School Uniform - which can you recommend and why?

[aintnomountainhighenough]

Not sure if I am posting this in the right place but here goes. I need to by my DD's uniform soon. The sweatshirt needs to come from National Schoolwear shop but can buy the rest from anywhere. Can you recommend any shop in particular and why? e.g M&S, Asda, Woolies.

Also any you definitely wouldn't go for!

Many thanks!

m&s because quality is good. and you get free delivery, so works out much cheaper than actually going into the shop, paying for car, and petrol and parking. and i only get what i actually need, rather than impulse stuff, whislt forgettting what i actually came in for.
also, they have 3 for 2 at the monent

I use BHS a lot. Reasonably priced somewhere between Woolies & M&S. You need to shop around to see who's go the 3 for 2's on in my expirence. Asda dresses are very good too. Personally found that although M&S are well made etc, their sizing is a bit hit and miss. DD who was 9 at the time was mortified to be trying on age 13 trousers before they fitted round the waist! Everywhere else she was wearing aged 9!

Don't get next uniform, not overly impressed. If its polo shirts go with BHS, you can tumble dry and not have to iron them

I have just got ds's uniform from tesco...they have a 3 for 2 offer atm.

Have Tesco, Asda and Adams. All fine but aDAMS MORE EXPENSIVE AND THE CARDIGANS HAVE FAded with repeated washing. Otherwise Tesco and Asda stuff has all washed well and bargain prices.

my son was given a pair of Banner trousers i think he will outgrow them before they die.
The asda ones went at the knees so i cut them off and made shorts.

M&S (now have their 3 for 2 sale on. Much better quality than others.
Adams boys trousers were like a piece of rag after 2 or 3 weeks.

Adams do adjustable waist skirts and trousers in smaller sizes (3yrs), they are more expensive but at least they will fit her!

FB x

Worth paying extra for M&S quality in my opinion (and 3 for 2 at the mo).

Personally I liked Next trousers, as they were the only ones that fitted my skinny boys well.

Anything with at least some natural fibres (wool/ cotton) is usually more comfortable (less scratchy) for them, and you can still get teflon/ stain protection etc on it.

Find Banner stuff appalling - shapeless, washes badly.

It's false economy to buy cheap polo shirts (unless just for PE, and rarely washed), they just shrink and fade too quickly.

The DSs best polo shirts were actually 100% cotton from Gap!

I love the Next pleated skirts. They look good and wash & wash. No ironing needed. I just get a pack of 5 polo shirts from Asda because they are as cheap as chips! This is important as my dds tend to ruin their shirts at school anyway (marker pens, paint etc etc), so I can replace them as needed without worrying about the expense!

I have had ...

M&S good, no fading, clothes last well and look very good after a year... skirts , shirts, cardigan and tights

Tesco... you get what you pay for, trousers and dress, faded quickly and went bobbly, I won't buy them again, they didn't last more than 3 months looking good.

Debenhams ... good, dress has lasted well, no fading still looks good(i only bought a wee checked dress for summer recently and it is fine too, recommend getting stuff in the debenham's sale, I got stuff fairly cheaply for dd, I would buy from there again,

M & S for me. Colours do not fade and ds1's shirts have been worn for nearly two years withh little sign of wear.

If you want/need 100% cotton stuff (for eczema-y kids or just cause you prefer it), Clean Slate or EczemaClothing are both useful.

Otherwise M&S is good for 'investment' stuff you plan to hand down.

Have previously had stuff from BHS, Adams and Asda.

BHS are ok, but the sizing of their girls trousers are crap IMO, and the hems constantly come down.

ADAMS, again ok, like their girls polo shirts, they was well, and are good quality. Their cardigans do fade and I wouldn't buy those again.

ASDA , fab for girls skirts and blouses, but I personally don't like their polo shirts. They look cheap and the collars don't seem finnished off well.

M&S, I have just brought some of ds's uniform from there and got 4 polo shirts and 3 pairs of trousers, plus pe pumps for £18. The polo shirts seem nice quality as do the trousers, and they fitted ds perfectly, and are easy to get on and off.

John Lewis tend to do great pinafores. I'm a sucker for pleats and last year they had a really sweet drop-waisted one with fat box pleasts all the way round the skirt. It washes brilliantly. It's kind-of M&S prices, rather than supermarket prices. Also, being a sad fashion victim, Asda's summer cotton dress is lovely - fresh and miraculously cotton (strangely hard to find), slightly puffy sleeves and a waist-tie. So sad I know, actually caring what the darn things look like, but I'm persevering in a sad deluded way that if I get her stuff that looks decent now it will somehow educate her sense of style for the future(ha ha, like she's not going to be wearing chavtastic crop tops as soon as she can get to H&M on her own...).

IME Sainsburys tights shrink, grr.

I found Asda trousers and shorts bobbled quite a bit. The Matalan shorts have been fine and the Adams trousers still look like new after a year (well two terms because DS is very much shorts in the summer term). Asda polo shirts do seem to have funny collars but I mainly buy the school ones anyway. Also I buy the pe kit (blue shorts and white t-shirt) from Asda because it is only worn for a couple of hours a week and only sent home for washing every half term.

Here's a vote for Sainsbury's trousers - amazingly ds has so far failed to destroy the knees

Polo shirts - go as cheap as possible. Primark are very good quality at £2.50 for 2 (white only). They will get ruined so expensive ones aren't worth it.

agree, get cheap polo tops - the M&S ones shrunk terribly for us, I get ASDA ones now, v cheap and just as good quality.

I bought trousers and pinafores from M&S in their 3 for 2 deal, really good quality and great prices ( 2 pinafores and 1 trousers, worked fine for dd)

M&S polo shirts are good quality. The first lot DS1 grew out of will be passed on to DS2. The really cheap ones look cheap.

And the M&S trousers don't need ironing and still look great after a year of wear.

M&S polos were sh*te when I tried them- mine shrank too and were ruined with general muck within a matter of weeks. Primark ones look surprisingly good.

Agree with CodLiverOil abbout polo shirts - it's false economy - the cheap ones just fall apart! DSs have had M&S ones and they are still fab - don't tumble dry them, and they won't shrink!

The cheapie ones are so thin too....

So... (to the orginal poster) is this thread helping

I don't tumble dry them and they did shrink