School uniform buying - what lessons have you learnt?

[LoveBuckets]

Need to get some new kit while sales are on and thought we could pool our experiences re quality, price etc. What are your thoughts on ironing too?

Polo shirts
I've also found Adams better quality than George. But the best polo shirt brand I found is a David Luke one I got 2nd hand - does anyone know where to buy this brand? The fabric stays softer and dries with fewer wrinkles and the colour still looks bright.
I've found that for yellow, it's best to choose the brighter eggy yellow shade rather than the paler yellow which turns grey in the wash fairly quickly.

Summer Dresses
I like the A-line ones with flower buttons from M&S, synthetic so I don't need to iron them.

Knitwear
Not very impressed with the Adams girls' cardigans, still intact but looks faded and droopy. Am I expecting too much?

Short sleaved white shirts don't get grubby round the cuffs like long ones do.

You need more jumpers than shirts in the colder months as the jumpers get hit with everything instead of the shirt.

Life is too short to iron creases in trousers, iron flat if at all.

Girls don't care if their trousers are too shaort call them capri pants and be done, boys look shit in trousers that are too short, so get long enough ones please.

Tescos trousers good for skinnys

I have also found that they do big enough girls school shirts for me to wear to my work even though I am size 16/ 18, cheaper and better fit than mens white shirts.

My girls mind quite a BIT IF THER trousers are too short. Everyone talks about cat-dies

Iron?

What is this "iron"?

Don't buy Trutex. I bought all of ds's uniform from the school supplier. His grey shirts have random white marks (nothing to do with the washing as this has happened to everyone I know) and the collars have gone. Shorts are lined but pilled, summer green polo shirts have only been worn since Easter and are so faded that even if they fit next year they are too shabby to keep. Even the edging on the white sports top has faded really badly.

Does anyone know what the M&S shorts are like and are they lined?

I find Next a bit rubbish quality - jersey trousers for dd went bobbly very quickly, even though she hardly wore them, same with a jersey dress I got there.

I like John Lewis sometimes, ditto M&S - agree about the shrinking polo shirts.

David Luke is a school outfitter supplier so worth checking out where your local private school uniforms are sold as they will probably stock that brand , Trutex etc or maybe John Lewis.

My tip is to find out where grown otu fo logo/specialist stuff is sold on or have a friend with children slightly older. Uniform bought new looks no different after a few washes so why pay extra. Buy bumper packs of m and s socks so you don't spend hours pairing.

Even if you are at private school you can still buy quite alot, shirts, shorts, skirts etc at M&S and the 2nd shop is a gold mine.

Message withdrawn

NEXT TROUSERS ARE THE BEST FOR SKINNIES

we are m&s trousers and summer dresses here.
george polos.. I buy loads more of them than I need and some in bigger sizes.. because they are so cheap, so the dc's look bright and fresh all year.

the biggest learnt thing though is do not send you dc to a school where they insist that you have logo'd polos, that can only be bought from ONE shop in the next town, and that they cannot take their jumper off unless they are wearing the logo polo.
these polos cost £11-13 pound for one..go grey and are nasty quality!

If a logo is not on show in these schools they will and do send your dc's home.. or make them keep a logo'd jumper on in 80-90 degree heat!

It drives me insane!

oh and to add.. if you do happen (as we do ) to go to one of these schools.. buy cheap polos for winter when the jumper will be on anyway.. and then get 1 or 2 logo'd polos only for the summer.. becasue they are horrid quaility.. you can wash and dry them in one night!

Does anyone know about the sizing/shrinkage on Debenhams polo shirts. i.e best to get age 5-6 or 7-8 for average size 5yo boy? (Our age 5 M&S polos now fit my small 3 yo!)

Anyone else looking for navy cotton polo shirts? M&S have stopped selling them, Debenhams look like they are just clearing end-of-line and apart from some online polyester mix I can't find any others. Am beginning to panic. We can't be the only school in the UK wearing navy surely?

I can't buy uniforms until last weeks of August or they are guaranteed to bloody grow.

For DD she is still young enough to get away with pinafores, so we have a couple of them and a skirt (found BHS were best) so that on days when food has been spilled down shirt, can still hide with dress

I prefer blouses/shirts - they keep their shape better.

DD hates me for refusing to give into the trouser thing - She falls over regularly, tis much cheaper to replace tights than trousers, and skirts/dresses have more length life in them!

dd has asda trousers for last 4 years (not same ones obviously ) and each pair lasts her all year.
Buy polo shirts from asda too, but their jumpers shrink terribly even when you follow the instructions.

Aagh! Whats with the polo shirt sizing thing? I bought dd a pack of Tesco polo shirts in 7-8 - the girls ones, with pretty (vaguely) collars etc. And I bought ds1 a pack of boys polo shirts in size 4-5. He's tiny, but I was buying big.

Got them home, took them out of the packs.

Ds1's 5yo shirts were bigger than Dd's 8yo shirts! So I went back and swapped them for size 3-4. But they don't do the same style in 3-4 as in all the other sizes. So when I got them home and looked they were still bigger. Aagh.

The summmary of that is that Tesco boys 3-4 polo shirts are the same size as Tesco boys 4-5 shirts and the same size as Tesco girls 7-8 shirts.

Rant over.

very important lesson.

when chosing a secondary school - fuck all the league tables off if you have twins - and do not pick the school which has blazers costing £40 each.

All our M&S trousers went at the crotch too - the dearer ones.

NAVY - please... anyone seen any NAVY cotton Polo shirts?

m'boy's too mucky for white!

Tesco and M&S polo shirts were terrible last year, M&S very stingy on sizing as well.

ASDA won the day last year, DSs trousers got through the year without any holes, and I have just stocked up again now.

Thanks Herbietea

I'm new to all this uniform stuff as dd is starting reception in Sept...

How do M&S sizes come up?? Small or true to size??

DD will be turning five at the beginning of October so not sure if I should go for 4-5 or 5-6 if I order online. Of course I could go into the store but would like to avoid that at all costs!!

When do the M&S and Asda specials finish?

DS's school polo shirt is either white or dark blue. I bought cheap white from George and Matalan but after a while they became stained and wouldn't wash clean.
A nailbrush and vanish soap is great for getting stubborn stains out.
Failing that I dyed them blue with dylon

Where can I get decent girls blouses which button up for a tie for a 13 year old girl, she needs a 14 as she is a 34DD.

Matalan work wear is great for the trousers and skirts for teenagers