To think pleated school skirts are sadistic and even potentially borderline misogynistic?!

[NothingIsGoing2GetBetterItsNot]

Ok maybe slight exaggeration and definitely lighthearted but really, wtf - why, Why do that to us??!

I have an ironing phobia and - and I admit I have left this a bit late - am searching for school skirts for dd, and they almost All have pleats, many 10+ pleats! All the way round!! All the Jersey 'skater' style seem to be sold out in her size wherever I look (I am clearly not the only pleat-phobic parent out there by a long stretch)! Everytime I see a pleated effort i get flashbacks to my own school days when we had not just a few pleats in our skirts but a full on fucking kilt - so we're talking 50odd pleats - and my mum passed on the task as soon as she felt she decently could, so I think I am actually traumatised (in fact probably the source of the phobia, thinking about it)....

The even worse element to this is A) dd Will Not wear trousers, and B) Rather likes pleated skirts (and Is Definitely too young to do her item ironing, unfortunately!) - Can anyone recommend some pleated skirts that really are permanent pleat, and virtually iron-free..??

I wore a kilt to school in the 80's. It needed ironing as the fabric was plain red rather than tartan so showed all the creases. School rules dictated we had to wear it with the kilt pin (there was a big hoo haa when a girl at another local school used a kilt pin as a weapon and that school banned them and my school kept them. It made the local news programme)
I now know why DM taught me to iron at an early age.
In my 20's I went onto work in an English branch of a Scottish bank. I chose the pencil skirt over the kilt from the uniform options
DH wears a wool 9yd kilt for special occasions such as weddings. I leave the cleaning and ironing of the bastard thing to the dry cleaners.

Pleats are permanent these days.

Tesco, I think they are called stay pleated and are really cheap. I don't iron and bought these and they are fab! Just make sure you shake after washing and run your hands donn the pleats before drying on the line or radiator and they come out looking as new! My daughter has chosen non pleated this year and I'm worried they will look creased!

Off message here: My granddaughter went to a school in Blackpool years ago. She had to wear knee high white socks, imagine 16 year old well developed girls in those, a dirty old man's dream.

Never ironed any school uniforms - they had to wear them but we didn't have to iron them - no shoes got polished either. It was my little rebellious act against the nonsense. 😂

@Kidneybingo

I hate them because they can't be shortened. There is no uniform out there for girls who are short for their age, but not skinny or less developed.

That is why schools are so keen on them - schools are obsessed with knee length skirts - a bit of leg showing would be too much of a temptation, how would the male of the species cope!

My DD has a couple of pleated skirts from Sainsburys - they don't need ironing - the pleats stay in when washed.

Gardenpad sadly true.

Can you not try to persuade/bribe DD to wear trousers?

Techno I bought the pure cotton last year for smallest DS, never again as they're a bloody nightmare to iron and still look crushed!

My mam was a big ironer so it's passed on, I suppose. She was very much of the belief that it was a form of working class pride. If you had gone to school with unpolished shoes, as a PP says, it would have been her worst nightmare, I'm now a bit the same.

Stove I'm a big believer in uniform as a leveller, but am lucky to have schools who only require certain colours so can buy anywhere except for tie and blazer.

Never iron a pleated skirt!

DD's school has sadistic girls' trousers - only one style permitted, with a really high, wide waistband that fits about 2 inches smaller than they are sold as. I have just bought her 4 of the 'boys' style, which fit fine and have told her to refer teachers to us if they say anything about it. TBH, so few girls wear the trousers, unsurprisingly, I doubt anyone will notice

Another non-ironer here. Uniform all goes in the drier and hung up when done. Non-iron M&S shirts are great (although I have fallen out with M&S so might have to source alternative in future). And DDs fully pleated school skirts also never ironed. They aren't perfect, but they do :)

@Echobelly

DD's school has sadistic girls' trousers - only one style permitted, with a really high, wide waistband that fits about 2 inches smaller than they are sold as. I have just bought her 4 of the 'boys' style, which fit fine and have told her to refer teachers to us if they say anything about it. TBH, so few girls wear the trousers, unsurprisingly, I doubt anyone will notice

Our school has an unflattering pair of girls trousers - unlike the boys, the girls if they choose to wear trousers have to wear the school trousers - branded so the teachers can check easily - those pesky girls might just want to wear flattering trousers and you know where that would bring us to? They'd be sending the male sex wild with desire again - girls have to learn that they are responsible for how the boys feel, might as well get used to it when they are young - they'll be asked to carry that responsibility for life. Maybe someday we'll expect the male of the species to own their own desires.

M&S

DD has had them for years and I’ve never once ironed them

@NeverTwerkNaked

DD school are insisting on one particular make of skirt this year. It is £40 and it is pleated

£40?!! Wth

I've never ironed the skirts. Just hang and dry

@FredaFrogspawn I’m totally with you on girls needing pockets. Eventually we went with unisex jogging bottoms for winter and gingham shirts, with pockets, thanks Uniqlo, for summer. It’s just the M&S skirts had sneaky pockets I always forgot about and I was sadly glad their George replacements had no way of catching me out. She kept the school detritus in the pockets of the unisex school fleece so no feminists were harmed in the making of this daughter.

*09:17Newmumatlast

NeverTwerkNaked

DD school are insisting on one particular make of skirt this year. It is £40 and it is pleated

£40?!! Wth*

My DDs skirts are about £26 from the school supplier (M and S do a similar cheaper one but it has to be from the school supplier)
Another school in our town has pleated kilt style skirts which are £38 each (also compulsory from 1 school supplier) it's a state school.

Regarding pockets (but slightly off topic)
2 (male) work colleagues bought some lightweight jackets from primark. I bought the ladies version which was same price. Theirs has a hood and inside pockets. Mine has neither because obviously women dont need such practicalities I wish I'd looked in the teenage boys section!

You will always get better value for money in boys'/men's departments. An XL boys' turtleneck is $ 7- cheaper than a women's XS from the same catalog firm. The boys' turtleneck has taped shoulders that last longer.
What kills me are the shaped polo shirts for reception girls. Firms use this excuse to sell you a skimpy garment. Lands' End is the worse for this. Moreover, all their children's clothes are sized by waist only. Jumpers, shirts, pinafores, and coats should be chosen by chest measurement.

No ironing and freedom of movement perfect for a child