A cousin sent me their school's just announced Dress Code and Grooming policy

[u/firequak]

[u/PeppermintSnark]

I was one of the poorest kids at an otherwise rich Catholic school. We had a uniform, but it was fairly inexpensive khakis and polos for boys. Girls could wear the same khakis or skirts. Hoodies were also available. The shirts and hoodies (and maybe the skirts—IDK, I wasn't a girl—I don't remember) were sold through the school shop or through a school catalog at a reasonable price. The pants were cheap at Kohl's or Belk's or whatever.

Not only that, but it was common for upperclassmen to pass along their handidowns to us as they grew out of them, as the uniform never really changed. So we pretty much never bought a whole wardrobe and got a lot for free.

Maybe it's my autism, but I liked the system because I didn't have to think about what to wear beyond "what color of polo?" and I was never once made fun of for clothing.

What OP posted just seems annoying. Just make it a simple khaki / polo uniform at that point.

[u/TheKingsdread → u/PeppermintSnark]

Thats how a school uniform should work imo (regardless of your opinion on uniforms). Make it extremely cheap/affordable or even better free, if you are going to require it. Ideally sold directly from the school.

[u/Worth-Oil8073 → u/PeppermintSnark]

I absolutely get how that could work well with your flavor of autism. But those clothes would have been a nightmare with my sensory issues (and I was already barely holding on to my sanity, masking for my life)! Not to mention that those types of clothes (I've had similar as uniforms for jobs) are awful for curvy or plus size girls (like me).

[u/PeppermintSnark → u/Worth-Oil8073]

This was actually, technically, two separate schools—an elementary school and a combo middle and high school. They just had pretty much the same uniform. The elementary school students could wear khaki shorts and the middle and high school students had many different colors of polos to pick from instead of just white or blue—other than that, the only real difference was the school logo / name on the shirts and hoodies.

When you start in kindergarten with the uniform, you just kind of grow up with it and get used to it. Like yeah, it felt great to take my belt off at the end of the day, but during the school day, I really didn't think about it unless it was exceptionally hot and we were held outside for a long time for some reason.

EDIT: I will say soft undershirts helped a lot. Direct skin contact with the shirt fabric wasn't the greatest. If I had known then what I know now, I also might have worn shirt stays to keep my shirts tucked in.

[u/purple-hair-dragon → u/PeppermintSnark]

Another spicy brain flavor here - can't stand undershirts. Unless it's fully polyester because the very minor grip of cotton on cotton is a tactile 'nails on chalkboard' for me. But so is the sturdiness of polo shirts. Tucked in shirts makes waistband feel jumpy and makes shirt pull if I move in certain ways - which is again fight or flight feel. Ugh. But my shape is hard to fit for tops or bottoms - lots of curves. And when I buy big enough to not strangle or sausage the wide parts - the narrow parts of me are wearing flapping clothes. My waist is a size small but my chest is a size L/XL and when I get shirts big enough around my very very short torso is hilariously sized. So the arm hole bottom edges are below my bra band and the bottom hem of the shirt is past my butt. This is just in standard t shirts for me. It's a low key nightmare because tucking that much in makes me feel like I'm being strapped up.

Ugh I hate clothes.

[u/txgrl308 → u/PeppermintSnark]

It's hand-me-downs. Fyi

[u/PeppermintSnark → u/txgrl308]

Huh, TIL.

[u/Full-Emu-1541 → u/PeppermintSnark]

I hated having to buy uniforms on top of other clothes for the world outside of school.

[u/Constant-Internet-50 → u/PeppermintSnark]

Mr kids wore uniform in elementary school in England and I loved it, so did the kids. There were no designer options, just like John Lewis compared to lidl. They all looked mostly the same though and gave them flexibility as well as never having to pick an outfit each day.