School Uniforms - New York,NY

Lands End for pants!! They have reinforced knees, which is SO important for boys. My son went through 7 pairs of pants last year before someone clued me into Lands End. Yes, they cost more, but they hold up much better.

6 pants, 6 shirts, 4 shorts, or you will be laundry too much and they wear out. I buy French Toast for bottoms, double knee and adjustable waist. I order size up and can actually get 1 1/2 school year out of them because of the adjust in the waist. Polo shirts at JCPenny, Izod brand $8 each. They wear really well, but run a little large. I have tried everything from Old Navy (cheap but doesn't last) to Land's End (pricey, great quality but kids out grow to fast). I found the two above brands to be the best of both reasonably priced and well wearing.

The amount of clothes you buy depends solely on how often you want to do laundry.

The numbers are really up to you and how often you plan on doing laundry.

When my kids were in uniforms, (except in one of their private schools when they were required to purchase uniforms from a specific retailer) I often got my son's pants/shorts at The Children's Place or Old Navy. Their prices aren't bad, especially if you catch them during a back to school sale. $12-15 for a pair of navy or khaki pants is a good price for new. You may be able to pick up some used from a consignment store or if your school has a uniform resale/swap closet or something like that.

I'd also recommend that you go ahead and buy knee patches and iron them into the inside of the knee on your son's pants. That is what always caused me to need to buy more: hole in the knee. Boys are rough on the knees. I don't know if they slide down the halls on their knees or what, but that was always what ruined my son's pants. Holes in the knee.

Once the hole is there, it is harder to patch. But if you iron the patches on beforehand, it gives them a little more protection and makes them a little more wear-proof.

If you shop somewhere like Land's End, they sell (used to, don't know if they still do) pants with reinforced knees.

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My son wore pants from Land's End, too. That was the school required retailer. The only problems we ever had with any of his pants, no matter the retailer, was in the knees. And unless you buy the ones with reinforced knees, the Land's End one will rip there just like the others. They cost about $25 a pair, unless they have changed the price. If your kid hits a growth spurt, it won't really matter because you'll be buying another set anyway (the pants/shorts at least, probably not shirts).

The nice thing about Land's End is you can have them hemmed to whatever length your kid needs, no extra charge. The downside is that you have to wait for them to ship, and if you need them right now, you will have to have something in the interim. If you aren't sure about sizes, order 2 sets in 2 different sizes and return the ones that don't work. Sears accepts returns from them (double check, it's been awhile since I've done it) in the store, and you don't have to pay shipping to mail them back.

I used Frenchtoast.com for my kids' uniforms. They are so inexpensive. You can go on the site and look for a store that sells their clothes. That's what I did - I tried the clothes on my kids so I could figure sizes and the differences in the types of pants. They have regular kneed pants, double-kneed pants, pants with elastic waistbands, etc. The stores didn't have the right colors for my school, but that was okay because I just ordered them.

Check Frenchtoast.com's prices. There are so reasonable! I ended up getting 5 shirts and 5 pants so that I only had to wash once a week.

Unless you want to do laundry every day, five of each shirts. Two shorts and two slacks.

My kids went private Catholic so not a problem with boys but every school has a different pattern for the skirts or jumpers or whatever they required that could only be purchased at the uniform store.

For my sons, Lands End.

Okay, looking at the suggestions like Old Navy and the like, they will fall apart. I tried everywhere and Lands End had the best price for good quality. I think they even had sales that put them damn close to the cheap stores.

I think you are going to be doing a lot of laundry. With little boys, I always get more. They tend to get more dirty and sweaty (my experience) and would only be able to wear each item once. Even in fall, he will be able to wear short sleeves for awhile. I would get at least 4 of each shirts and pants. If whether is already changing, you maybe able to get away with one shorts. Since a lot more schools are going uniforms, a lot more stores carry them. JCPenney, Old Navy, Sears, The Children's Place, Target and more. I haven't had to buy uniforms yet, so I don't know which ones are best.

