If your kids wear a Uniform to school

[pigletto]

I was just curious what you pay for their uniforms? Is it one company that you have to buy from?
I just went and bought dd's high school uniform pieces.
I will list what we got:

1 pair of walking shorts
2 long sleeve Oxford Shirts
2 short sleeve polos
1 kilt
2 pairs of pants
1 pullover sweater
1 long sleeve t-shirt
1 cardigan
and 1 sweatshirt.

She won't have gym until 10th grade so we didn't even bother with gym clothes yet. The long sleeve t shirt and sweatshirt can only be worn on spirit days that you have to pay to participate in.

Grand total.. 650 dollars

I think I am just stunned being hit with all of that at once. I am usually a pretty smart sale shopper. So that's a lot for me.

So it made me curious if everyone else pays that much. We can only buy shoes, socks and tights from other stores. Everything else must come from the one Uniform supplier.

 

[Vijoge]

My son attended a parochial high school. Uniforms were black or brown dress shoes, dark socks, khaki pants, black belt, and a white polo with the school logo. Everything except the shirts could be purchased wherever we chose. The shirts had to be bought from the school and cost about $15-$20 each.

 

[kato0627]

My kids attend private school in NJ. We also have to buy our uniforms from one supplier. Funny thing is,the clothes wear horribly. The prices are outrageous. I feel your pain

 

[pigletto]

There's good and bad things about it I suppose. I am thrilled that it takes all of the "I have nothing to wear!!!!!" out of the morning routine for one.
But on the other hand I thought to myself "The first time she leaves that 80 dollar sweater at a friends house I'm going to lose my mind"

 

[NotUrsula]

Quite frankly, your school is shafting you by requiring you to shop exclusively at one supplier. (I sure hope that you just ordered the pieces and didn't actually take possession -- a lot of growing might happen between now and the end of August. DS is heading into HS this year, too, and I flat refused to purchase anything for him now, because he is liable to be 4 inches taller by the time school starts.)

Now that you know the brand name of the uniforms, shop around online to see if you can get a better price. There could be supplier elsewhere in the country with better prices. Also, check the parents' club to find out when the uniform swap sales are; I've never known a private school yet that didn't have them in one form or another.

Girls uniforms generally ARE a bit more expensive than boys, but that is because of the plaids -- you can only reliably get the authorized plaid at the official supplier. Anything else that does not have the school name or logo on it should be something that you can buy anywhere you like as long as it meets certain style and color parameters.

Around here, though the girls are allowed to wear walking shorts in summer uniform season, they don't -- ever. It just isn't done. They wear their plaids at all times. I'd double-check with a girl who is already in the school to find out if any of the pieces that you bought are considered "uncool" -- in which case you'll want to cancel that part of the order. If the skirt custom holds true as it does here, you'll need a second kilt but no trousers or shorts. (In winter here the girls travel to and from school with plain sweatpants on under their skirts, and then remove the sweatpants once they get inside the building.)

DS' uniforms normally cost me about $230 a year, not counting shoes, but I don't buy everything at once. I wait to buy the long trousers at the end of shorts' season, and vice-versa. There is just no way that clothes purchased in August will still be fitting him in April.

 

[Princess Nancy]

I am shocked you bought 8 shirts!

My Kids go to private HS. They each only have 2 shirts and 2 sweatshirts.

They have worn well. One child is a Jr and one is a Sr.

Overall, I think the uniforms have been a great buy!


My son owns 2 pairs of pants and dd has 2 skirts and one pant.

 

[pigletto]

I did check with dd's best friend and my sister (she's only 2 years out of the same school) to see what pieces are worn.

Unfortunately, every single shirt has the logo so I don't know that I could get it anywhere else. They do wear the shorts here, and the kilts in summer season.

I may have only needed one oxford.. but I opted for two for the sake of not having to wash the only one in a rush late at night. Just seemed easier to have two.
The sweaters are required winter uniform, and you must have an oxford or polo underneath. No exceptions. White collar must be visible. I just checked the dress code policy. You can take the sweater off if you are too hot.. but have to have it with you (which seems ridiculous) so I imiagine the rule about having the collared shirt underneath is for that.

