Is M&S uniform worth it?

[AlltheFs]

Straw poll, is M&S uniform (pinafores, skirts and trousers) worth the additional cost over supermarket if you aren’t on a tight budget?

We are about to buy reception uniform for September, not on a budget really so could get the M&S if it is worth it over Asda/Sainsbury’s. Do they wash better/last longer or not? I’m more interested in value over price and prefer to not throw clothes away. But equally I know it will get trashed at school.

Polo’s and cardigans/jumpers are cheap from school (the logo ones are inexpensive and really last, they do 50p secondhand) so we already have those covered as also have cast offs from neighbour. They are royal blue, not white polo’s fortunately!

DD is average height but long limbed, very slightly built.

I've always got DS's uniform from M&S. He likes the slim fit trousers (they also do skinny and regular) and I like the white polo shirts as they keep their shape and stay white. I wait until they do the 20% off thing.

I think so. I think the grey trousers will last for years. Seemed worth the extra cost & looks really smart.

No. We bought some for DC when starting reception for various reasons, we left uniform shopping very late and had to haphazardly buy bits from there, Next, and Asda. Asda was genuinely just as good as the other two and much cheaper.

The only issue for us is our local Asda doesn't usually sell trousers with adjustable waists and our DC is very slim so often need to get trousers from M&S or Next instead.

My eldest in in Y10, my youngest in Y7. I have bought a lot of school uniform in the last 11 years.

Best, by far is Next. Always grown out of, never worn out. Lasted 2 children easily. Judicious use of adjustable waists and hems, meant the trousers could accommodate a lot of growing. My dc 's primary school uniform was white polo shirts. The Next polos washed abs washed, and bleached and bleached and just kept turning up white and held their shape. Also did 2 kids each.

M&S is good for sturdy, well priced shoes.
They also do long length shirts.
For everything else, you may as well save your £ and go to Sainsbury's.

Sainsbury's - great for the price, although the trousers are a bit thin for winter.

Other supermarkets - false economy. Asda trousers went through the knee in a term (not football). I used to get school shorts from Morrison's as they were cheap and didn't need to last as they were always outgrown during the winter. Ironically, they usually did last a couple of years as they just got a little bit shorter, and they've got no knees to go through.

PE kit, gets so little use, great from anywhere. Tesco used to be the only place I could get plain black trainers (not plimsolls) that school insisted on.

Clark's shoes - not good enough quality for the price. I'm convinced that they put poorer quality shoes in the outlets. Hush Puppies, Geox, Ricosta and Start Rite have served us well.

Update- the John Lewis order came, 1 of the skirts is good, bit too long but the waist comes in small enough so will keep that. The other didn’t adjust and will go back.

The trousers are ace, too long but they can be turned up. Tons of room in the waist but adjust small enough and they are pull on so DD can manage easily.

Also got tights and socks as was all 20% off.

I have a Next order coming and then will also order M&S. Going to buy a variety of things that fit, then when I see what DD prefers wearing I’ll buy more of that in the size up.

But at least that’s 2 items in the bag.

I’m on a roll now. The Next uniform definitely fits smaller in a good way so thank you for that suggestion. So we now have:

1 John Lewis skirt
1 John Lewis trousers
1 Next trousers
3 Next pinafores (all different styles)

The pinafores fit really well, loads of room and length but don’t look daft. The Next trousers are slimmer fitting but same length as JL (which is about 5cm too long). Both are pull on though so not fiddly.

We need adjustable waists, every non adjustable item we have tried is enormous and is going back. Shame as I like the jersey options, but 2 of the pinafores are jersey at least.

We also have

Grey tights x 6
Grey ankle socks x7
Grey knee socks x5
White knee socks x3
White ankle socks x5

I’ve ordered 3 cardigans and 5 polos from
school plus PE kit, bookbag and backpack and will have 3 secondhand jumpers and polos which are 50p each.

DD wants another skirt although we clearly don’t need it but I will possibly get a cheap one to appease her. The JL items need growing in to so have 4 Next things to wear first term and the others will probably need a few months. I’m leaving all the tags on though so if anything doesn’t get worn I’ll sell
on.

My plan such as it is, is 1 outfit per day plus a spare set for her bag. So no midweek washing needed. I have always had a suspicion we’ll only use pinafores so can see me buying more of those but I don’t want to buy more until I see which style she likes best.

I’m torn on summer dresses, tempted to pick up a pack of 2 very cheap ones in case she wants them this year. Then buy better for subsequent years. Will wait on the weather!

I’m also debating whether I need spare set of (cheaper) PE t shirt and shorts plus joggers. On the fence with that but then a plain white t shirt can have many uses I guess and I can size up.

Sorry, you have 26 sets of school socks and tights for your 4 year old? I think she'll be just fine.

I think DD started with 1 skirt, I pr trousers and one pinafore and we later bought more of what she liked. I do recommend the jersey trousers though, they are v popular with girls though not adjustable.

For primary school we had logo'd cardigans/jumpers from the school. During winter when they wore the cardigan/jumpers all day I used to buy some cheaper polo shirts from Asda. They always washed up well and didn't need ironing.

For school skirts and pinafores it was always M&S as they kept the pleats and Iasted forever with no wear. For summer dresses it was Asda as we found the M&S ones snagged easily.

DS had school trousers from Asda during primary school - elasticated waist from reception and worked up to the clasp ones in junior school. Summer shorts always from M&S as he liked the cargo style and wore well, usually getting a couple of years wear.

Moved on to M&S trousers in secondary for DS as they do an extra tall range and like pp mentioned they can be let down - just need a quick press with no sewing.

DS school shirts are from M&S non-iron ones - just give them a shake and pop on hanger to dry.

That sounds like a lot of uniform to me. We have managed fine with the following all year.

