To wonder if M&S uniform is worth it?

[BabyofMine]

Just priced up for what my child needs, worked out as £130ish from M&S, and £66 from Asda George.
However if the Asda falls apart after a few months and we buy twice it will end up the same cost. But maybe it’s hard wearing?
I really don’t have any family with kids or any friends with school aged kids to ask!

YABU - Asda (or other supermarkets) are just as good
YANBU - M&S Uniform is worth the cost

I buy marks and spencers school trousers because my boy is tall and skinny and they are the only ones that I have found that reliably fit. They've got a great size chart online so you can get exactly what you need and they have a double hem so you can take them down later in the year when they've grown a bit. They are not that expensive either - I got a 2 pack for £13 last August. Jumpers and polo shirts come from asda. Super cheap and wash really well.

Most of my DD's school uniform has come from Asda or Sainsbury's. It has washed well and lasted until grown out of. She has also had second hand uniform from supermarkets so lasted for more than one child. I have got the odd bit from M&S. The quality is slightly better but not worth the extra cost, I would say, as it will be grown out of before the quality makes a difference.

I bought M&S this year thinking it'd be better quality and thus save it to pass on to my younger daughter.... it's no better and some of it shrinks really badly.
I don't like Sainsburys, that fades and washes badly, stuff goes out of shape.
Asda has been the best uniform we've had and so cheap!

I've always bought M&S uniform, mainly because I have very tall skinny kids and they need XL trousers / skirts. The shirts / blouses are also cut well for slim kids.

You definitely don't need 6 cardigans! We've only ever had 2 or 3 which have been fine and 3 pairs of trousers / skirts.

I have always found M&S to be really good quality but can only compare to the school supplier we had for primary school, where jumpers and polo shirts looked like dishrags after a term - but the kids were younger then so it might have been they were harder on clothes.

I find M&S is great for good fits, but the downside to that is they have so many different sizes and styles it is quite hard to know what would be best - and inevitably the exact style and size of trouser you want is out of stock.

Supermarket uniforms all much of a muchness, all fine when they are little. When your child is a teen and wears one size for longer, it’s worth getting from Trutex as it’s better made.

This is true actually! I bigged them up in my last post but I forgot the last lot I got (after waiting for ages as they were out of stock) were indeed really stiff. Why is that I wonder?

M&S is better for trousers and shorts but not anything else

I hate the fact my DCs primary polo tops are white! Constantly trying to get stains out or buying new ones every few weeks. Their previous school had red ones and it was 1000x easier for time and money! Honestly think all primaries should have the option for a polo top in the school colour as well.

It probably also depends how sensitive your child's skin is - my DS hates scratchy labels and seams, so these "skin kind" versions have been great -

I have been browsing at M&S and found this: https://www.marksandspencer.com/2-pack-unisex-skin-kind-polo-shirts/p/clp60101906?intid=mobileappppdpshare

@volezvoo

M&S is better for trousers and shorts but not anything else

I hate the fact my DCs primary polo tops are white! Constantly trying to get stains out or buying new ones every few weeks. Their previous school had red ones and it was 1000x easier for time and money! Honestly think all primaries should have the option for a polo top in the school colour as well.

...

Have you tried washing shirts in something like Surf washing powder (not liquids or tabs) ?
It seems to shift dirt a lot better - and despite having sensitive skin neither I nor my son have any problem with it. Use a full cotton wash cycle.

My DC's are now Y6 and Y8. My favourite for primary uniform is sainsburys, the t shirts are far better than anywhere else and they do a longer leg trouser which suits my skinny DS much better than standard fit.
Since going to secondary school I've bought m&s for DS, I thought their slim fit range would be better for him. We've gone back to sainsburys trousers as he says they are more comfortable but I haven't tried any other shirts yet. There's nothing special about the m&s ones though, I don't think asda/sainsburys ones would be any worse, I just buy them as they are sklim fit, he's tall but very skinny so regular fit would look baggy on him.

I find the multipack trousers scratchier, the single pack ones still fine.

I would buy two pinafores, 5 polos, 2 cardies. Or one pinafore one skirt, depending on what's allowed.

We've always found Asda uniform to be more than acceptable. M&S pinafores seem to be made of really stiff material.

Op even in reception my dds had two pinafores/skirts MAX. Two cardigans and four/five shirts. They never came home from school so filthy they couldn't wear the skirt another day.

In terms of amount of uniform I've always had a fair bit as I can buy an item for 50p from the 2nd hand school shop. So usually about 4 pinafores/skirts/trousers, 5 polos and 3 cardigans. When my DD was younger I found pinafores great as they kept the polo clean and it could often be worn again. Cardis were in a dark colour and didn't get very dirty so usually only 2 needed per week. I had one school logo cardi kept for photo day/events.

Always sainsburys for me. Only bought M&S once, wasn’t that impressed.

Has anyone tried Matalan school uniform? We don't have one local to us, so I always forget about them, looks pretty reasonably priced if it's decent quality and washes well?

I've brought all my daughter's uniform from m and s. Can't complain, it washes well and I've not noticed the colour fading.

It does get washed a lot too ... its lasted well (so far ...).

I have found the polo shirts to be of the same quality as the supermarkets
Proper shirts have been better quality - slightly thicker material so good for self conscious teens/preteens.
The different fits on M&S skirts is very helpful. I have a ridiculously tall year 6 kid who needs a longer length skirt, which I've not seen elsewhere.

You don't need that much stuff. My reception aged child wears one cardigan all week, and polos and pinafores get changed every couple of days. She does 4 days in uniform and one day in pe kit, which seems to be normal for the younger years at least. I wouldn't worry about sending them in with slightly mucky uniform either.

M&S school tights were the best ones and their non iron shirts. Everything else I got from Asda- jumpers, polo shirts, trousers/skirts/dresses.

M&S school shoes are shit.

I voted YANBU but really just for the trousers which last brilliantly. Polo shirts are good quality but if they are white they are always stained best to go cheap and replace termly.

Tesco benchmarks theirs against M&S (or at least they used to) and they usually come out level pegging. I buy Tesco and fill in the gaps with M&S and I can't really tell the difference in quality. It's all the same factories anyway.

All school shoes seem to be rubbish - unless you pay £££