It's all a little overwhelming. The policy is very very strict, but the school is 1500 kids so I imagine they need it that way.
We don't do alterations until August and the clothes are roomy so hopefully that covers any growing she may do over the summer.

 

[LoriABil]

DS is in private school. The shirts are from a single supplier, but we can order pants and shorts from Lands End, which is nice because there are sales, free shipping, plus I can get cash back from Ebates. They can also wear jeans, from anywhere as long as they are not cargos or "worn" looking.

I think you might be over ordering, but it is hard the first time, and I'm sure more so with a girl! Our 1st year we ordered
2 long sleeve polo shirts
3 short sleeve polo shirts
1 sweater (required for dress days)
1 sweat shirt
2 pairs of khaki pants
3 pairs of khaki shorts

We got our jeans, blue shirt (required for dress-up day), shoes (any tennis not light up), brown dress shoes and brown belt elsewhere.

He never wore the sweat shirt! We could have got by with 2 short sleeve polos and 2 shorts. He refused to wear jeans at first (he preferred the khakis) but after he ripped a hole in the 3rd pair, we put our foot down. He wears jeans now. We order considerably less every year, and try to order a size up so it lasts longer. So far, we won't have a bill as large as the first year until DS goes to middle school, when they will wear blazers and ties for dress up days, and they start wearing blue shirts instead of red.

 

[rock*mom]

Uniforms are expensive...so I only buy short sleeved shirts/blouses since she has to have a sweater, in the winter she wears her sweater almost daily. I also didn't but the walking shorts, since we had the skort. I don't buy everything on the list, only what I know my daughter is going to wear. Why have a cardigen and a pullover?

I am not restricted to purchase from a certain store this year...however I still purchase from that store (Buckhead Uniforms) because the quality was awesome. The cut of her skorts, plaid skirt/kilt, and jumpers (when younger) allowed for more than one year of wear-my daughter really tall.

5 short sleeved polos (so I don't have to wash during week)
1 blouse-required for feild trips/special events
1 kilt
1 skort
2 pants
1 sweater

 

[pigletto]

I think you might be over ordering, but it is hard the first time

I think so too This stuff is all so new to me. There was a point where she was being surly about trying stuff on where I threatened to make all of her uniforms (and I don't sew) which seemed to straighten her out a bit

 

[walkdmc]

We do have to purchase from one uniform shop. Luckily, we live very close to the shop. Some folks have to drive over an hour to shop there.

There's a Spring and Winter uniform and I usually spend at least $500 on each season for each boy (I have 2). Well, I'm waiting to see what happens in terms of DS #2 grows into DS #1's old clothes but I'm finding DS #1 really wears his clothes out so I'm buying a lot of new clothes for DS #2, vs. him wearing dirty ripped hand me downs.

3 long-sleeved white dress shirts
2 polyester vests w/school name
3 ties
1 belt
4 pairs of school pants
1 gym sweat pants and shirt
1 gym T-shirt
black socks
Buster Brown shoes

In the Spring, we switch to short-sleeved polos and no vest or tie.

 

[disneychrista]

Are they cheaper now then at the beginning of the year? Just curious why you would buy something in March that isn't needed until August, unless it was cheaper.

 

[NYCDiane]

When my DD was in parochial school, I made the mistake of buying all the uniform stuff at the "suggested" (ie: ONLY) uniform store. As the year went on, I realized I could buy the same items for 1/2 of 1/3 of the price at places like Children's Place, JCPenney, or even WalMart. As for the plaid dresses? I went to the local church thrift store and there were a ton of them there! I got 3 of them, plus school sweatshirts, sweater, and a ton of other stuff for $5. (it was "stuff a bag" day for children's clothing. lucky me! LOL!)

 

[pigletto]

Are they cheaper now then at the beginning of the year? Just curious why you would buy something in March that isn't needed until August, unless it was cheaper.

