Cheap School Uniform Discussion

Janepig

Carmina_Piranha wrote: »

janepig there's a 'national schoolwear' shop in my town which sells ridiculously expensive school and brownies clothes. they do different styles of trousers, apparently. my sister buys nephew's trousers there because they fit better than the others. i HAVE to buy my son's school jumpers,ties, PE top and rugby top from there, but i try to buy his trousers elsewhere because the shop is so expensive.

Strangely enough, there's a schoolwear shop in town (just a local company) and they stock black pleated skirts (the type with pleats all the way around) which aren't adjustable but are a nice fit on DD. I think I paid about £7 for one but it has lasted well and DD loves it because it sort of puffs out when she does a twirl which is all important for a young lady of 5!!!

The best thing I've bought for DD to go back to school is a thick white cardi from M&S - it was £9, so not particularly cheap, but I've not seen that sort of style in white before and it means she can wear it over her blue gingham schooldress thereby extending the length of time she can wear that for.

The other good buy in M&S is the more expensive school tights - I can't remember what they're called but they're advertised as being thermostatically controlled or something . Mil bought some for DD last year and they've washed fantastically well - normally with the cheaper tights they go bobbly after afew washes, so really they're well worth the slightly higher price for the fact that DD will still be able to wear them this winter.

Jxx

Savvy_Sue

All I'll say is that I don't have to buy school uniform EVER AGAIN because DS3 is about to go into the 6th form, BUT his blazer, trousers and shirts are probably more splattered with paint than some parents would accept. And it's acrylic paint so nothing gets it off.

However, my view is that they wear school uniform so their home clothes don't get ruined. That's been my view since they started at nursery.

The eldest went through a phase in infant school of chewing his sweat shirt cuffs. So he spent the last half of the year in frayed cuffs.

Just my opinion, of course, but the only thing I've ever bought part way through the year is trousers, because wearing trousers half way up to their knees does look a bit 'off'. I've never replaced things just because they had paint on them.

CarolM_3

Most of the supermarkets do cheap school uniform in black/grey/navy, but my daughter's school has brown/yellow clothing. M&S only do one brown skirt in their school range catalogue, that has a butterfly motif on so would be banned anyway... Does anyone know of a supermarket or shop that does brown?
thanks

cheekyweegit

CarolM wrote: »

Most of the supermarkets do cheap school uniform in black/grey/navy, but my daughter's school has brown/yellow clothing. M&S only do one brown skirt in their school range catalogue, that has a butterfly motif on so would be banned anyway... Does anyone know of a supermarket or shop that does brown?
thanks

I know it might sound silly but is there any way you would be able to unpick the butterfly motif? Instead of using scissors use a stitch unpicker which costs around £1 or even less from any good craft or material shop. I use them when I make pom poms as it's a lot easier and think they would do the job.

Wash the skirt, then iron it using lots of steam if possible to get rid of any pin holes.

cheekyweegit

Ok this is far from cheap compared to the prices you guys are speaking about for your kids uniforms, but for those of us who are fortunate or unfortunate as the case maybe to have very tall kids, (my youngest is 14 and 6ft 4ins with a 37.5 inch inside leg). I'd recommend Slaters the Menswear shop if you have one near buy.

I couldn't find trousers to fit my youngest for love not money, and my friend suggest there. Heaven, they do trousers up to a 42 inside leg :j :j :j (growing
room for Titch).

They had a choice of a few pairs of trousers, and Titch settled on a pair which went up to a 39 inside leg, but also had a turn up on them. They were a little long and had to be ordered in, in black for school, which the guys on the shop did on Monday and said that they would have the length altered to fit complete with turn ups again for Friday. I've had the phone call to confirm they are at the shop now and alterations have commenced. The best bit is the alterations are included in the price! Ok, I've had to pay £22 a pair, but I still think this is a bargain to get trousers to fit a tall lanky legged teenager and know I'm not the only one out there with this "problem"

Oh and if it also helps, they do up to a size 15 shoe, although Titch only has little feet (size 9).

As for shirts, I used to get the packs of shirts from Asda / Tesco, but found they didn't last that long / looked a bit grubby pretty quickly. I, thanks to another poster on here a couple of years ago, bought M&S shirts which were on 3 for 2 with a discount code and it worked out cheaper than Asda shirts. Not only were they cheaper, but far better quality too, and lasted 2 years before being passed on to the local nursery for painting overalls for the kids.

I've got M&S shirts again this year, and again it worked out cheaper than Asda Mens Smart Price as I got 9 shirts for £17 as opposed to £27 at Asda.

M&S were £10 for a pack of 3 x 3 (on 3 for 2) less a 15% discount code but not including my quidco which paid out 3 weeks after the order.

Hope this helps.

Ceals

Just got back from Sainsbury's where I bought 6 summer dresses for £7. :rotfl:

The dresses were £1.75 each (half price) and with the 3 for 2 offer it meant I still got 2 of the dresses free. I know my daughter probably won't wear them much in the Autumn, but I bought some larger sizes for next spring and summer. The design doesn't seem to change much from year to year. You even got a scrunchy included!!

Spendless

Matalan was offering 3 for 2 on some school uniform. They also had navy polo shirts for £2 each. The only other place I've ever found navy polo shirts is Adams.

The poster that was asking about brown uniform, I'd ask another parent with child at school if you see one out and about, they must be buying them somewhere.

arthur_dent_2

Does anyone have a recommendation for smaller waist trousers/skirts. I may be a big girl myself but my 2 dds have very small waists.

Kazzajr

I had a look at the cheap trousers/sweatshirts in Asda and the £1.75 ones felt and looked awful and I wouldn't put my son in them, wasn't impressed with their range at all. The only thing I bought from there was their shirts (£2 for 2) and 7 pairs of pants for £2.

I also have to buy adjustable waist trousers for ds and also the year younger than he actually is, I bought 1 pair in M&S was disappointed they didn't have the ones I got last year they seem to have gone for much cheaper ranges this year, got 3 s/s shirts for £4 which look great quality.

In Sainsburys I got 2 pairs of trousers with adjustable waist that seem great quality and were only £6.50 for the 2 and are obviously in the 3 for 2 range. Also got gym kit from there 2 pairs shorts and 2 pack T-shirts £4 each, so £10.50 for the lot I am really impressed with these although the proof will be when they are washed etc.

LittleBrownFrog

Has anyone come across royal blue school skirts? The only place we've been able to find them is in the local school uniform shop, and they're not too expensive (about £7) but they only last five minutes - I spent too long last year re-stitching bits, so I'm looking for something sturdier.