best place for School uniform

[incywincyspideragain]

ds1 has just finished yr1 and ds2 (who starts this sept) is too big for any hand me downs plus anything that would fit is worse for wear.

So far I have learnt that the supermarket jumpers are fine so you have enough but fade really quickly (although for £2 I don't mind too much) John Lewis trousers are rubbish and whilst the knees were fine the stitching went in the crotch after 1 term and I was constantly sewing them up. Shorts from M&S last forever and its best to get branded shoes.

Any good advice for good quality uniform? I really want polo shirts that don't go out of shape and hold colour and trousers that don't fade or tear easily.... impossible task?

I used BHS for ds's trousers in P1 and the quality was good - managed to grow out of them and then pass them onto his cousin who wore them for the rest of the year. We have also used Next trousers which are also good quality and robust - will be passing them to his cousin too! DD had skirts from Tesco and Asda and they lasted well. Have just bought her some from Matalan that look good/sturdy so maybe their boys stuff is ok too.

I use logo polo shirts from the schoolwear shop

My DD2 has a skirt from the school shop which she is no longer able to wear as is moving up to secondary school but has had this skirt since Y2 and is still able to wear it. It has an elasticated waist and didn't cost a fortune but for a skirt to last 5 years I feel the school shop has offered good value for money. Most other stuff did come from M&S and it didn't tend to shrink as much as supermarket stuff. BHS was always good value and lasted well and will stick with their blouses as they are the best we have found. Unfortunately, wherever you buy it from it won't hold up to boys and football so may end up with torn knees but I'm sure Marks advertise their stuff as tougher.

Good luck

Do you have a local School shop? Ours supplies the logoed stuff but also all the trousers and shirts and they are as good/if not better than M&S. I think DS1's stuff is made by Banner.

i don't think you can go wrong with Next, their trousers are brilliant and last all year. I also used to really like Adams poloshirts - they may still be available on-line.

Next for trousers/shorts M+S for knitted jumpers/cardigans (I didn't like the school sweatshirt style) and skirts/pinafores. I did buy the (£8 each) school polo shirts with the logo as they didn't need ironing!

Next poloshirts are okay, but our school is sky blue and sometimes the Next blue ones are not a very nice shade, that's all that puts me off really. The ones with the zip necks are nice and very practical for the little ones (although I just never used to do the buttons up on the others) when changing for gym. The M&S ones tend to be small made and do shrink on first wash too. The collars on the sainsburys ones went a bit funny.

I'm not sure what make our school shop stuff is but the polo shirts fade really badly although they do keep their shape. Our uniform is white or dark green polos so I went for pack of white polos from John Lewis last year (as done M&S year before and they took too long to iron and seemed to shrink) and a couple of green ones from School shop, I do like them having the logo'd stuff but it adds up. I think we did get a couple of hand me down Adam ones but I didn't realise you could still get them on line.

Sounds like I should be trying Next and M&S for trousers then ds1 doesn't play football or sport at playtime and the knees still get worn, I think its more carpet time in infants that does it, hopefully that will change as he gets older!

my boys always loved the Next Combat style ones as the side pockets are great for storing crap useful stuff, such as stones, bits of stick and elastic bands sometimes worms as well!!

I prefer M&S polos, but do buy a couple of ages up as they do shrink in the first couple of washes (I buy large, wash/tumble dry to shrink, then get logo'd).

Dont like M&S trousers as ds is footie mad and the knees go white very easily from all his slide tackling at afterschool.

Like Next Jeans style school trousers, but beginning to find then tight round the middle, ds(8) is very tall/skinny but they are still tight, he likes to wear them sitting low on his hips, think he might have big hips as he has absolutely no tummy! Not sure what to get him this year.