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.