How often do you wash school blazer?

[SweetsAndChocolates]

As the title reads, how often do you wash dc school blazer?
I was going to wash every week but wondering if that's too much (don't want it to start looking a little worn out too quickly). It is good old polyester though (had a choice between polyester and wool, washing and drying was one of the reasons went with polyester and the fact the wool blazer cost an arm and a leg)

Some of these methods sound more effor than just washing them.

Both dds have two they get worn twice then washed. Polyester is plastic. Shirts are thin.

To be fair, even the blazers I deal with in my volunteer capacity are rarely smelly - neither 'armpitty' nor 'lworn forevermore by human-y'. Its the amount of just plain old dirt that some of them have managed to absorb.

I bought wool ones specially as it is breathable, cooler in summer, much less sweaty.

I brush and spot clean if needed and dry clean the blazers once a year, they are fine.

I do them every half term, but if it starts smelling sooner then it gets washed.

Thank you all!

I actually didn't think through regarding material...the price tag made me walk away from the wool selection 😂 but it might have been a better option (with it being breathable etc).

I'm now beginning to wonder whether I should have purchased 2 school jumpers

Blazer and ties every Friday Evening at 30 degrees.

Every week - they stink! I’d rather a faded blazer than a stinky one! Theirs can just be chucked in a gentle wash (low spin) and then hang in the airing cupboard.

With my eldest hers lasted from yr9-11 wasn’t that bad! But definitely couldn’t hand it down to younger daughter.

Could you maybe just steam
Them with the steamer ?

I hadn't thought about that!

it only occurred to me after a whole school year that I can bang the blazer in the machine! They are indeed washable who would've thought.

DS never brought it home from school. when it did appear I discovered it was held together with safety pins. I can’t imagine what the staff thought of me!

@SweetsAndChocolates

My DDs prep had beautiful quality wool blazers. Dry cleaned it once. The school uniform had a cloak that went over the top. Cleaned that once also. At senior school they had wool blazers although not such good quality. Again the rare dry clean. My DDs didn’t wear these blazers in class but did when moving between buildings. I am glad they were not yuk polyester. Buy the wool/wool blend one. Much nicer to wear! You simply don’t wash them. Just make sure DC doesn’t lose it!

ours are wool and dry clean only. I dry clean it once a year and wash it on a cold machine cycle every half term.

Wow I am really surprised at these responses
If you are all only washing blazers once a year how often do you was the rest of the uniform??

My high school DC wear shirt, jumper, blazer & tie (and skirt or trousers obviously) they have a new shirt every day, 2 jumpers a week and two skirt or trousers a week changing it over midweek
Blazer & tie gets washed every Friday

I suspect more than one of the DC who’s parents are on this thread are the smelly kid in school … covered up with febreeze of course just to make it worse 🤦🏻‍♀️

I wash year 8 DS' every week otherwise it would stink. Even though he puts deodorant on and showers every day he can get quite smelly on a warm day.

Year 11 DD's I wash probably once a fortnight, maybe less during the winter.

I think it is very dependent on what those items are made of, as previously posted, wool blazers breathe. DD's shirts are 100% cotton, changed every other day, skirts changed once a week (they only get sat on), jumpers again 100% heavy cotton knit, one a week. Looking at standard M&S/Next etc type uniform it is all polyester or poly cotton so bound to get more smelly.

@StressfulBedtimes
Wool blazers are dry clean only. My DDs wore them as coats. In and out of school. They didn’t wear them all day. At prep, DD2’s was protected by a cloak in bad weather. Shirts weekly wash. Skirts occasional. Pullovers were washable wool. So when needed. Tights: all the time!

I've had donations for the secondhand shop very much like that, but usually minus the safety pins... My proudest moment was when I restored what I refer to as a collection of its component parts to a saleable condition and hung it up on the rack.

(And yes, it did get a good wash as well).

you can’t wash a wool blazer every week!

my DS wears a clean shirt and clean trousers daily. Jumpers washed twice a week. The blazer goes on top like a jacket. Obviously it gets washed or sponge cleaned if muddy etc. He’s definitely not the smelly kid, thanks… and I hate Febreze.

Your DDs wore the shirt for a whole week and their skirts only washed occasionally?

Ours is thick wool and dry clean only 😱

Had it a year, didn’t have it cleaned as he mostly worr it into class then took it straight off, now he’s grown out of it 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Hate blazers, so old fashioned and impractical, and wish department of education would ban schools from making them part of uniform.

Those who are washing blazers every week - how often does your OH dry clean suits?! (If you have an OH who wears them.) I know kids get dirtier, but still.

Or your own, for that matter? I wear jackets a lot at work, I can go months if not years without dry cleaning them!

I think there’s a difference between an adult who has completed puberty and probably isn’t hugely physically active whilst wearing their suit and a teenager mid-puberty.

Teens have to speed across large school sites, sit in rooms that can often be warm in winter or summer with 30+ others crammed in a small space, plus their hormones are working overtime. They certainly sweat. Those with teens have usually experienced this and know from the school shirts that the armpits can go heal low and the whiff be really unpleasant. Usually there’s just that shirt beween their armpits and blazer….the sweat will reach the blazer.

Ultimately you have to do a sniff test. If it smells it needs washing regardless of how long ago it was washed. Isn’t that the key thing, apart from when there are obvious spills or stains? Surely no-one wants to send their child to school being smelly, and not with the excuse of ‘but that blazer was washed 2 weeks ago so shouldn’t need another wash’.

Kids do sweat to different amounts, so not everyone will need it doing exactly to the same frequency, but expecting to need to do it more regularly in mid teen years seems a sensible starting point.

The black polyester ones go brown if you wash them all the time. Sniff test is the way to go.