Naming School Uniform Best Tips

[jane812]

Hope everyone's well during this time, this forum's great for times like these.
Having all this time at home, I noticed recently that most of the names in DS's school clothes have either slowly deteriorated or vanished, so I've taken this time to name all his stuff for the end of this year/next school year. Sad I know - but something to pass the time!
Anyway, I wanted to ask if any of you had good recommendations for better labelling his school clothes, particularly his sports kit and his school bag - perhaps larger labels or sewing in different positions?

Hope you all continue to be well - Jane

I got these labels, and put my dc's surname on them (not first name as it makes the text smaller). I sew the labels on the handles at the top of their school bags, or on the shoulder strap depending on the amount of room. for PE bags, i sew it on the most visible space, i know on my dc's bag this is the side but it will depend on the bag. I sew the clothes labels directly onto the inside of the collars, and trousers directly onto the waistband (they can be unpicked if needed to donate or sell on etc)

all the best x

I've always sewed my labels on and I don't get it when people think writing it on with sharpie is as good as labelling. The main point of labelling stuff is to help your own child find their own possessions. When the bell goes at the end of lunchtime and they race over to the wall where they left their jumper you want them to be able to find it quickly, not have to search the eight identical jumpers for smudged sharpie.

I teach year one so have far too strong feelings on this.

As a parent of teens, I put labels on stuff and also biro on the label. Also, never allow anything into school that can’t be replaced!

Sew in labels are the best

Stickins labels.

We use sew in and haven’t lost anything yet

School jumpers (NB doesn't work on Navy)... Write first name in big letters on the inside of the collar in a fabric pen/permanent marker. Easier all round than trying to find a small name on a label. Then a proper label elsewhere.

Buy personalised embroidered labels online and sew them on. Dd got through nursery and school without ever losing a label. Tedious job but worth it.

As a primary school teacher with too many years experience of looking for lost jumpers and trying to identify found jumpers, I can confidently say that iron on labels peel off eventually and names written on in pen always fade over time.

We use the iron on ones but use hair straighteners instead of the iron.

Thank you for all your replies, I'll look into them.
Another parent suggested these larger inch wide labels, especially for sports kit - could be a wise investment!

Sharpie 😂

My mom prefers to sews them onto my little sister’s uniform. Then she writes her name using a permanent marker. See if you can find some labels in a stationery shop. Or Amazon may have some to order. You could also do what my aunt did. On the front of my cousin’s school hat, she put the first initial of his forename in blue. Or you could just invest in labels for the replaceable items like his bag etc.

I've used sew on labels for over 20 years.
Not only school uniform but swimming, sports, Scouts (think 6 dc in a patrol tent and trying to get their clothes back after that .

Sew everything on.
I can't see inch wide labels working - there usually isn't room in the collar for that size of label

Stickins never unstick. They're fab.

I sew AND sharpie after some bastard nicked DD2's jumpers and cut the name out so they could use them themselves. So it's a name label and then sharpie underneath as "fuck off and don't nick this one" statement of intent. I was more resentful of the removal of the name label than the theft of the jumper (they returned it to lost property when they'd finished with it after a year) as I bloody hate sewing in name tapes with a passion.

Sew on label prominently inside the neck/waistband where it cant be missed. Sewing them is a PITA but still cheaper than new uniform. Bear in mind it needs to be obvious to young children, they won't turn a garment inside out to look for smudged pen initials.

I like to sew them as I can then forget about them all year. Sharpie, biro, even stickins can wear away. Different colour for each child and sew them in the back of the neck so easy to see when sorting washing. We buy soft, sew in ones that look like care labels for my son who is autistic and finds others too scratchy. My daughter has Cash's or similar.

M&S sell black and navy socks with a white panel inside the cuff for naming. I do Sharpie those.

As a parent helper, please do first name and surname if you can . You'd be amazed how many Thomas B or JWs there are in a school, and it takes forever to scan 12 class lists ordered by surname to find Persephone, even if she's the only one in the school. Also I've spent far too much of my life trying to guess Eg whether a huge jumper clearly marked "Porthrop" belongs to the tall Y6 girl who normally wears cardis or the small Y5 boy whose tall big brother left last year.

Our children are boys, same initial and in consecutive years . I briefly tried to economise with "J Smith" labels rather than full names, within weeks it was chaos as neither DH or the boys could tell whose clothes were whose by the slight difference in size.

Our school ask that we sew the labels in and so far we haven't lost any uniform. We have left a couple of jumpers / ties on the bus and they got picked up by another parents and handed back to us.

For things like school shoes, I use Stikins.

For the school bag, I would use several Stikins labels.

For the sports kit, I would sew the labels in (apart from the shoes). Are the games socks very fancy? If not then I'd just make sure that I have spares (I used to nametape socks then realised that life is too short).

Expensive things like blazer, sports kit, logo jumpers get tightly sewn in name tapes, and the blazer has name tapes sewn in up the sleeve as well. Everything else gets sharpied

I use stick in labels from Petit Fernand. Couldn’t remove them if I tried. Also a Sharpie pen is quick and easy.

I use the same labels at @tupperwaretowers they go through the dishwasher and washing machine/dryer no problem. Will be ordering more for DD2.

As well as a sew in label, I've always sewn a bit of a distinctive colour thread into a visible seam, so I can find the DCs' uniform even without the label. It worked to not lose any uniform and they're now both through school. I don't miss sewing labels in though!

I use stikins labels which are fab. But I like the look of sewn labels so do have them in coats etc that I'll see more often. I sound like such a twat. I'm not!