To not want unnecessary chemicals in school uniforms?

[Slightlylessclueless]

My DD is just starting pre school and wanted to get her a few bits of uniform from M&S. My first time to all this, and was surprised to see that 80%+ of the range has chemical coatings to it - in the form of all the various ‘technologies’
StainResist/Freshfeet/NoIron etc. I think the other retailers are pretty much the same.

I think the PureCotton is probably alright, but you’ve got to read all the separate descriptions carefully to be clear you’re avoiding it.

Am sure nothings ever definitively proven, but SURELY just plain old cottons best?! They are progressing towards organic cotton, but doesn’t that defeat the point if it’s going to be sprayed with a chemical coating?

It will always seem that ‘it’s what people want’ but that’s just because they’re providing the option, and from the outside it seems a good idea if you don’t know.

For children having it against their skin for most of the week, for most of their childhood, it’s just not a great idea?!

(And if anyone knows where sells uniform that doesn’t, let me know 🙂)

I don’t want chemical clothes on my small children either, but when I got to the point of needing to iron ten white school shirts a week when my dc were in secondary, I did appreciate the easy iron chemicals.

And you all avoid vaccinations too because of the "chemicals" right?! The article has the lady drinking contaminated water which is completely different.

Have wI walked into the conspiracy theory corner of mumsnet by accident?! (I even checked which section we were in!)

Oh yes we don't iron anything! That wS the ultimate downside of the accidnetal cotton summer uniform 😂.

Yanbu. No one should be wearing dangerous chemicals

Unless the children are eating the clothes or they are being heated to high temperatures they do not cause cancer. Teflon on trousers is not the same as Teflon on pans.

Also,
The DuPont scandal is largely related to
Contaminated drinking water. Not comparable and saying different is scaremongering

Pfas is ubiquitous now and is well known through reputable peer reviewed scientific research to cause cancer (and other ailments) to humans primarily through ingestion (eating/drinking impacted foodstuff/water), interaction with impacted materials (stain guard, food packaging that contains pfas etc.) and inhalation (of contaminated dusts etc).
There is heaps of government funded research globally and the EU is currently banning the use of it in its member states. Additionally, some of the companies that manufacture these materials are being sued as its been recognised that pfas is adversely impacting the environment. This is the tip of what could be a v large iceberg.
Please note the above isn't intending to be exhaustive but to just to support understanding of the issue and to signpost as there appears to be uncertainty in some of the posts above

Kdubs yes exactly this is unnecessary scaremongering.

The coatings don't last for long. Look for second hand uniform!

This is done for SAFETY reasons!!! If a child in pyjamas (or any other clothes as most are flame retardant now by law) brushes too close to an open flame, if there's no flame retardant on the fabric, they'll go up in flames in an instant ffs! Whereas with non-toxic flame retardants, it'll just burn where it caught.

Goodness me

Teflon Eco-lite is a plant based non-fluorinated (i.e.non-pfas) stain repellent. John lewis uniform use this. I suspect there are others

🤦‍♀️ It’s like people don’t want to think and risk assess anymore, everything has to be enforced by law.
Well, when it comes to chemicals I’d like to make my own decisions.

@monpetitlapin but what can we buy?

I don't want it and I don't give a fig about stains on shirts either.

Has Teflon improved sincerely law suits

”In the future”?!

Maybe check the cancer stats 😔

Absolutely. Even uncoated uniform is mostly made of plastic now and things that don't exist in nature (polyester and other synthetics and chemicals). And yet people go and buy those cheap things full of chemicals and plastic and put them on their kids completely unaware it's made of poisons. It doesn't wrinkle and it costs pennies from supermarkets and they don't careany more
Meantime there is less and less actual cotton stuff even in upmarket places. Those poisonous chemicals aren't good for you and are just as bad as other plastics for the ocean and the rest of the environment.

Very true.

Thanks all. I am not sure what the answer is and for those talking about tin foil hats, I really don't know if I'm worrying unnecessarily ! But I read a couple of worrying articles about the chemicals and it seems better to be safe than sorry. I don't think this stuff was in clothing to the same extent when we were kids.

I had a look at the eco website but it's really expensive. My son gets through shirts and trousers at some rate! I have just ordered the any day cotton polo shirts (£7 for pack of 3) on John Lewis and the any day cotton grey shorts (£8). I'll let those of you that are interested know what they're like! I can't find an equivalent 'girls' shirt on the website annoyingly so bought DD the same (I know shirts are shirts but she likes the ones with the sort of decorative edging that you get in the girls section! Not sure what it's called). There are no trousers in the range so will keep looking for those.

I know they will need more ironing but that seems like a small price to pay?

So pleased to see people beginning to question the commercial claims instead of just swallowing the koolaid of the huge corporations. Would also like to fight against the mandatory smothering of toddlers in chemical sun cream.

@captncrunch how did you get on with the anyday ones?

also does anyone know if clothing has a coating on, does it have to list that alongside e.g. cotton, polyester etc.?

I had never considered this. New worry unlocked!

This is a concern of mine too, OP. I buy school uniform items from EcoOutfitters (expensive, but I have several children so we get a lot of use out of them) and pyjamas from Hatley in an attempt to reduce my kids' exposure to these "forever chemicals". We don't have an open fire, don't use candles and don't smoke, so I think my DC are highly unlikely to "brush too close to an open flame" as a PP suggested, and if we're unfortunate enough to be caught in an actual house fire, I doubt that wearing flame-retardant pyjamas will help very much. I really dislike this creeping habit of special finishes on clothes - it's getting quite difficult to find socks that are not treated with Freshfeet or kids' clothes without anti-stain or flame-retardant additives. I have written to several different clothes shops to express my disquiet, but to no avail.

And to those posters scoffing that Teflon etc needs to be eaten and having it on clothing isn't an issue - it does break down over time and is shed into the home environment (as well as water systems during laundering), and the dust from thisn process is very much inhaled and ingested, especially if you are trying to be environmentally responsible and buy clothes second-hand or use them many times before discarding them. If you were were to test the dust in your house that gathers along the top of the curtains and wafts down into your child's bedroom, then yes, you would find these chemicals - and you would find them in your children's blood, too.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/19/pfas-forever-chemicals-pollution-pregnant-women-health

Yes, this is what I did wherever possible. Not usually for white polos as they are likely to be new or almost new if they are still white.

@ToplessWordle Do you know if coatings will always be listed, e.g. by saying its stain resistant. I bought the 100% cotton polo's from john lewis anyday, will they be ok?

I don't know for sure, but I tend to assume that if they do have a stain-resistant finish, this will be trumpeted as many people regards it as an advantage. I would suggest that you email John Lewis and ask them, explaining that you prefer to avoid these finishes. Hopefully they will realise that some of us prefer our clothes without a side-order of endocrine-disrupting, carcinogenic coatings!

Try H&M. Their trousers, skirts and the like are mostly recycled polyester and viscose but no Teflon coatings.

So i emailed JL and they replied to say that on the items I had asked about (anyday cotton polo, cotton jumper) they couldn't find any information on whether or not they had coatings on.

Had a look at H&M as pp suggested and they seem to list all of the 'ingredients' which is great. kind of wishing I'd held off my JL order and gone with H&M now! but the JL ones don't have any sort of smell or feel like they are anything other than cotton.