School uniforms

Reports from Which?
Expert advice from an independent source

WHICH? REVIEWS: School uniforms

Which? have tested school uniforms from supermarkets to see how they might stand up to daily wear and tear. They've found you can get affordable clothes from all stores that should last the term for even the liveliest kids.

Before the new school year started in 2008, major supermarkets and stores launched budget school clothes in response to the credit crisis. A price war broke out between Asda and M&S, in particular.

M&S launched its £6.50 uniform, including a woven skirt or trousers, knitted jumper and polo shirt. Asda launched its £4 George uniform - a woven skirt or trousers, sweatshirt and polo shirt - and criticised M&S for making its £6.50 option available only for children aged up to six. For children between 6 and 12, the M&S cost rose to £13.50.

Meanwhile Tesco launched a £3.50 uniform and both Tesco and Sainsbury's ran three-for-two offers as well as offering affordable school clothes.

We decided to test the cheapest items of popular types of uniform - long-sleeved formal shirts, knitted jumpers and woven trousers and skirts - we could find on sale in these stores.

You can find out our conclusions by taking out a £1 30-day trial to www.which.co.uk Below, we explain how we tested the clothes.

Seam strength

We apply a force equal to 25kg horizontally on seams, to see whether they split, and vertically, to test whether they slip.

Pilling
For knitted fabrics, we test how resistant the school clothes are to pilling - the fuzzing or bobbling you get after repeat wearing. This is tested in a machine that rotates and allows the fabric samples to rub against each other causing pilling. We see how well the garments have fare after 500 revolutions.

Shrinkage
We also look at how much the uniforms shrink in the wash. We measure the school uniforms before and after washing and measure the change in the length and width. We assess the change after one wash and after five wash and dry cycles.

Colour fastness
These tests indicate how well colour is kept after rubbing, washing and general exposure to water.

Washing
We measure the change in colour before and after a standard wash cycle with a standard detergent. We also add a multi-fibre strip to the wash to see if any dye has leached out of the garment. We also check fading by measuring the colour before testing and at the end of a five-wash-and-dry cycle.

Water
We drench each school uniform item with water and use a multi-fibre strip to see if colour leaches.

Rubbing
We use a machine that rubs a cloth against the garment for a number of cycles. We check whether the colour fades or transfers to the test cloth, in both wet and dry conditions.

Abrasion test

For certain school clothes, we look at abrasion resistance, by using an abrasive cloth and a machine to rub this against the each item for up to 30,000 cycles. At intervals, we check to see if the garment is starting to wear.

So how do the supermarkets' school uniforms rate? By taking out a £1 30-day trial to www.which.co.uk you can discover all you need to know about school uniforms and find out our test results.

(c) Copyright Which? Ltd 2008, all rights reserved.