New blazer not wearing well

jrtfan

In September last year, I bought my son a new school blazer. He wasn't obliged to wear it during lessons but he decided he wanted to keep it on anyway. This continued all the way through Year 7 until the schools broke up in July. By the start of last December, both of the elbows on the blazer had become shiny and thin. By July this year, one elbow actually had a hole in it. Apart from that, the blazer was still in great condition and with plenty of growing room left still. I decided to try and have the elbows patched and after an awful lot of toing and froing involving the uniform shop, it transpired that elbow patches went again the school's uniform policy - so I wasn't allowed to have them. (They actually said the school had instructed them not to do any work on the blazers except for size alterations and sewing on buttons etc, so they were refusing to help me because they didn't want to lose the school's custom.)

There was no option but to bite the bullet this year and purchase another new blazer, which I did on 9 September. My son and I had a long discussion before I went ahead with the purchase, about looking after clothing. He assured me that he understood about unnecessary expense etc etc and that he would not persist with keeping his new blazer on during lessons from now on.

Three weeks later, I noticed that the elbows on the new blazer had become a slightly lighter colour and some of the napp had begun to wear. So I confronted my son, who admitted that - through force of habit, was his excuse - he'd been forgetting to remove the blazer in class. I wasn't best pleased with him and since then, I've been asking him periodically if he's remembering to take it off now. He had promised me that he is. But looking at the elbows again, they seem to be a little lighter still now.

I feel a sense of history about to repeat itself and want to do something to prevent this, which might mean asking his form tutor to find out if he's telling me the truth about removing the blazer during lessons now, or not. That's one issue.

Meanwhile, it's occurred to me that irrespective of whether or not he's been wearing the garment all day at school, it really should be more robust than to have visible signs of early wear after less than 2 months' use - am I right?

The blazers are only available from one shop and they cost £98 each. It would be bad enough if they were £30 each, but at this price I think it's a joke that they don't stand up to a bit of wear and tear. So, I'm going back to the uniform shop next week with the blazer, to see what they have to say about it.

Given what they told me before about undertaking repairs, does anyone know what I might expect them to do and what I can ask of them under my consumer rights please?

Thank you.

pinkshoes

They sound shoddy!

The blazers at my school are under £30, kids wear them in lessons, and those bought Sept 2014 still look fine.

I would find out if anyone else is having problems.

Is he sitting and leaning on his elbows a lot???

jrtfan

pinkshoes wrote: »

They sound shoddy!

The blazers at my school are under £30, kids wear them in lessons, and those bought Sept 2014 still look fine.

I would find out if anyone else is having problems.

Is he sitting and leaning on his elbows a lot???

Hi pinkshoes, thank you for wading through my post!

He'll have been wearing the blazer for 7 weeks and 2 days now (they had 2 weeks off for October half-term).

One of his friend's mums buys their blazers from the second-hand uniform shop (they had none in my son's size when I needed a replacement, else I would have gone there instead). Another friend's blazer is in its fourth year now and belonged to their elder brother first. They can go the distance with many kids, I'd say.

On the other hand, my son says he's seen a handful of blazers with elbow patches being worn at school. I've checked policy, and the shop was correct in saying this goes against the rules.

There probably will be a percentage of people like me, who just purchase a new one annually and don't say anything about it.

I think he must lean hard on his elbows at times because his jumper has very slight shine/bagginess at the elbows too, but nowhere near as much as the blazer (and the jumper's over a year old).

Even though the shop refused me a repair to the last blazer, can they refuse again with the new one when it's still virtually brand new? If they won't repair, can I dig my heels in for an exchange of garment?

usefulmale

I wouldn't have paid £98 for a blazer. I also thought that sole-suppliers of school uniform was not allowed anymore?

jrtfan

usefulmale wrote: »

I wouldn't have paid £98 for a blazer. I also thought that sole-suppliers of school uniform was not allowed anymore?

