Uniform question

[SuiGeneris]

DS starts school in Sept and I am not from the UK, so don't know the rules (explicit and implicit).

His school (private primary) specifies everything down to socks, all available from a single supplier. Of course I need to get logoed stuff from them, but for the rest can I source elsewhere if I stick to the required style and colour? Mostly asking because the stuff they sell us synthetic and we prefer DS to wear cotton or wool...

It will be down to the individual school. Some, particularly private, require all uniform to be bought from a specific supplier. You will need to check with the school.

Unless it is an unusual colour most schools will accept shirts, trousers etc from chain stores within reason. However if it is ,say, a plain navy jumper with a particular coloured stripe you are much more limited.

SuiGeneris,
I have bought the shirts and the socks somewhere else because I wanted both 100% cotton. We were told to buy the school trousers but we went to M&S because we liked the cut better on DS... and you can't even tell the difference.

Private schools do require everything to be exactly as they state. At ds's school you can get away with shirts and shorts from elsewhere as the colour match and style can be matched, but if they didn't look exact you'd be asked to change them.

Not every private school is so strict (DS private school wasn't). I would phone and ask. Then I would see how far we could bend the supposed rules after he started.

the school probably gets a cut of the excessive profit gained by inflated prices, so will not be happy with you buying better quality at lower prices elsewhere.

Most independent school uniform shops do not make a profit, or if they do it's tiny, e.g. In ours they round up to the nearest £1, so if something cost us £4.74 then we would sell at £5, it's just easier to have whole amounts.

We also run a second hand uniform shop, which parents actively use, the parents get the profit of that back if their items sell.

Only the logo stuff at our school has to be bought from us (as you can't get it elsewhere), shirts etc can be bought elsewhere.

Very interesting- thank you. Clearly each school is different so will need to speak to other parents already at the school...

In our private school shop the staff tell us where we can get items more cheaply!!