We’ve always believed in the quality of our schoolwear, but this year we’ve actually proved that it’s the best quality schoolwear on the high street.  After independently testing our uniforms against six other competitors (ASDA, BHS, John Lewis, Next, Sainsbury’s and Tesco), we are proud to say that our uniform came top of the class for durability, colour retention and appearance over 30 washes.

- Shop all school uniform.

The testing was carried out by an independent testing house on five core school uniform items – trousers, skirts, polo shirts, shirts and cardigans – taking a full month and 1050 washes to complete, with each item being rigorously put through its paces against our competitors’ equivalent products. Here are some examples of the tests we performed:

Appearance after 30 washes
With approximately 190 days in the school year, and kids being kids, it’s likely that your kids’ school uniform will be no stranger to the washing machine. This exhaustive test simply measures how 30 washes (in accordance with the care label) alters the appearance of the garment.

Colour change after 30 washes
Similar to the above test, this test is conducted over a prolonged period of washing followed by objectively measuring colour change (fading and discolouration).

Non Iron Test
In this test we examine the fabric and seams of the shirt after washing, assessing which shirt would require the least ironing.

Dimensional Stability Test
This test measures the changes in garment measurement – either shrinkage or stretch – after 30 washes.

Trouser Pleat Retention
This test measures how well trousers retain their permanent pleats after 30 washes.

Anti Soil Test
As we all know, kids’ clothing attracts stains like nothing else. This test assesses the effectiveness of anti-soil finishes applied to the garment after 30 washes.

If you’ve got a bit of time on your hands, and you’re as into quality testing as our technology boffins, take a look at the full test results.

  

The technology boffins after a tough day of testing.

In fact, our schoolwear came top or joint top in an impressive 88% of all tests! Here are some of our newest innovations that contributed to our schoolwear’s striking performance: 

Stay Newâ„¢
Only at M&S. Our cotton-rich knitwear comes with this clever technology that reduces fading and bobbling. In our tests, our cardigan retained its colour better than those of our high street competitors, as well as bobbling less.

StainAwayâ„¢
Only at M&S. Our StainAwayâ„¢ high performance finish takes the hard work out of washing away everyday splodges on polos and shirts. In testing, our shirts released stubborn stains during washing on average better than our competitors’. And we’re talking about the sort of stains you’ll be used to seeing on schoolwear – our shirt was the best at releasing grass stains, poster paint, blackcurrant drink and blue pen ink.

Supercreaseâ„¢
Only at M&S. Say goodbye to the effort of pressing trousers, our smart Supercreaseâ„¢ technology means that trousers keep their pleats sharp wash after wash. During testing we proved that our trouser pleats outlasted those of our competitors after 30 washes.

What do you look for when buying school uniform? Have you bought any M&S school uniform this year? Let us know by leaving a comment below.