To assume a uniform sweater shouldn’t look like this a 6 weeks after buying it?

[ByBusyTiger]

This is from m&s, bought it about 6 weeks ago and it looks like this. I have two, both look horrific it so I’ve had to go elsewhere and buy more today because I’m not having my son wear this to school.

Socks I bought a month ago from m&s, same thing, faded, look like I’ve had them for years. Had to send wellies back today because they’re filling with water (not m&s)

Uk just a tiring joke at this point
Does anyone know where you can buy uniform that doesn’t look like it was dragged out of a recycling bin a month after purchase?

thanks guys

That depends on how messy your child is.

But seriously. I washed and tumble dried my kids school uniform (trousers were always M & S) multiple times a week and apart from one screen printed school jumper everything was fine.

Today you can't do that as quality of fabrics used has declined so much.

I’m not having my son wear this to school.

Why on earth not? It's just a jumper. Throwing it away is so wasteful.

I don't think it was a weird comment, I think it was a valid question. The items weren't made in the UK, and no there is not a magical difference in quality between low cost high street clothing here and in other countries.

If you have a problem with your clothes, I can agree quality could be better. But it is not a UK issue, it is very clearly a global issue, and very odd to try and spin it otherwise.

I do think quality is going down at markies. I used to buy the boat neck 3/4 sleeve t shirts as they were fab. Now paper thin poor quality cotton that goes out of shape really easily.

For school uniform I’d recommend fruit of the loom fleeces jumpers and polo shirts. Tend to be really hard wearing, it’s what the local uniform supplier uses. You can source them on Amazon too.

Goodmove is women's sportswear. I can't see that one on their website. How much was it?

I haven't bought Geoxx for a long time, nor Hush Puppy, but I'm surprised he's wearing through the Nikes. My man sized 15 year old gets many, many months wear out of his Nike Airforce, and he not kind to them.

What an absolute waste of money. Teachers don't give a shit if your son's jumper is a bit bobbly or faded. Bet your son doesn't either. I assume this is primary as well, as secondary school kids mostly look a state regardless of the 'newness' of their uniform (I have three boys in secondary, one tucks things in, reliably wears a tie etc. The other two don't).

It's not just women's sportswear.

I'm guessing it's this one:
www.marksandspencer.com/unisex-regular-fit-sweatshirt/p/clp60451602?intid=mobile_app_pdp_share

Most clothes we buy are of such poor quality that they are not far off single use.
Perhaps if we took things back more often saying not fit for purpose.
My mum knitted school jumpers for me and I was able to use them for my DC's and they are currently in the loft and in much better condition than the relatively new stuff my DGC's are wearing from the school shop with the bloody school logo another money making scheme.
My GDC's clothes are washed much more frequently than in previous generations because we all have washing machines and dryers. Spillages and stains were wiped off and you wore clothes for a few days as a small child (but different for older children once the smelly feet etc kick in).

Stop using fabric conditioner!
Wash inside out!
Air dry if at all possible.

Re wool and cotton, but especially wool.
These natural fibres grow in different lengths. Bobbles are where the shorter lengths break and roll up.

Very, very expensive wool and cashmere use only the longer lengths; for cotton "Pima" is the longer(longest!) fibres. These fibres are less likely to break because they can be much more incorporated into the knitted fabric.

It really does make a difference how much you pay for wool and cotton, but I find with mid price wool ( say Seasalt), if you wear it and bebboble it with a little electric debobler a few times, it should stop bobbling after a while. Also, limit how often you wash it, and wash with hair conditioner.

This is how DS's clothes at his dad's look - he chucks everything in together (including lights and whites with new/dark jeans, the horror!), uses a detergent containing 'brighteners' (aka bleach) and tumble dries it all. Doesn't turn things inside out either. White shirts are distinctly grey, and dark or bright colours are faded. I try not to care for cheap supermarket school uniform but have been pissed off on occasion when nice clothes have been made to look ten years old. I now ask for certain things to not be washed at his dad's! Funnily enough, his dad mostly wears dark T-shirts and jeans so isn't affected and therefore there's no problem...

Anyway yes, it's a bit crap but not the end of the world. Could you try dying it, to see if that will smarten it up a bit, if it's that annoying?

Tumble drying ruins lots of clothes.
Could you partially tumble them and leave on airer to finish off drying? Tjat might save a bit of fading. Also washing inside out and at as low a temp as possible helps.

That's rubbish OP. We've got cheap supermarket uniform on it's second kids that's in much better shape. I'd be returning those jumpers as not fit for purpose to be honest. A school sweatshirt shouldn't be fading and bobbling after only a few weeks.

Ah thanks. I did look at the uniform page, but clearly not well enough. I have learnt something today, though after more than 20 years of uniform we are on the home straight....DS2 does his GCSE's this year.

I'm sure M&S would stock them if people were willing to pay the price but they're not. We want cheap, we buy cheap, we bleat when they don't last. When schools specify expensive uniform that does last we don't like that either.

Agree, get Fruit of the Loom or another work wear brand, they are much more durable. And don't over-wash or bleach.
If cotton sweatshirts are faded you can freshen them up with Dylon dye rather than throwing away.
Our school uniform was red, it did inevitably fade.

Buy some washing machine dye to improve the fading.

While I don't really have any issues with logo or non logo clothes, my DD's logo jumper is literally an F and F jumper! It was from one of the official uniform shops. It seems to be lasting ok so far, as do our Asda ones. I don't have a tumble drier though, which I think does help

Schools are supposed to be moving away from insisting on logos. That isn't the answer.

Wow I'm shocked at how much the quality of M&S has decreased! My dc used to have the V- neck school jumpers. They lasted 2DC and still looked brand new.

M&S are in a price war with supermarkets and will be sourcing their jumpers from wherever is cheapest this year. They will be the absolute minimum they think they can get away with. There's no connection to the decent M&S clothes of years ago. Cheaper fabric, cheaper dye, cheaper factory in a different country. Because we think a garment worn every week for a year should still be cheaper than a couple of coffees.

And m&s do that because they think that's they best way to make a profit and keep going as a business - too few people have the money / are prepared to pay what it actually would cost to make high quality clothes especially in the uk

We have been running to the bottom for decades