What is the average school uniform price? Marks and Spencer launch its first preloved school uniform shop

The cost of living crisis has affected everyone and with the school holidays approaching parents will already be thinking about buying school uniforms and the amount it will cost them. 

Whether you have one child just starting school or many kids in both primary and secondary school. Uniforms have always cost families an arm and a leg for but as we are all feeling the pinch more than previous years parents are looking for ways to keep the cost down. 

High-street giant Marks and Spencer's may have come up with the best idea ever - bravo team M&S. Along with Oxfam and eBay, Marks and Spencer's is launching its first preloved eBay school uniform shop.

The three brands are calling on consumers to donate their hand-me-down quality school uniform into ‘M&S Shwop’ boxes this summer; the boxes will be in over 200 M&S stores all over the UK. 

M&S released a statement that read “Through the new M&S Back-to-School Shwopping boxes, donated preloved school uniform - which passes the hand-me-down quality test - will be given a second life in an Oxfam shop and, for the first time, made available on a dedicated preloved school uniform shop on eBay.”

According to research by the Houses of Commons they found that “the high cost of uniforms can be put down in part to school policies that make parents buy clothing from specialist shops rather than giving them the choice of buying items at cheaper stores such as supermarkets or high-street chains.”

Research found that the average cost of a compulsory uniform and sportswear items was £101.19 per pupil. The data also shows that on average, compulsory items per pupil was £36.24 per year – as not all items need to be replaced annually.

Online shop eBay has been at the forefront of selling preloved items for many years and with their collaboration with Love Island and the rise in sustainable clothing lines it has seen sales increase over the past few years. 

With the average cost of uniform in the UK being over £100 it seems M&S partnering with eBay and Oxfam appears to have come at just the right time.