where's best for good quality school trousers? and name labels?

Angiebabe

I recommend Next trousers. Particularly those combat style ones; the fabric seems heavier. Most have lasted as hand-me-downs for both boys. If they go through the knees, you can make them into summer school shorts.
John Lewis and other haberdashers stockists do iron-on patches in school trouser colours - the trick is to iron them on the rear to reinforce the knee before it gets too bad. They are quite big so you can cut them 2 or 3 ways.

Clarks shoes are definitely the best. Look out for Clarks factory shops -the one we went to in Springfields near Spalding had school shoes and trainers for cheaper than the sales - all sizes and not 2nds. In fact I buy ahead as @ 5 and 8 years old DSx2 aren't likely to err from a bog standard F fitting. I have a mini shoe shop with boxes in the wardrobe...

I use Simplystuck labels - it's .com the mini iron-on ones are a bit fiddly and can come off in the wash. This sounds a bit nuts but I've had good results ironing them onto ribbons and sewing them into coats/jumpers.

Sounds a bit old-style, eh? It's my first post! :A

A

ethelsmum

I found asda ones lasted well - really cheap too at £3.50. Last few pairs my son's had though have been the ones from Marks and Spencers - the more expensive ones at about £8 or £9 a pair - these seem good quality. Never had a problem with holes in the knee but my son always goes up a size mid-term so forever seem to be buying.
Shoes - always Clarks as they last well. Bought him some cheaper ones once and they were so heavy for his little feet I sent them to the charity shop within a week.

jog

For labels I have just bought myself a dymo label machine from ebay, it was about £10 for the machine which came with one roll of 4 meters of tape. You can buy a 3 pack of 4 meter tapes for about £5 on ebay. The triple pack of tape was one roll paper labels, one roll plastic labels and one roll of iron on tape. I'm really pleased with the label machine.

Jog

buxtonrabbitgreen

I found the marks and Spencers trousers the best. They had the best fit for my skinny ds and lasted till he grew out of them. I think I paid about £11 a pair. I also had some from Matalan, much cheaper but not too bad for wear.
As for shoes, as they are both now teens and their feet have stopped growing, I just keep my eye out in Brantano at sale time and buy the chunkiest strongest looking pair I can find. Luckily my dd is not the slightest bit girly so she is always happy with my choice.

itzmee

I would second the Matalan trousers, my 6 year old son goes through at least a pair of trousers each term and Matalan are cheap enough (about £4/£5) that I don't have to worry about the cost of replacing them, also he has a small waist and they seem to be the best fitting on him. Asda ones are ok but there's no way I'm buying M&S cheap range again - 'useless' is the only word I can use for all the uniform in that range!

gghh

Thanks everyone, looks like others have had good experiences with Sainsbury's so I might just stick with them, the prices are good too, expecially when they do the 25% off offer!
And thanks for the ebay tip too, have bought some labels today from there, really cheap compared to other places! Just hope they are good! Thanks again

mum26

I agree with princesswoo who said about shoes falling to bits, we had shoes from Next too and they looked awful by the end of the first week, shocking as they were not very cheap!

Janepig

The trick with shoes is to polish them before they get scuffed, so that they're scuffing the polish rather than the shoe. DH should have been in the army because he's a dab hand at polishing shoes!!!

I've found M&S trousers to be the worst for hems coming down, although the fabric is good quality. My favourite shop for school uniform was Adams, I did a big stock up before they closed. I didn't realise they were still online. I'll have to look them up.

Jxx

Spendless

My son doesn't got thru the knees he goes thru the shins.

the_other_mce

I don't bother buying labels- I just use an indelible marker pen to write on the hem ( or back of the tie, inside the shoes etc). I've still got two bags of labels I bought for my DD's 6 years ago (I've kept them in case they want them for secondary school or uni!!). Biro will last about 1/2 a term as well!! My kids HATE labels so I always have to cut them out anyway!!!
Trousers/skirts I get from ASDA. I buy the stretchy type for my DD's- they are so cheap (about £2/£3) each that you can replace them as req'd - some years they have lasted all year and other years I've replaced them because my kids have grown TWO sizes!! I hate seeing kids with trousers around their calves because they have had a growth spurt!!! Plus you don't have to iron the stretchy fabrics - they look good straight out of the tumble drier (always a bonus!!);)