School uniform rip-off: 29,500 schools may be forced to slash costs

My sons school uniform was much more expensive than those quoted. The sweatshirt was £22.50, school tie was £11.25, rugby kit (shorts, shirt and socks) was £52 and the PE kit (shirt and shorts) was £38. We were forced to buy from specialist stores because all these items had its school embroidery.

As for trouser, shirt and shoes, they were a third of the price in Tesco and reasonable quality.

My old school had a second hand shop where you could buy and sell, not only uniform but also text books!

My mother would get a sample of the blazer material and embroider the badge and then sew it on to a less expensive jacket. Three of us went to the same school which also had a second hand collection of school uniform things.But cannot mums do that today, if not why not get the PTA to speak up on your behalf..

£12 for a sweatshirt????? I'd like my child to go to that shop please...his sweatshirts were £18 each!!! Gone are the days when I buy three....we're down to two at a time...and that's pushing the budget!! My son is 13 and has a 32inch waist and 33 inch length...so I'm also paying tax on his school trousers...if he were a "student" he'd get a discount card...but as he's still at school...there is no such thing...just another example of "Rip off Britain"!!

I'm fed up with this happening year after year. Yes the schools and the suppliers are ripping off family’s for years and no one seemed to bother till now. So does that mean that past pupils will get a rebate?
Anyhow stores like Asda, Tesco’s, where I live anyhow, will sell parents a skirt, trousers, jumper, socks, ties etc., etc. In other words you could buy a full rig for a boy or girl, as cheap as you would buy a pair of trousers, skirt blazer from these other morons the schools and suppliers’
So hopefully parents will in future buy from major supermarkets.

My daughter started high school this year and so far it has cost me over £300 Skirt £32 (2) Shirt £26 (2) Jumper £18 tie £8 Jacket £25 Sweat shirt £25 tracksuit bottoms £24 trousers £22 shin pads £10, gumshield £10 hockey stick £20 tennis raquet £15 science coat £15 apron £10 scarf £15 pe socks £10 (2) pe top £12 skort £16 shorts £12. And most of this will have to be replaced as this is when your kids start growing in all directions. I don't think I paid that for her entire time in primary school :/

What about parent power? Is there no way that all the parents of the school could get together and force the school head to listen to common sense????
Rebel! Have a protest! Make some banners! Don't take it lying down!

I would gladly by mine from a supermarket chain but the have to have the school badge on thus trebling the price, my daughter's school has recently introduced a new full pe kit with a badge on costing over £100 along for the full kit, nightmare

The skirt for my girls school is about £35 and the summer dress £38!!! I have twins so double of everything. Most of the secondary schools round here have a check skirt for girls only available from one shop. All are between £25 and £45 each!!! Rediculous. I have bought from the 2nd hand shop at school at a fraction of the cost where possible..... If I could I would buy from bhs, marks and spencer etc.

The biggest problem is that so many schools now insist upon you using shirts, jumpers, and blazers with their emblem on, which means you can only buy from a single supplier, and they mark these items up as the article suggest, sometimes more, when my sons school changed their uniform a new supplier took over and the cost of the rugby jumper went from £14 to £25, despite the fact that it's the exact same jumper from the exact same manufacturer (I have one of each)
I am forced to pay more for his uniform because it HAS to have the school emblem on it, there is no way around it you have to because it's the uniform code.