John Lewis online uniforms

[sidress]

I have permenantly namechanged as the last one gave clues to my identity.

I have so far used John Lewis to buy school uniform for my children (blazers, kilt etc.), but they have recently moved to online only and do not stock uniforms in store. I find this strange as firstly they can't be tried on which I find really important. Secondly, the internet does help long distance orders, but surely uniforms stay local (eg why would someone in Manchester want a uniform for a London school?)

Does anyone feel it doesn't make sense? They could be losing custom soon.

They do free returns though don't they do you can order different sizes if you need to. Or can't you order them into the shop and then go and try them on?

They will be freeing up shop floor space for other things I suppose.

call them and ask, but i think they normally keep some of the uniform in the store closest to the school it is used for.
does that make sense?

so while you won't find it in ALL jl stores you ought to be able to get it in the one closest to your school.

if that isn't the case any longer (it was in september when i was buying for ds1), you can often get it delivered into a waitrose store (!) so could try and return if no good?

does the school not keep anything in at all?

I buy all my uniform from JL I agree about wanting to try it on before you buy it but if in doubt I now order two sizes and have it delivered to our local shop wh

I buy all my uniform from JL I agree about wanting to try it on before you buy it. But if in doubt I now order two sizes and have it delivered to our local shop which doesn't sell clothes try it on in the shop and then choose the right one. They then refund money for the one I don't want on the spot. Bit long winded but it works. I believe they will now deliver orders to waitrose as well.

I buy from JL, DS school uniform is stocked at Oxford St, they have 1 of every size in stock so you go in and try it all on. When you have decided you order and pay then they deliver to you or to the store for you to collect a few days later. It worked ok except a couple of things were out of stock and were delivered later.

We had to buy online from JL - they didn't have the uniforms to try on anywhere. It was an almighty palaver. At one point they even sent me second hand uniforms (ie. someone had written their kid's name on the label and then returned it). Complete disaster. Parents tearing their hair out. The rugby tops were sized differently from the school jumpers, etc etc - "Everyone knows" you can't order the same size in those, you have to go up a size for the jumpers and down a size for the blouses..... Blah blah blah. The school has finally had enough. We are now changing to another supplier from the end of Lent term.

I used to love the uniform section in the Oxford Street branch - a nice ritual, trying on the uniform, a helpful assistant, getting everything in one go... Will probably shop elsewhere now its all online only.

A couple of years or so ago John Lewis reduced the amount of different uniforms they were going to have in stock (including online) and streamlined a lot of it. DD's school was affected as it meant we wouldn't be able to get the current uniform from JL anymore and it would have made it much dearer and harder to source.

So, DD's school changed the uniform in places meaning more items came from JL's own ranges bar some key pieces, which are still available via JL and some just from the school shop.

For the past 6y JL have not been great with having very much stock in store itself. It has always been hard to just go to JL and buy what we need. Infact I don't think we have ever managed it. Instead we have always had to order in items.

So, actually for us this makes no difference really.

If I am not sure on sizes I order more than one size and return to store after trying on.