PE KIT - why so expensive?

[Fannydabbydozey]

Ok so the beloved DS is going to v good state single sex school and we've got the uniform list. All expected stuff. But the PE kit is to be bought online rather than at the usual local supplier and is stupidly expensive IMHO: £30 top, £15 shorts, track suit comes to £70 etc etc... This is a new thing this year. Thanks school...

My son is SHITE with kit. Really, really crap and has lost numerous items over the last year. Somewhere in the world us a pile of lost PE kit but I'm damned if I can find it.

Yes, he should be more responsible, yes he should pay for replacements. But why is this kit so pricey? From what I can see they are just the usual hideous nylony sports gear but with a farkin badge on...

So the school can make a big cut?

Just because they can....................

The school are taking the mick. Some schools just do. My DDs are at our local (good) comp, their PE kit comprises shorts, long socks and a house T-shirt as compulsory items. The total for this comes to about £20. Tracksuits can be from anywhere as long as they are plain black or navy, trainers can also be from anywhere. If your DC plays for the school you're expected to provide shin pads/mouth guards/whatever but again these can be from anywhere.

That's a lot - are any of the items optional? Ours does have some things which you can buy but don't have to, and the only non-optionals are shorts, t-shirt and hoody/sweatshirt. And I have to say they are a lot cheaper than yours!

I think you should raise this; that's a prohibitively expensive list, if none of it's optional. For reference, I think our hoody is about £15 and the shorts and t-shirt each under a tenner. Can buy blue socks for hockey and white for netball anywhere, ditto shin pads etc.

It's because PE is the most important thing they will ever do.

Yeah I'm thinking of raising this with them too. I went to a new parent coffee morning today and apparently it is all compulsory. I've just priced it up for a whole kit... £125! That's for one rugby shirt, one t shirt, one pair of shorts and a track suit! That's before the socks, hockey stick, non marking trainers, mouth guard...

Ouch

My DD1 is in year 7 so I went through this last year, her complusory sports kit costs:

Polo shirts 19.50
Skort 26.00
Socks 6.00

They also recommend a hoodie which costs 35.00 !!! and tracksuit bottoms at 25.00.

What annoys me is that it is a local business that supplies these items not the school so they are just making money because they can. Luckily the school ran a second hand shop and we got an almost perfect hoodie for 5.00 and I bought her plain black tracksuit bottoms.

I wouldn't mind if she liked PE and got use out of them but she hates it and does the very minimum. Oh we weer also lucky that she got some trainers off a friend - I'm so please I have a daughter that doesn't mind having other people's stuff.

Sorry but my pound sign doesn't work, don't know why.

I'm starting to wonder if my boys are at the same school as the OP's child. This is what I spent three years ago on DS1's PE kit:

Tracksuit top: £36
Tracksuit trousers: £24
PE shorts: £14
PE shirt: £19
Rugby shirt: £28
Rugby shorts: £22
Rugby socks: £8

And that's just the logoed stuff from the uniform supplier.

Also had to buy hockey stick, rugby boots, trainers etc.

Just got my Dd's today. Reversible Rugby top, Polo shirt, Tracksuit bottoms, Shorts and Stripey socks should have been £57 but bought together for an offer price of £52. I thought that was bad enough. She needs trainers too.

That sounds outrageous - dd's only school specific PE kit item is a logo-ed t-shirt, which I think cost around £7 or so, & given it's a good quality nice cotton one that seemed fair enough (and I bought big so it should last her a fair while ).

Nothing like that at either of my dc's schools.
I do think I would say "Well, I haven't got that kind of money - I presume you won't be punishing him for turning up in supermarket's own same colour version of the kit ?"

Would have been more effective if you could have said it in front of a crowd and got them all agreeing with you of course..

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this is outrageous. I've totted up the uniform and it will cost me £297 - that's only one of everything except trousers and shirts (the extravagance of two of those...) and I've still not factored in the fucking hockey stick. Or the plain jacket with no damn embellishments, colours or fun bits. And the hair restyle to make it collar length (we seem to have gone back to the 1950's)

That's more than my week's camping holiday will cost. That's more than I've spent on clothes for myself in the last three months.

Don't get me ?rong, I'm not poor - not at the moment, but I'm freelance so I have months when I earn nothing and my bum is so squeaky I could squeeze lemons.Thank god that's not the case at the right now but it could have been. And I'm only ever one month's bookings away from penury. But that is a fuck of a lot of money on a school uniform. Most of which will get ripped, muddy and lost within the first six months.

£300! I once went to Kenya for a week's half board in a lovely hotel for less than that... (15 years ago... But hey)