I don't know about the sole-supplier point you're raised, usefulmale, all I do know is that the school's badge is embroidered directly onto the top pocket of the blazer and the uniform shop takes delivery directly from the suppliers. Nowhere else stocks it.

I'm assuming the blazers are manufactured to the school's specifications and then the school has chosen this particular shop as their approved supplier for all of its uniform items.

As for the price, I don't agree with it. But this is absolutely the right school for my son and he's embraced it totally, so I pay it because I want him to stay there.




This doesn't alter the fact that I expect an item of everyday-wear clothing still to look like new after 7 weeks of wear! If it doesn't, then I think it should be raised as a quality control issue with the manufacturer, who should review their materials and come up with something more durable. Aim it at the heavy-handed kids like my son, and it will be good for everyone else!

My contract's with the uniform shop though, so I think they should probably feed back to the school and the manufacturer. But I'm not certain about this.



Does anybody have any advice regarding my consumer rights, meanwhile?

marliepanda

jrtfan wrote: »

I don't know about the sole-supplier point you're raised, usefulmale, all I do know is that the school's badge is embroidered directly onto the top pocket of the blazer and the uniform shop takes delivery directly from the suppliers. Nowhere else stocks it.

I'm assuming the blazers are manufactured to the school's specifications and then the school has chosen this particular shop as their approved supplier for all of its uniform items.

As for the price, I don't agree with it. But this is absolutely the right school for my son and he's embraced it totally, so I pay it because I want him to stay there.




This doesn't alter the fact that I expect an item of everyday-wear clothing still to look like new after 7 weeks of wear! If it doesn't, then I think it should be raised as a quality control issue with the manufacturer, who should review their materials and come up with something more durable. Aim it at the heavy-handed kids like my son, and it will be good for everyone else!

My contract's with the uniform shop though, so I think they should probably feed back to the school and the manufacturer. But I'm not certain about this.



Does anybody have any advice regarding my consumer rights, meanwhile?

They make take the stance that if your son is the only one having a problem with it, then its excessive wear and tear caused by your son.

Have any other children in the school had issues with the elbow? You can see their point if you are the only one having issues.

lincroft1710

jrtfan wrote: »

One of his friend's mums buys their blazers from the second-hand uniform shop (they had none in my son's size when I needed a replacement, else I would have gone there instead). Another friend's blazer is in its fourth year now and belonged to their elder brother first. They can go the distance with many kids, I'd say.

I think he must lean hard on his elbows at times because his jumper has very slight shine/bagginess at the elbows too, but nowhere near as much as the blazer (and the jumper's over a year old).

This would suggest your son is the cause of the problem rather than the blazer being defective. If this is not the case, then as 2 have worn through it would appear the sleeves of the blazers need to be made of stronger material - so a manufacturing fault

jrtfan

marliepanda wrote: »

They make take the stance that if your son is the only one having a problem with it, then its excessive wear and tear caused by your son.

Have any other children in the school had issues with the elbow? You can see their point if you are the only one having issues.

Apparently yes, my son's seen some kids wearing elbow patches at school but they're in the minority and much older than him, so he doesn't know them.

I don't know any parents there except the 2 I mentioned previously and only visit for Parent' Evening, so I can't find out if others are having the same issue and just buying anew every year, without complaining.

peachyprice

What colour is the blazer? If it's a standard colour that is available else where couldn't you have just cut the badge off the pocket of the old blazer and sewn it on a generic one (which I suspect other parents are probably doing) ? John Lewis have most colours.

sheramber

Intersting article

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34537127

jrtfan

lincroft1710 wrote: »

This would suggest your son is the cause of the problem rather than the blazer being defective. If this is not the case, then as 2 have worn through it would appear the sleeves of the blazers need to be made of stronger material - so a manufacturing fault

I tend to agree with you there. Although, if it turns out he really isn't wearing the blazer during lessons any more but the shine/wear becomes worse nonetheless, then I'll know for certain it's the manufacturing!




I will talk to the uniform shop still anyway, maybe they could fit stronger reinforcement inside the sleeves or something.

Thank you to all for your help.