Cotton School Uniforms - My School Uniform Dilemma

Do you remember the cool, comfortable school uniforms we used to wear? They were made from the softest cotton fabric that was so nice and cool to wear, even on the hottest summer days! Mine washed and wore so well that I only had 3 sets of school uniforms and they lasted me the whole 7 years of primary school….then my sister wore them too!!

Well, my big mini is about to start school. I went to the uniform shop and was so disappointed when I touched the school dress fabric! It felt nothing like the cotton school dress fabric of my school days. It was rough. It was synthetic feeling. It was mostly polyester with only a tiny amount of cotton added.

So, what’s wrong polyester I hear you say?

Well, polyester is actually derived from petroleum and is chemically identical to the plastics used to make soft drink bottles. It’s not absorbent. It doesn’t allow the skin to “breathe”. So in hot weather, or even when kids are just playing and running around, it won’t help buffer changes in temperature like a natural cotton fabric will. It will leave moisture/sweat against the skin, creating a clammy, sticky feeling. I personally don’t find it comfortable to wear at all ….. but when my mini wears it in hot weather for more than a couple of days in a row, she actually gets eczema!!

Needless to say, I felt a huge wave of sadness in that moment. Mini had been so excited about getting her school dresses for about 6 months by this point. Every time we walked past a school, she would stand at the fence dreaming of starting school and getting her uniform.

I started to do my own research and found that polyester rich school uniforms are now the absolute norm! I know that polyester is a little cheaper, but a poly blend will not last the distance that our good quality cotton uniforms used to. I spoke to the parents of boys at a different school and they were wearing polyester blend school polo shirts. I heard that stains were really hard to get out, that the fabric pilled and wore so badly that they were replacing their polo shirts every year. I also heard that these boys found the shirts “icky” to wear and when they got home from school the first thing they did, was take the shirts off and throw them on the floor. These polo’s are $25 each!! Hmmm, how can this be?? For $25, surely we should be able to get a good quality cotton polo!!

I also made another even more alarming discovery…. school uniform items with a Teflon coating – What!! Teflon on kids clothes, what on earth for? Well, it’s to help with stain resistance. Sounds good right? Well no, there’s actually a trade off for that stain resistance…. Teflon has been reported to contain questionable chemicals. Our skin is our largest organ and through heat, sweat and the friction of our skin and fabric rubbing together, we can actually absorb chemicals from its surface. For little ones with sensitive skin like my mini, this can cause skin irritation and eczema too. But even if my child didn’t have sensitive skin, I’d rather not expose her to unnecessary chemicals. I’d rather go old school and use a little soap or a good soaking to remove stains! For more information on Teflon in kid’s school uniforms, take a look at this blog post by low-tox living guru Alexx Stuart. http://www.lowtoxlife.com/lifting-the-lid-on-teflon-in-your-childs-uniform

I decided to speak to the school. I asked about cotton options and after checking every item in the shop with the very helpful and very lovely school uniform lady, we found only two items made from pure cotton. One was the hat, and the other a small quantity of boy’s winter weight pants. So now I had two hats and a pair of boy’s pants, it was a start and I must say that I was VERY relieved about the cotton hats! The school graciously told me that since it was a legitimate issue, I was welcome to try and find some cotton uniform options myself. So over the last few weeks, I’ve been on a school uniform sourcing mission…..

From my fashion industry experience, I knew that the school dress simply wasn’t going to be possible. Fabric minimums on a specific school check fabric would be hundreds or even thousands of meters of fabric, which was way too high for me. So, I focused on the polo shirt, skirt, pants and winter items.

In the hope that this information helps someone else, this is what I’ve come up with:

Polo Shirts:

I found that cotton polo shirts were not as prevalent as I’d expected. All the obvious places were only offering poly/cotton. I did find a range of colours at Country Road, Ralph Lauren and Next. The quality of the Country Road and Ralph Lauren ones was gorgeous, but on the expensive side. If you join Country Road’s email list they do have sales with 20% or so off everything and this brought their polo’s down to the same price as the poly/cotton school uniform ones. Next were by far the cheapest and the quality is still lovely. Unfortunately the boys’ polo’s at Next had the dreaded Teflon coating!

Woven skirts, shorts and pants:

I phoned the company that made the boys winter cotton pants. I spoke to a lovely and very helpful man named Gary. He quoted me only $5 more per pair for pure cotton skirts/shorts than the polyester blend ones cost at the school. I’ve ordered 5 pairs and they take 3 weeks. Phone Oz Sports in Marrickville on 9550-1289.

Pants for cooler weather:

For boys, phone Oz Sports as they do a great 100% cotton woven pant for boys. I have a pair for my daughter too, but the styling is quite masculine. They are a baggy pant, with an extra layer of fabric over the knees and an elastic waist with a draw-cord on the inside waist to adjust it. They look like they will wear brilliantly!

For girls, I have bought cotton/elastane knitted fabric jazz pants from Best and Less (feels like 95% cotton/ 5% elastane from my experience). They’re available online in a variety of school colours and look great with a polo shirt.

Sweaters/Cardigans:

I’m still working on this one…. Hopefully more options will become available as the weather gets cooler. But at the moment the best I have found is 80% cotton/ 20% nylon knitted cardigans at Next.com.au. I really want to find some cotton or predominantly cotton fleecy sweaters or hoodies. Will keep you posted!

So what am I going to do about all this? Well, I’ll be joining the P&C committee at my school to raise awareness. I’ve spent the last few weeks talking to friends and family and they’ve all been keen to raise awareness at their schools too. Some of them weren’t actually aware of what their uniforms were made of. So if you’d prefer your child to wear breathable cotton to school, join us and ask the question at your school too.

Let’s see if we can make today’s school uniforms as comfortable, breathable and healthy for our kids as ours were back in the day!! I’d LOVE to know how you go, pop me a comment!!

Much love and wishing you a wonderful 2016 school year! xxx