• 2 x pinafores
• 2 x summer dresses
• 4 x school Polos
• 2 x school cardis (Brought secondhand from the schools own shop which they were selling on the taster days in June/July)
• 1.x Sweatshirt
• 2 x P.E school tops
• 1 x P.E shorts
• 1 x P.E trousers
• 5 x Tights (needed to replace these after 6 months as went loose)

She does wear P.E uniform all day on the 2 days per week which she has P.E (which I think a lot of schools do).

I've never had a problem with this amount of uniform. Sounds like you have brought double that amount. Unless she is particularly messy I really don't think you need that much. You dont need a spare set in her bag. The amount of stuff they carry in and out of school (with book bags, coats they always come out carrying, sun hats, water bottles, books, homework etc) it will just make it too much for her to carry.

Also a word of warning so many children have huge growth spurt over the summer. So I didn't get uniform till mid August for my daughter and she had definitely grown over the summer months.

Our M&S trousers, shorts and jumpers have lasted well (passed down within the family, still looking OK), and they have good options for long-limbed and slim kids. Our polo shirts get stained to an unwearable level pretty quickly (mud, art activities, random attacks by pen-wielding classmates, tomato soup...), so I get cheap supermarket ones as they all end up in the car / bike rag pile once unwearably stained.

I have a DD with dyspraxia so nothing comes home clean. I also work full time which means mid week washes dont always happen. So we have 10 x days of uniform.

I used to buy from m&s and next but actually found Asda dresses hold their pleats far better and don't fade or bobble like the m&s ones do.

My 8yo is currently wearing Sainsburys age 4 skirts in longer length! My 5yo is wearing Sainsburys jersey trousers in age 3-4 longer length that were passed down from DC1. I hated the supermarket white polos though. We had a few spares alongside the logo ones and they went mis-shapen really quickly compared to the logo ones.

I have always bought Next and thought they were excellent, I have two boys so was able to use one set for both boys the quality was so good for trousers and shirts. Polos are ok from anywhere as they get grubby so economy here is fine. Good shoes are essential as well with most schools having logo jumpers which are good to use and save for next one.

We buy m&s for ds, he needs slim fit extra leg length, he's just coming to the end of reception and it's holding up well. We've had;
4 pairs of trousers,

4 long sleeve polos for winter,

4 short sleeve slim fit polos for first half term and again now,

he had two pairs of shorts for September but bought another two recently, all 4 same size they also have the extra hem that can be easily unpacked which is great because he shoots up much faster than he fills out,

two jumpers and two sweatshirt cardigans with school logo

5 pairs of socks he likes the m&S extra comfort ones which are a bit thicker/softer

PE kit one pair of shorts, one pair of lined lined leggings, one PE shirt and one plain black jumper , they have pe once a week and wear kit all day.

He then also has 2 extra sets of leggings, shorts and plain t-shirts in school colours for after school sports and another two plain black jumpers. He has to take kit in a bag another two days.

I don't do a midweek uniform wash, it all gets done on a Saturday, ironed and hung up in sets on a Sunday so it's quick in the mornings.

I don't think the marks and Spencer uniform is especially expensive to be honest

I also really rate bobux school shoes

We used Asda polos when they were in infants as they got ruined!

Now both older it's M&S slim fit long trousers, slim fit shirts and jumpers as I appear to have given birth to beanpoles.

Depending on child 5 polos, 5 skirts/trousers 3 jumpers/cardigans seemed to do us fine washed once a week! Again now they're older 2 jumpers and 2 skirts or trousers lasts all week.

I've bought M&S every year bar 1, I have 2 boys and pass everything down(except white polos that aren't usually white by July!) The only year I wasn't able to pass down was the year we did supermarket uniform due to knowing we were moving and not being sure if colour theme would change (mixture of Tesco and Asda). Trousers shrank, got ripped, polos collars looked awful I had to rebuy in the year.

Went straight back to M&S the next year.

M&S will have a 20% off code for uniform very soon, June/July time, keep an eye out.

For primary school I bought from Tesco, as they tended to get dirty with paints and stains rather than wear out. However secondary school is M&S all the way. They grown slower so tend to wear out rather than need replacing due to to stains,. I've tried Tesco, next and M&S shirts and tights, and I'd go M&S everyday for secondary school.

As a member of staff In early years, do not expect your child to come back clean and not stained. I'd recommend buying cheap so you can replace if needed and not be upset at the cost! I've found M&S get stains out more easily (but not whiteboard pen) than say Asda or sainsburys. But if they're that little don't spend a lot!

I've had uniform from M&S, Sainsbury's, Asda and BHS. Honestly they've all lasted the whole year and more.
One thing I would say is tights. I do think tights are better from M&S in my experience. So I would use them for tights again

I’m expecting it to be no worse than nursery- she often does 3 sets of clothes a day there. We will have 6-7 sets so can rotate and I can replace in-year if needed, and from Easter it will be summer dresses so winter uniform doesn’t have to last that long really.

I’m buying big, but they start in Aug and we are away for the 3 weeks before so need to get it around now. The deadline for the school order is June anyway.
But what I have got so far is big on her so will survive several growth spurts.

We don’t have set PE days, PE kit gets left in school all term and only sent home dirty. They also have to keep 1 full spare set uniform in school.

There will be no mid week washing and she’ll be in uniform all day until at least 6pm so it won’t get a second day I’m sure. But yes I am sure I will have too much-but that will make it less stressful.

For Y1 I’ll know what she likes and can probably reduce it down.

Next :)

Always buy M&S and never had a problem, stuff is always grown out of. Washes well and the adjustable waists are good. Have been able to pass trousers between DD and DS.

i wish they did polo shirts in packs of 5 though. Agree with a PP who said their shoes are good.