Eton College Uniform/Kit

[25Green]

Trying to figure out the following -

1. what uniform really needs to bought at a tailors
2. what can be bought in a high street retailer
3. games/sports kits, what is needed
4. how many do you need of each item
5. any recommendations on which tailor

Thank you!

Have you had your housekeeping meeting yet? They explain everything, don't even think about it all just now. The whole thing is a well oiled machine, just do as you are told. When DS was there the man in Eton Sports prided himself on knowing what every boy's laundry number was! It's great fun.

It's a while ago now but our Dame opened the conversation with the words 'I'm not allowed to tell you which tailor to use, but...'. Bluntly, you would be mad to use any tailor other than the one the house uses, they do all the dry cleaning throughout the whole time, they collect and return the suits and it makes everyone's life easier to go with the flow.

Honestly, buying Eton kit was way less stressful than getting the right stuff for primary school. The kit list much shorter than you expect and plenty of second hand stuff is available from the tailors.

The tailcoat itself needs to come from the school's designated tailor, but almost everything else — sports kit, chinos, day-to-day clothing — can be sourced second-hand without anyone noticing or minding. Eton has an active second-hand uniform network through the parents' association, and boys quickly become much less precious about new kit than parents tend to expect going in. The most useful thing to know before packing is that the school list and what your son will actually use in practice are noticeably different things. I post more on what to actually pack at @boardingschoolguide.

What's the absolute bare minimum I can get away with buying for sports kit? Do they need the indoor stuff for the start of the year, or just the outdoor items?

I should add that this is partly because my son is utterly unsporty and I really don't want to buy things he'll never wear.

You can get away with secondhand sports tops & shorts, even socks. I will happily sell you my son’s tops as a bundle. He was slight but grew into a tall, slim & unsporty boy - so much of the kit looks unworn. Please message me if you are interested. I don’t have time to do detailed photos or to deliver in person but will happily just send you the kit if you don’t mind paying a few quid for postage on top.

Ask your Dame how much kit she recommends. We always used Welsh & Jeffries on the recommendation of ours. It was probably the easiest of all the uniforms, they dry clean it and so alterations, much less faff than queuing in school uniform shops in the sweltering summer days!

@WanttobeDorotheaBrookebutactuallyRosamundVincy I would honestly do your best to ensure he has sufficient kit to be able to take part in as much (mainstream sport) as possible in his first year at least. Half the point of being there is to enable boys to broaden their horizons and expand their experience of what’s possible.

Also - sports are an area where boys come into contact with people they might not otherwise spend much time with. And where they get to hang out with their friends! As the YA in our family who was most recently there has opined - you need to get involved in things really quickly so you can make friends.

Don’t do anything that might enable him to isolate himself - that would be the opposite of why he’s there.

Why wouldn't you criticise it? It's hilarious. If you add the Pop waistcoat to the tailcoat, winged collar, bow tie etc, it's doubly so.

But I can assure you the ex-Etonians I know (current young adults / uni students, as well as those of my own generation) have all delighted in their uniform!

That's very good advice. Thank you

I only bought the track suit and winter kit at first, the cricket and athletics stuff can be bought later.

Look on the second hand sites, I think it's called Uniformly.