My GD's school "says" they are uniform so I bought all uniforms last year - turned out she was the ONLY child in the school, except kindergarteners who wore a uniform. This year she is wearing "regular clothes."

Anyway, I have always bought enough that there are six outfits. Mostly long pants because most of the school year is fall/winter. I would get at least 4 - 5 long pants so he has a pair for each day. Other than that, your list looks okay to me.

As for the quality of the pants, I have found them to be less than optimal no matter where I buy them but have learned that they will last if you don't put them in the dryer. I wash and hang dry. They don't wrinkle and they stay new looking for just about the entire year.

Good luck to you and your LO as you embark on the journey to academic success!

ETA: I just read another response that said she bought again in January. That's an okay idea but be ware - if you don't get in January, you will find that uniforms are hard to find later in the year. ARound February/March - forget it. They just aren't being carried that late in the school year.

I think you'll need more short sleeve shirts. It's cool this week, but it's going to get warm again.

Children's Place or Land's end for navy pants. They hold their color and don't shrink as much. Do not do Old Navy for pants! I would invest more in pants than shirts. Land's End does have great quality shirts, but for the price you can get those anywhere--Target, Old Navy, Children's Place.

The amount you get depends on your love of doing laundry. I usually get enough to last 5 - 6 days. Since it is chilly where you are I would get more pants and wait til spring for more shorts. I would also get more short sleeved shirts and a couple school sweatshirts, if they have them. That way he can layer and pull off the sweatshirt as the day gets warmer or if he is hot after recess.

Label, label, label his clothes!!!!!!!!

I have girls and have had no problems with Gap, Old Navy or Target. I think a lot of the boys at our school wear the Land's End pants.

With girls they want a certain fit that the standard uniform places don't have. Try forcing a 5th grade girl into pleat front khakis, it's ain't happening.

We do a late summer buy and then another in January. She'll have 3-4 shirts (dark lasts much longer) 4-5 bottoms (skirts, pants, shorts). For outerwear at our school they're a little less strict. I just look for navy or white sweaters and jackets throughout the year.

We had uniforms when we lived in Kentucky and went to school there from September - February. I THINK we had 3-4 pants and 5 or 6 tops. We also had tops we could layer to give a different look. My brother and I would the same size then and could also share some of the polo's we had, since we had to wear the same color.

So I would get a little more if you don't want to do laundry all the time. And do buy quality, since they will be worn so much.

I just had to buy my first round of uniforms as well. I know there are a ton of places now that have them but wanted to go with what my son was most comfortable in since he doesn't usually wear clothes like this. We tried one pair of pants and the button was so hard he couldn't do it himself. I wasn't about to send him to kindergarten in those! I bought all of ours at Gap because I have a card and got 40% off my whole order! I have found through the years that Gap clothes fit him really well too. I am starting with 3 pairs of shorts (limited time), 5 pairs of pants (at least 1 per day), 7 short sleeve shirts and 3 long sleeve. We can order a school sweatshirt so I figure he may want to wear that on some days in the winter as well. Going to fill in as needed! Hope that helps! Oh... and we are just white shirt/navy pants so didn't have a choice.

Can they wear sweaters? I've found that my kids love layers. It's chilly in the morning but pretty warm in the afternoon. We're doing uniforms this year too. I'm planning on 7-8 polos and some sweaters. A couple of pairs of pants, a couple of shorts/skirts. They can wear bottoms more than tops. Sears seemed to have nice uniforms. I got some at Sears, Old Navy & Walmart. I want to see what holds up better so I know for next year.

Uniforms are the norm here in London. I have two school aged children and have 6 full outfits for each that way I do not have to do laundry during the week. My son has 6 trousers, 3 shorts, 6 short sleeve shirts and three sweatshirts. My daughter has 2 summer dresses, 2 winter pinafore dresses, 3 skirts, 6 tops and 2 sweaters. All of that only cost me £65 ($100 approx) and they are outfitted for the entire year.

Lots of school uniform bundles at Walmart.com