Unisex School shirts?

[JoW1985]

Hi,

As my kids only wear shorts sleeve shirts in the spring/summer term I’m looking to see if anyones got any recommendations?

I’ve found these from school uniform direct which sound good but just wondering if anyone had experience with them before I order? Shirt

If they aren't logo'd/specific to the school I would just buy them in the supermarkets, assuming they are not a weird colour.

We just have M&S non iron shirts. All my kids wear them and I have both sexes. I think they are potentially in the boys section but they’re fine for my DD.

How old are you dc? DD (10) currently wears ds’s havd me down shirts (Next), but I imagine that in the next couple of years 1- the armpits of ds’s shirts might become a bit yellow and sweaty; 2- DD will been a more female cut.

For historical reasons girls and boys shirts button differently.
After puberty girls also need a different cut of shirt.
We white button short sleeve bought shirts from John Lewis, which lasted well.

In primary we had M&S 100% cotton shirts, much nicer for a sweaty child than the polycotton ones. John Lewis also had good ones, they are cut smaller though. No yellow armpits and no lingering sweat smell.

In secondary now and as she has to have open neck blouses we only find polycotton ones, we found John Lewis quite good.

We got the school uniform direct ones this year as they are our uniform shop.

They’re pretty good and no way near as see through as the most other brands and a decent length, I’d say they are better than the previous M&S ones. They fit both my dd (14) and ds (12) really well and they haven’t had any complaints which is a positive!

M&S every time. 3 DS here. Not see-through if you buy the ultimate ones. They stay white all year.

My dd is 13 and ds is 11. At the moment my ds inherits his sisters shirts as other than the button side there doesn’t seem to be any real difference!

Hence being on the lookout for good unisex ones, as I sure ds will start to grumble as he is gets older.

Thanks for the feedback, what would you say the fit is in comparison to the previous M&S ones?

I really don’t think this is worth doing for kids of those ages. It does depend a bit on your daughter’s build, but I would have been mega pissed off if my parents had made me wear men’s cut shirts that didn’t fit well so that my younger brother could wear them later.
What about buying second hand girls/boys cuts in the right sizes?

Unisex doesn't really exist and what it usually means for adults, and older teens, is 'this fits men and we can't be arsed making any to fit women and girls so you'll have to put up with shirts that are too long in the body, too baggy on the shoulders, gape at the bust area and are too tight over the hips'.

When your DD is older she'll want shirts that fit her properly, which is unlikely for a unisex cut unless she is very tall and slim. Like a PP says, don't make your DD wear mens clothes if they don't fit her well and she wants to, just so her brother can wear her hand me downs.

Second the recommendation about looking for second hand if you want to avoid or reduce the number of new shirts you buy.

re 'unisex'
DD needs overalls for college. They are 'unisex'.
They come in leg length 31inches. Her leg length is 24 inches.
She can't even wear the smallest size due to her female shaped chest...

Exactly. We have 'unisex' fleeces at work. I'm tall but they end on the widest part of my bum. I have to have a large sized one and it only just meets at the bottom to zip up. Despite me also being quite large of nork it is massive on my shoulders. They are like dresses on my 5'2 colleagues.

No-one would label women shaped clothes as unisex and and expect men to wear them, so I don't see why women should be expected to wear clothes designed for men because they're labelled unisex.

DD is nearly 15 and her shirts from JL do definitely have a different cut to the primary school shirts. They look like proper women's shirts with space for boobs and a more fitted cut.

I think you have to bite the bullet and get 2 different sets as your DD won't be able to wear the same much longer I think.

Like PP said, most items marked as unisex are cut for male figures, DD has some T-shirts for Scout camps and I definitely see a difference to T-shirts we buy in the women's department. They are ok for camps/outdoor stuff but not really something which flatters her shape.

Sorry for the delay in replying. I would say they are similar to the regular fit longer length M&S ones.

With regards to what some others have put above about unisex fit. The shirts do fit both my dc well and if they didn’t the worst case is that only one would use them, so I’d advise to go for them.

DS has always had M&S. Depends on the girl's build whether you can buy unisex after puberty, and preference of course! I can wear a men's small as an adult woman but there would be teenage girls who couldn't. Shirts are cheap, you can always buy from the uniform pool or supermarket once they can't be handed down.

On women's shirts, these don't fit all women either. I'm a 10 chest, 8 waist, 6 hips and a men's/unisex small often fits better than a women's 10.

Just an update, I decided to give the School uniform direct shirts a go after SarahJ’s recommendation.

They are a good fit for both my dc. They are definitely a slightly thicker material and they button on the left which a positive for my dd.