Experienced experts please- School uniforms- buy expensive as it's better?

[schooliscoming]

Posting for traffic!

DC starting school September- my first one and know no one with school age children!

Was talking to a friend the other day who said she's getting all her dc's clothes from next or M&S as it's all so much better than asda/ Sainsbury's etc and will last longer.

Surely if paint stains white shirt from any shop it's for the bin?!

AIBU to think it doesn't matter and they're virtually the same?
Please feel free to correct me if I'm totally wrong!

If you have skinny children then you will struggle

M&S slim fit is the only proper slim fit for trousers or skirts but Sainsbury's used to be a fairly slimmer fit than any other shop. Asda is more short and wide cut.

Love the M&S let down hems on trousers. But probably only good for skinny kids! If they grow wide as they grow tall then not worth it.

If proper shirts then M&S are the only true non iron option (wash with a mid spin cycle, shake hard, dry on hangers = no iron)
If polos, then go cheap.

I find Next clothes an odd shape - too high on the waist rise. Too thick on the leg.

M&S just fit my children better.
John Lewis is definitely better quality but only useful if it fits.

Agree do not skimp on shoes. At all. £45-50 is well worth it but find your brand / style that fits then hunt for last years on Amazon/sales on internet, including out of season (not May- Sept) buy the next size up.

If you have tall skinny children, forget it.

I will say this, tights! Buy them in September, buy 8x the size you need and 5x the next size up because they grow mid winter and by then the shops are stocking summer dresses.

Thank you all so much.
This info has been brilliant!

Love the idea of leggings and having a pinafore/ skirt/ trousers (if allowed) to swap between. I'll do the same with the white polo shirts, buy some from different shops to compare as I work long hours so need to be prepared to offer a fresh outfit daily... although I've just looked at the school website which is crap and has virtually no information and all kids have logo'd cardigans that's it I think.

Love the idea of grey socks too, can you get 'pretty' grey socks like with a frill?

Also would she need a summer dress for starting September? Any mums of girls found they're worn then or would a short sleeve polo and pinafore/ skirt be enough?

Thank you!

I have 3 DC in primary school and I mostly buy from M&S or next. The quality is decent and I would say it’s always worthwhile buying more expensive tights in particular because cheap ones are a total waste of money.

I used to buy expensive jumpers and cheap tops. It was the tops you replace all the time (bloody permanent markers).
DD only would wear jersey trousers in last few years of primary, before that it was cheap skirts anyway and M&S tights.

Buy expensive when they're young and don't grow fast. When they get to secondary, go cheap because they grow out of them every 5 minutes and they no longer go through the knees

Aaah I worked in a primary.
Def go back in Sep in a summer dress but only one mind. They grow too fast for the 2 weeks of warmth.

Do not however buy the jumpsuit / play suit all in one style summer dress. You may think it's practical for a small girl flashing her knickers but she can't get it on and off to use the toilet at school and will pee on it

John Lewis for tights - they are the only ones that survive the year - or even 2! (I have a now yr7 we have tried them all!)

You won't find many summer dresses on reception kids unless they have older siblings- it will be too cold within a few weeks and they'll likely have grown out of them by Easter/May.

Summer dress is often worn in Autumn term until the weather turns. I'd say only buy a couple of summer dresses, as she might not wear them much and will probably have outgrown them by next spring. Go up a size too, and find one with a waist tie to adjust.

M&S do grey socks with a frill on top.

For DD, who is careful with her clothes these days, I buy John Lewis and M&S, and they get passed down to her brother, and then to friends.

For DS, who is hard on his clothes, I buy M&S shorts (great inner adjustable band), and they have lasted remarkably well for a child who destroys his clothes. White polos on the other hand... for DS I just buy cheap as possible. They come home wrecked (rips, holes, massive ink stains, mud stains that won't come out etc) on the first day he wears them.

Shoes - We go for Clarks, Geox, Russell and Bromley, Startrite. Both children tend to wreck their shoes within a term sadly.

I found next uniform to be really poor quality and with awkward buttons/fastenings for reception age girls. Silly things like the collars are too short to sit right with a clip on tie and just nasty material that washed poorly.

M and S non-iron shirts are a godsend, although I’ve recently had some asda ones that are a very close second.

Yes, buy summer dresses now, early September is usually roasting.

Cheap, cheerful and second hand if possible.
No summer dress until next year.
Name everything. Even the vests and pants and socks. Get a laundry marker pen. Sharpies can wash out.

Get a cheap coat. Label label label.

We had one six sets of uniform.

Buy twice or three times the number of socks and vests and pants than you think you need. (As well as the tights) buy tights large.

Supermarket uniform is fine. Asda good. Buy now. It will be out of stock soon if not.

