie Baby, which specializes in oversized bibs. The Jetson Bib ($18) boasts a soft, soak-proof lining and a pattern that evokes the future as people thought it would be like in the 1950s. The truly spectacular Kid Cosmic Red Glitter Bib ($21) features "real chunks of colored glitter ... plastic coated with a Velcro closure and a pocket to catch falling debris!" That sounds perfect for those parents who consider glam rock to be the very apotheosis of fashion. Funkie Baby's Cheryl Shonnard began making her clothes after the birth of her son – whom she describes as "a drooling machine" – in 2002. "I didn't know anything about sewing, and I figured that I could at least master a bib," she says. When Shonnard launched the company in October 2003, she handmade all the bibs herself. Today, they are sewn in the East Bay.

Another small local company, Tea Collection makes beautiful and high-quality sets of coordinated tees and pants ($42), jumper sets ($42), hats ($20), and other items. Tea Collection's aesthetic is simple, clean, and androgynous, with bold, solid colors and lines. The brainchild of local designer Emily Meyer, Tea Collection – "for little citizens of the world" – blends Asian and European sensibilities in a way that's almost futuristic. The Chinese collection sweater, for example, is a double-breasted cardigan with contrast trim ($46) – good for both boys and girls of the global 21st century.

The Asian influence on locally designed children's clothes is also evident at Laku (1069 Valencia, S.F. 415-695-1462), a boutique since 1993. Owner Yaeko Yamashita hails from Tokyo, where she worked as a fashion designer for 14 years. Her formidably baroque baby clothes – all of which are handmade in the back of the store, where you can often find Yamashita bent over her sewing machine – are made from fabrics such as silk, velvet, organdy, and brocade. The hats, which range from $24 to $43, are particularly eye-catching, simultaneously beautiful and playful. She also sells her clothes online at www.lakuyaeko.com.