Nope. Not cheaper. They send the order forms to all the feeder schools in February, and give you your day and time to come in March. So we went and ordered and tried things on today (at the High School in the cafeteria). In August all the orders come in and you have another appointment to come in and have all the alterations done (also in the cafeteria).

I paid a 50% deposit today. Balance is due in August (so 325 of the 650 was paid today).
ETA ) I imagine they do it this way because of the sheer volume of orders. I think this company handles all of the high schools in this School Board.. so that would be thousands of new grade 9's in the 8 high schools in the area.)

 

[disneychrista]

Nope. Not cheaper. They send the order forms to all the feeder schools in February, and give you your day and time to come in March. ...In August all the orders come in and you have another appointment to come in and have all the alterations done (also in the cafeteria).

What happens if you happen to move between now and August? Do you get your money back?

 

[Princess_Meghan <3]

Have you looked into if your school does a used uniform sale or not? When I was in private school, all of the schools I attended had a used uniform sale- they only sold gently used clothing, and they were all in great condition. I added those clothes into what my mom bought me freshman year to give me a better selection fo uniform pieces.

All of our regular uniform pieces had to be purchased through the bookstore.

I went through high school with 5 polo shirts, and I only had 5 because my mom ordered the wrong size my freshman year- the polos ran pretty big. I wore an adult small and it was still big on me, and my mom ordered me 3 in a medium because the lady at the bookstore assured her it would fit me just fine. When I got them, I was basically swimming in them

I also had two school skirts, and a blazer, along with 3 short sleeved blouses and 1 long sleeved blouse for the winter and a sweatshirt.

Our school's polos ran about $40 each, and the blazers were $80. We had the option of getting sweaters, but hardly anyone at my school wore them, so my mom never got me a sweater. The same went for the pants and shorts- I think maybe fifteen girls out of the entire school wore shorts and pants instead of skirts. My school skirt was the same one I wore in middle school, so my mother only bought just altered the hem and moved the buttons as I grew instead of buying new ones. She also bought socks and tights through the school, and we later learned to look for sales at Penny's for those.

My school shoes were not bought through the school, and the shoes I wore all 4 years were my Sperry Topsiders.

I would guess that my freshman year my mom spent minimum $400 on uniforms for me. When our uniform policy changed halfway through highschool, she spent even more.

My mom told me if I lost my blazer I wouldn't be getting another one- since we got detention for no blazer during winter uniform, I kept track of mine very carefully. It definitely made me be more responsible because I didn't want to end up in detention.

 

[Purseval]

My kid's school also had a uniform swap every year. You could buy shirts for as little as 25 cents each.

 

[crazelion]

WOW You go to one supplier for uniforms. My kids go to magnet school I can buy there schools anywhere. Wal-mart, Target, Flea market. Yes I said the flea market the woman had my kids school colors and fit my son to a T. My kids school as long as the uniform fit there requires you buy from anywhere.

 

[enchantingodin]

My boys are in public school. And in our district elementary and middle wear uniforms. (For boys it's polo shirts - in about 5 color options, khaki or navy shorts/pants and a belt.) High schoolers, however, do not have to wear them. Thankfully we can get them where ever we want cause there is no WAY I could spend $650 for each of them. That's more than are family spends on clothing (including shoes) in a year!

 

[fi46re129]

My son goes to a private catholic school in North NJ. We are suppose to buy our uniforms from one company I however only buy select items. I buy his blue slacks form gap or walmart his black dress shoes from walmart or payless and same for his belt and socks. The gym clothes are all have a logo so they must come from the uniform store. For his dress shirts I bought 3 because he wears them 3 days a week and 2 gym uniforms because they wear them 2 days a week. They are required to wear sweaters oct-april so to save money I went for the v-neck long sleeve and only bought short sleeve dress shirts. That way her could wear them the whole year. 650$ seems like and awful lot! See if you can cut corners with clothes form elsewhere and return some