School uniform prices: how competitive is the rest of retail compared to the supermarkets?

The cost-of-living crisis has forced families to make tough decisions about their spending habits, and the often expensive preparations made for children’s return to school will be no different. 

Exclusive data shared with Retail Week by Deloitte showed UK consumers are forecast to cut on back-to-school spending this year, with shoppers expected to switch to cheaper products as well as waiting for Sales and promotions to purchase uniforms for the new school year.

With prices of pinafores, polo shirts and school shirts varying depending on where you shop and the cost-of-living crisis causing concern for many eyeing new uniforms this summer, who has really kept a handle on prices? And how competitive are the retailers in comparison to the supermarkets when it comes to school uniforms?

Lessons learned on price

Retail Week conducted a price analysis across a variety of both boys’ and girls’ school uniform products from retailers including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Next, Matalan and New Look. Our analysis shows that this year, school uniform prices have generally risen in line with inflation across retailers.

Across 2023 prices for back-to-school, dresses and pinafores have generally remained below £15 and polo shirts are generally priced at £5 per shirt.

Jumpers and cardigans appear to have the biggest price variety across the retailers included, with a v-neck costing shoppers £13 for a pack of two at Matalan, while New Look has set its v-neck jumper price at £9.99 and John Lewis is charging shoppers £14 for one unisex jumper.

John Lewis announced last week it would be rolling out a price lock across its “entire school uniform range” in a bid to support families by “keeping prices flat on last year”.

Despite the rising cost of materials for John Lewis and other retailers across the industry, they appear to have kept a handle on price and absorbed extra costs where possible. Looking at a variety of products from each retailer, our analysis found no extortionate price jumps across the board regardless of product type or size.

The highest price rises were on a pack of two yellow polo shirts from Matalan, which increased from £5 to £7, and a New Look high-waist tube skirt increased from £5.99 to £7.99. 

Supermarket savings

With an eye to the supermarkets, Sainsbury’s also recently committed to freezing the prices of its school uniforms this summer.

Sainsbury’s clothing director of product Emma Benjafield said: “To support families battling inflation, we won’t increase Tu’s school uniform prices this year and we hope this will give parents peace of mind when shopping with us this back-to-school season.”

On the whole, supermarkets remain considerably cheaper for school uniforms this year than traditional clothing retailers.

Pinafore prices across Sainsbury’s, Asda and Tesco remained between £6.50 and £7 per dress, which is almost 50% lower than some of the traditional retailers.

Multipacks across shirts, jumpers and shorts are also a popular offer for the grocers, with Sainsbury’s offering classic school shorts at a price of £5 per pair when bought in a pack of four. Similarly to the clothing retailers, polo shirts also seem to be the lowest priced product across the board with prices at the supermarkets as low as £2.30 tp £3 per shirt.

The supermarkets are also not slacking when it comes to size and fit options for shoppers with a wide range available across Tu, F&F and George. George at Asda is also keeping sustainability in mind with the launch of its 100% sustainable school uniform range for 2023 to help kids get back to school “with a flying start”, meaning quality and price both remain a priority.

Although the clothing retailers have succeeded when it comes to keeping a handle on prices despite concerns over rising inflation and the growing cost of school uniforms for parents and carers, the supermarkets are ultimately still delivering the best results when it comes to price this year.