What do you all do with school trousers with holes in the knee ?

[2014meh]

Mentioned to a friend (who has dd's but not ds) that I'm about to chuck out various pairs of the boys school trousers with smallish holes in the knees, and she was surprised that I was just prepared to chuck them out.

I'm useless at sewing/mending/darning - replacing buttons and wonderweb use is the limit of my clothes repairing skills (I'm not sure I'm that good at wonderweb use either, doesn't seem to hold for me). I looked into getting them cut off and hemmed up properly as shorts but I get given my nephew's old school shorts/trousers for free anyway for ds to wear so the makeover cost put me off. I also don't have much free time for mending etc.

Is there a way of recycling them that I've missed or is my friend just being a "mum of girls" who doesn't get the fact that boys do sometimes come home with holes in the knees of trousers. I do like to recycle things if at all possible but I don't have the time or skills/patience for lots of sewing.

I sew and repair. I rarely bother patching holes in school trousers because the fabric is really not worth the effort. The iron-on patches do not stick well because of the anti-stain coating on the fabric, and reinforcing them with lots of machine stitching generally leaves an annoyingly scratchy panel in the inside. I prefer to buy trousers in multi-buy discounts, even if that means buying a pair for next year, and chucking badly torn ones.

I do, however, patch jeans and other non-school trousers. But then they're made of nice fabrics and generally cost more than uniform.

I patch from the inside - weirdly the patch lasts longer than the original even if made from the same fabric.

Boys can be very heavy on trouser knees though

I make them into shorts.

I buy when they have 2 packs at sainsbury's for £8 and 25% off then at £3 a pair I reckon that they aren't much more than a girls pair of tights!
I have made them into shorts but I would have far too many pairs of shorts if I did all the ones my DS puts the knee through.

I either patch them or cut them into shorts for DS to wear in the summer (it is quite easy to do and doesn't take long).

So no way of recycling other than turning into shorts which we don't need as we have plenty of cast offs already ?

Looks like they're headed for the bin.....

It does seem such a shame.

P.S. ILoveAFullFridge - thanks for explaining the mystery of why the iron on patches simply peel off after 2 washes.

What is it with boys and knees? My DS goes through them like water. I have reused several pairs that belonged to tomboy DD that were in perfectly good nick and within one day you can see the wear and within weeks or even days they are through the knees! Even new don't last that long, I'm thinking of pre-emptively patching them so it is the patch that wears not the trousers.
He is not yet at school, but I suspect the pairs I have saved from DD that lasted her the whole of each year are not going to be enough!

My dm used to patch my db's trousers with leather inside the knee before he wore it. Otherwise he was through in 2 weeks.

I give our old damaged clothes to Oxfam using the Marks and Spencer Shwop drop boxes. The clothes that can't be reused or sold are sold to reprocessing companies who turn them into mattress filling or carpet underlay. Alternatively you could take them to your local recycling centre if you have one nearby. Ours has a section for fabrics.

I use the iron-on mending fabric (not the patches that sometimes come with the trousers) on the inside of the knee if it isn't too big a hole. Usually lasts a while. I always keep one or two pairs back as they are very useful for school dress up days - Victorian urchin, evacuee etc all benefit from torn shorts!!

I think I'll look into the M&S shwop box idea although I'm not sure if they have one locally.

I bin them. Well I don't actually bin them, but I do put them out in our fabric recycling box that the council collect. As the poster above said, supermarkets/M&S etc are generally £8 for two pairs and often with a discount on top, and at that price I'm afraid I see them as disposable. Life's too short to piss about mending and refashioning things if you're not already competent at it and don't already have the equipment to do so.

DSs school don't wear shorts so I recycle them, we buy Asda trousers for £3 and tbh it's not worth buying the patches and trying to repair. DS's trousers are actually cheaper than DD's tights!

I would probably make them into shorts although the savings are probably minimal as I buy all the school uniform stuff when it's discounted.

Anything beyond repair I take to one of the local charity shops for their rag bag, they take the rags to one of the fabric recycling merchants and get a little bit of money for it. Might be worth asking around the charity shops local to you, to see if any of them do this. I know my shop are always very grateful for the rags, the manager said that the number of donations has really dipped recently as a lot of people are taking stuff to the "cash 4 clothes" places rather than the charity shops.

Patch from inside Or more often, turn them into shorts. Ds likes wearing shorts.

I can't remember when he last wore long trousers to school, might be last march.

Ds hasn't worn any out yet, but when/if he does they'll go straight in the bin.

patch from the inside... or buy decent trousers from the uniform shop... they last much longer.

In the past worn out/damaged school uniform went in the bin.

Now I'm darning jumper elbows like a 50's housewife. I'm sodded if I'm shelling out £18 for jumpers for Y11 DD1.

Sixform is non uniform or different colour, depending where she gets in and DD2 is a size 6 to her 12 so they probably won't ever fit as hand me downs.

Primary trousers are cheap, DDs wore trousers and never went through the knees, tights cost a fortune. They are also an utter pain in the morning and for PE. I gave up on skirts in winter .

I'd keep them for patching future school trousers!

If they're not too bad I send them into school as spares for all the children to use. Schools are always desparate.

Ds has never put a hold in any trousers. They don't even get shiny or thing. I just pass them onto friends.

(Ah, the joys of AS. I have a child who sits and reads in the playground )

Throw them out (recycling). Ripped/torn trousers are against the rules.

If it's only a very small hole though schools are desparate they really are. I wouldn't send anything too scruffy!

Charity shop, they sell unusable clothes for rags and make a bit of cash out of them.