Second hand Eton uniform: super small?

[DoMyBest]

Looking for a second hand Eton College uniform for DS no2 (I posted for no1 last year and a brilliant mumsnetter kitted me out) who is tiny: he has the body size of a 10 year old. If there are any (ideally London-based) mums of boys who started at Eton ‘very’ little please DM me. Thanks.

If you don't get any joy here, talk to your dame as some of them have a stash and also to your tailor - welsh & Jeffries often has second hand tails.

Just wondering why you aren't getting a new one?

If the reason is you can't afford it surely it is unfair to send your child to a school where he will be the 'poor kid' and will always be surrounded by people who have more than him (making him feel second best/less deserving).

Speaking from experience btw. Not intending to be nasty at all.

@abmac95 they grow out of them fast so why spend the money early on if you don't have to. Loads of Etonians are wearing second/third/fourth hand in F block - handed on from brothers, friends, cousins, even fathers...no stigma attached at all.

It’s quite unusual for private school parents to pay for new uniform. Even extremely wealthy parents tend to prefer to use hand mendowns.

@Wenfy about to start our 6th year in private and to date the only new uniform I've ever bought was when they introduced a new match top for football! Everything else from the second hand shop or handed down, same as everyone else really except the overseas boarders.

DS is at an independent school (not Eton) and it's quite normal to get second hand uniform. All of his uniform when he started last year was second hand. I only got some new stuff throughout the year because he grew like a weed.

Clearly NOT speaking from experience I’d say.
no one uk based every goes for new uniform at any boarding school. It’s almost a badge of honour to get second hand, ideally from friends - like you belong in the club. Overseas pupils and very new money will be resplendent in sparkling new uniform but that’s about it.
good luck OP in your hunt . At my dc school (not Eton) the matron keeps hold of any outgrown kit and recycles for all the new/small children. In return for a little cash donation to go into the House treats pot. It’s a marvellous system.

leftandaright snobbery is alive and well with that comment about overseas students and new money. Goodness, whatever their extreme privilege they are still children.

What are your terms for state school children?

Have you tried the local charity shops and Salvation Army?

Asda also do plain white shirts etc that are great value.

@Cafedream As an ex parent of one of this dreadful institutions, I would say the comment you refer to is not untypical. Speaking from experience they are abhorrent places , I am ashamed to say that I was once a parent at one of them. The attitudes are quite unbelievable.

Not meant as snobbery. Overseas pupils don’t have access to second hand as they, well, live overseas so tend to buy uniform and get it delivered to schools.
Those people in possession of pots of money and being new to the British boarding school way of life arrive expecting everyone at these schools to be equally wealthy and are often experience a volte face experience when they realise that there are many pupils who families have to stretch to pay fees or increasingly (10%) at my dc school, are in receipt of bursaries and couldn’t entertain buying new.

I am sure state school children are in much the same boat. When my sc were at state school, I too hunted out second hand whenever I could. It’s a very British state of mind to reuse pre loved clothes no matter what’s in your bank account!

*Just wondering why you aren't getting a new one?

If the reason is you can't afford it surely it is unfair to send your child to a school where he will be the 'poor kid' and will always be surrounded by people who have more than him (making him feel second best/less deserving).

Speaking from experience btw. Not intending to be nasty at all.*

I hugely disagree with this. My boys are starting at a large HMC private school this September, and we're buying everything we can second hand, as are all the other parents we have met. In fact, the school regularly holds second hand uniform sales and has a very active second hand uniform Facebook page. Buying second hand also makes sense from an environmental point of view of course. I can't speak for Eton, but buying second hand uniform is very normal at other independent schools.

Some parents must buy new though? Otherwise there wouldn't be anything second hand.

Yep, my boys have long left their indie school, we bought new for DS 1 but after that went second hand where possible and sold items as well. I ended up helping to run the second hand uniform sales.
Most people used the second hand sale including staff members.

Ahhhh….the old “loads of parents of private school kids are really hard up” fallacy.

I find it incredibly hard to believe that the parents of anyone at Eton “couldn’t entertain buying anything new.” The second hand thing is more likely about tradition and feeling part of an exclusive club.

Yes, very “British” unlike those awful Chinese/Russian/Gulf new money types buying new! Come on, it’s what you meant isn’t it?

We are surrounded by few private schools in the area and they all offer second hand uniform shopping. In fact a lot of parents have been opting for second hand recently as the cost of living has increased and more and more people are many doing it for environmental reasons as well.

Have you seen the Eton uniform? It's not the sort of thing you are able to buy in Asda!!

It’s a bit weird, granted, but with a bit of creativity and a sewing machine you could adapt most of the items available in Asda

Could Mr Rees-Mogg help? His son who was booed at when appearing with his dad not so long back seemed similar to yours.

Gosh, I’ve unwittingly started a debate on this thread! Yep, our automatic leaning towards second hand comes from a mixture of budget, environmental (thanks for pointing that out @surreygirl1987 ) and, as many have mentioned, cultural reasons: I grew up with passed around clothes, books & toys, my DCs all do too. On it being a very English thing to err away from the new, I agree: my late father would loathe buying new clothes. He’d wear jumpers with holes in and shoes he’d worn 4 or 5 decades would have to (literally) fall apart before he stopped wearing them (even then he wouldn’t throw them away 😂 )

Wearing/passing down second hand school uniform is not just a British thing - assuming its own culture being unique and superior IS very old classy British.

Some of these comments are ridiculous

if this was a thread about any private school other than Eton would it have lead to these comments

Many many parents at independent schools do use second hand uniforms - often the school or PtA May organise nearly new sales

and yes many parents actually need to sacrifice or save to be able to send their kids private! In many cases gone is the big house or the Lux holiday or the posh car

Can blame Eton the victim of its own old Etonian failures.