Supermarket do frill grey socks

Black marker pen and paint come out with bar of soap and cold water. Need to soak for at least 30 minutes (wet shirt, rub on soap, leave for thirty minutes, rub gently with fingers, repeat as necessary) do not wash first.

Mine had 5 sets of full uniform - I can't cope with midweek washing. I'd say buy cheap in bulk for the first few years, by the time they get to yr3/4 they are a bit less clumsy but still growing like weeds. We avoided optional badged stuff for infants/ks1 as it just gets wrecked/lost. Got logo-ed PE bag etc to fit in.

Trousers & jumpers from M&S / John Lewis, polo shorts from Sainsbury’s. All polo shirts looks like crap quickly so yo7 might as well get the cheapest ones, but all the Sainsbury’s jumpers I bought faded really quickly & started falling apart before they were outgrown. My DS is skinny so Sainsbury’s trousers were always way too baggy on him.

Biotex washing powder will get a lot of the grime out of white polo shirts, especially with a 24 hour soak.

Cheap coat as in from charity shop or supermarket. They get lost and go through hell. They need washing often too. Buy several pairs of gloves and a hat.

Soap and water gets most of yellow suncream out too. Though you do have to scrub. If you have a choice of white or coloured polo, get coloured.

Not the question you asked but I found M and S shoes (for DS) as good, if not better than Clarkes, and cheaper.

Winter coats - Dare2B coats/ski jackets seem to last well and are warm and waterproof both for skiing and school use. Some are bright (good for walking home in dusk) but they do do some more subdued designs if the school is fussy. We buy them every year (only because they grow out, although some have extendable sleeves too).

If you wait for a sale or discount they're a decent price.

From my experience all standard high street and supermarket generic school uniform clothing items are much of a muchness whether it is John Lewis, Marks & Spencer or any other supermarket. Perry Uniform www.perryuniform.co.uk amongst other proper uniform outfitters sell higher quality clothing but prices are reflective of quality and origin of manufacture. You tend to get what you pay for!

Sainsburys tights are indestructible. More than one DD came home with skinned knees and not a mark on the tights. God knows how.

Pinafores/skirts I haven't found much difference between Asda/Sainsbury/M&S.

School shoes though, M&S definitely wins. I only replace them because DD outgrows them and then they're still more than good enough for her friend to use.

I found the really cheap ASDA polos to be quite crap. They were barely used too as DD's school has logo polos ,but I got them to try as it wouldn't show under a pinafore.

Most schools allow trousers, very few allow leggings. Check the uniform rules, as various colours might be allowed for socks like black or grey.

Again DD's school has a logo cardigan (crap as they shrink) but a lot of schools allow supermarket cardigans in school colours.

We have local fb sites with local uniform bits on it. Worthwhile looking for especially if it's logo tops only.

Kneesocks give much longer wear than tights for primary girls. Knees heal; tights don’t. One doesn’t feel the cold in my experience and that of my peers.

I buy the cheapest I can get, they all look the same to me.

I also don’t replace white t-shirts when they get stained or immediately buy new trousers if the knees get worn away so I’m clearly a slattern.

We paid around £16 each for school sweatshirts for my son when he started at 3 years old. He was small for his age so they lasted 2 years, then his brother wore them for 2 years and they don't look as if they've been worn for 4 years! We got them from our local school uniform shop with the logo on. Well worth the money.

Trousers and t shirts I just got from Asda or Sainsbury's as they usually needed replacing after a year due to outgrowing them or being stained by sun cream!

With DS, we got Sainsbury's polos which lasted pretty well. The trousers however didn't fit that well and he outgrew within a term. We replaced with M&S / Next which lasted another year. He's very skinny and the Sainsbury's slim fit really wasn't slim enough. Most places the slim fit is only 2 cm slimmer than the standard, at Next it's 2 inches which is much better. M&S do long (2 inches longer) and extra long (4 inches longer) trousers so you can essentially pick a waist size (by picking an age) and then pick the leg length you need. He's changed schools so this year I'll need shirts for winter, still need to work out if anyone does skinnier fit shirts!

DD is starting reception in September. I've been told to go for zips not buttons on summer dresses and pinafores as they apparently are much easier to do independently.

We are supposed to buy from school supplier - I do for the sweatshirts, so he has a logo on something.. Their polo is shocking at keeping it's colour though - after some experimenting I buy Next and Marks and Spencer, they are excellent, keep their colour, and I get 2 in a pack for less than one from school supplier. Trousers come from Asda. The supermarkets don't do our colours but I have noticed the polo and sweatshirts are very thin compared to what I get. I've always bought the school coat, because it is only £17, thick and fully waterproof. I won't be buying it next year (yr 6) as dc hates coats and refuses to wear it now.

Next/M&S for the worn daily stuff, PE tracksuits etc from Asda (they do an excellent tracksuit!), white tops Tesco cheap as chips.