Which supermarket for best school trousers, etc? How many to get??

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Sorry, this is embarassingly mundane amid all the angst about school appeals and other worries , but I need to start thinking about school trousers and so on for DS1. Don't want to leave it to the last few weeks, and I don't want to spend a fortune in M&S or similar. DS1 needs plain grey trousers and ideally, I'd like semi-elasticated or elasticated waists, as he's not great with waistband buttons yet. Would hate for him to wet himself while wrestling himself out of his school trousers!

I have no idea how many pairs he'll need. We'll aim to get him out of his school clothes as soon as he's home, but he always comes back from preschool completely filthy, so I'm imagining I'll need to change trousers every day or two. We also need boring stuff like grey socks, plain white shirts, red polo shirts, and plain white and black sports kit. I'm buying his sweatshirts from school. And trainers, plimsols.... the list goes on, and his is not a formal school. Where do savvy parents get all this gubbins - are the supermarket bargains actually bargains or do they not wear well?

Wait until your Ds starts to play football on a tarmac playground! Then you'll be able to go through a pair of trousers per week as children just don't seem to get that premier league style dives aren't meant for the playground. There were a couple of times that DS1 came home with holes in the knees of the brand new trousers that I'd taken the labels off that morning!
(I solved this one when the short trouser season came along!)

Or a skateboard!

I too would recommend sainsburys. DS is still wearing the same age five pairs I bought him to start P1 two years ago! I cannot remember how much they costs but they were cheap - they often have 25% off as well.

They are so hard wearing and have an adjustable waist. IMO they do not need ironing but I am not a fan of ironing and will avoid if at all possible.

I cannot recommend them highly enought - he only has two pairs (as I don't like washing much either ) and I sponge off any wee marks so he has worn them for two or three days a week for two school years - is that some kind of record? (if he does not grow much over the summer he may get yet more wear out of them!)

Another vote for M & S here. Adjustable waist, fit well, wash well and don't fade. They hade done 2 boys in my house and I pass them on to another in my youngest class.

I also buy them when on offer and stock up on shirts at the same time. No iron ones for me as they get changed every day and are always under a jumper or coat. Socks aren't so hard wearing IMO but I just bulk buy them to save on the sock matching game after washing.

Wish the girls uniform was as good.

socks can be an issue. They either are thin but inclined to have weak elastic (tesco, asda) so they fall down, or really good at staying up but far too thick for warm weather/ over-warm classrooms.

really have to say that supermarket trousers are not shite. Ds is lively footballer. His 2 pairs of trousers last all year, in fact the current ones are nearly 2 years old. I have repaired one knee which doesn't show. I have just checked and they are tescos (teflon?)
my M&S polos haven't shrunk at all. and fit my tall skinny son just fine (but I don't tumble dry)

In the end I think it is all much of a muchness really, find something that fits your child.

Gap polo shirts are brilliant. They are more expensive (I get mine when the local Gap discount outlet has a sale), but they don't shrink like the supermarket ones do, and the side seam doesn't do that weird misshapen twist thing that can happen after a few washes.

ASDA trousers seem to have been OK so far. Mothercare were the worst. Dreadful quality - the knees went in no time at all.