The Truth About School Uniforms

As a blogger who does the occasional review and giveaway, there’s not much I love more than being asked to review a product or brand that I already use and love.

Lands’ End is one of those brands.

Each year, the company contacts me and asks if I’d like to review one of their school uniform options and write about it. The first time Lands’ End made this request, my school district had just transitioned to Standard School Attire (in other words, UNIFORMS) and I had already stocked my daughter’s closet with inexpensive khakis and polos from Target and Old Navy. I loved Lands’ End, though, and was happy to try out and compare one of their school uniform offerings to what I already had.

The difference was night and day, and I’ve been buying my kids’ school clothes almost exclusively from Lands’ End ever since.

Here’s why. Over the last four years, I’ve bought school uniform clothing from just about everyone who offers it, including Walmart and French Toast. The bottom line with these clothes is that you get what you pay for. Yes, Target, Old Navy and Walmart have some great deals on polos and khakis. After just one or two washes, though, I start to get really frustrated with what I’ve bought from these stores. The khaki material shrinks and looks wrinkled and misshapen out of the wash. The polos shirts pill almost immediately and also lose their shape after just a few washes. I’m down on Standard School Attire anyway, for forcing me to dress my (to me, anyway) adorable kids in less-than-adorable school clothes. Within a few months, I’m incredibly frustrated with how they look in their wrinkled, misshapen, pill-y uniforms, and I’ve blown my budget for the year so I can’t buy anything new– nor do I want to. SSA clothing is, like, the most boring clothing EVER.

Lands’ End school uniforms, on the other hand, are AMAZING, and hold up for ages. Lands End  costs twice as much sometimes as other brands’ uniform options, but I believe I’m saving money in the long run because my children wear everything I buy for two years before they outgrow it. I buy everything for them a size up, including pants and skirts, which have those helpful elastics inside the waistband so that you can adjust the fit to your child as he or she grows- and make sure those pants stay up! The khakis come out of the laundry wrinkle-free and the polos never pill or fade. In fact, on the first day of school this year, my daughter wore a dress I bought from Lands’ End at the beginning of the last school year.

Yep. Good as new.

My son, a brand spanking new kindergartner, is wearing his new Lands’ End clothing one size up. This year, he looks adorably wee in his big kid uniform. Next year, he’ll be wearing the exact same clothes and they’ll fit him perfectly. NONE of my Target/Old Navy khakis have ever made it more than one school year, and generally I’m wanting to throw them out halfway through.

Another way I cut costs with my kids’ school clothes is by waiting for one of Lands’ End many sales, so that I can take 30%-40% off my order. Add your e-mail address to Lands’ End’s e-mail newsletter to stay up on that- It’s well worth it. Another big cost cutting move for me is that I buy packs of long-sleeved white t-shirts for my children (and heavy white tights and leggings for my daughter) so that when the weather gets colder, they can still wear short-sleeved polos/dresses to school with layers underneath. That has saved me a LOT of money!

So that’s my story. I can’t recommend Lands’ End school uniforms highly enough and I never would have known to buy them had I not reviewed one of their uniforms years ago. I will say that while I’ve been completely satisfied with their khakis and polos, I’m less thrilled with their “knit” khaki material (which is offered in the form of jumpers and skorts for girls). It starts looking old and faded after a while– but everything else they offer will last you for years, and is an especially good option if you’re looking for school clothing that can be handed down to a younger sibling.

Yay.