What's New with the Cat and Jack School Uniform Collection at Target For Back To School 2017

Last summer Target launched the Cat and Jack brand of children's clothing. It's school uniform collection which replaced the Cherokee brand line in their stores. Although I found the uniform styles and quality of the items comparable to the Cherokee collection, I was disappointed in the color selection of "nightfall blue" for many of the uniform basics. It is not a true navy and I suggested shoppers look elsewhere if navy basics are required at your school.

New color - Navy Voyage

I was delighted to see that many of the uniform basics have been updated this season to a color called "navy voyage". I checked it out in person today and it appears to be a shade darker than the "nightfall blue" in last year's collection. Some of the girls ponte items are still offered in the nightfall blue such as the two button knit scooter, the ponte knit dresses and the safari dress. However the chinos, shorts, the boys polo shirts (not the girls) and the girls polo dress are updated to the navy voyage color. I will keep an eye out to see if they continue to update the remaining girls items from nightfall blue to navy voyage in the upcoming months.

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Girls Pleated Scooter 

I believe the girls pleated scooter is a new item in the collection  this year.  It includes built in shorts underneath. The product description boasts an adjustable waist which differentiates it from the similarity styled item from French Toast which only offers an elastic waist.  It is a rayon/poly blend which is offered in navy and khaki in girls sizing 4 - 16, and plus.  The regular retail price is 12.99.

Pricing and Other Brands

The Cat and Jack school uniform collection is competitively priced, even at regular full price.  Luck for us, they frequently are on sale or included in discount promotions on clothing items. 

Target also continues to carry items from the French Toast, Dickies, and Eddie Bauer school uniform collections. With such a wide offering of brands, you can find sizing for preschoolers, kids, plus and husky, as well as juniors sizing.

French Toast Two Tab Scooter and Polo from Rainbow Shops

Recently I introduced Rainbow Shops as a re-seller of French Toast and Lee brand school uniform items. They gifted me some items to try for purposes of this review. I selected several French Toast brand items for my daughter that we haven't reviewed here previously.

Copyright 2016 Rene Shonerd All Rights Reserved

The first item is the French Toast girls two-tab scooter. This item is a uniform staple offered by many brands. The French Toast scooter is made of 100% machine washable polyester so no ironing is not needed. Yeah, score one for Mom. It has an adjustable waist. I've learned the hard way that an adjustable waist is much preferred to an elastic waist. It had pleats on the front side of the skirt and solid fabric on the back. The details is the 2 silver buckles on the left hip. The closure is on the side with knit shorts built in. The side zipper might be too much for the youngest girls, but works fine for those well beyond the potty training years with strong manual dexterity skills. Th length of the skirt hits above the knee. French Toast offers this skirt in 6 colors and Rainbow Shops offers the most popular options black, navy and khaki in girls sizes 2T all the way through girls size 14. It retails for $12.99 and can be found 25% off via Rainbow Shops.

Copyright 2016 Rene Shonerd
All Rights Reserved.

The next item we tried is the girls long sleeve interlock knit polo shirt. This is a classic uniform wardrobe staple.  The temperatures are warm now during back to school season, but temperatures will drop soon enough.  You'll want to snag at least one or two long sleeve polos early in the season while they are easy to find.  The French Toast interlock polo is available in 6 colors at Rainbow Shops and in sizes ranging from toddler through girls plus size 18-20.  The sleeves on this polo are hemmed but not banded.  Right now the sleeves are too long on my daughter, and you might be able to notice in this picture, we simply folded up the sleeve.  The collar and placket are standard, but the subtle flower shaped buttons offer a cute feminine detail.  I've found that the French Toast polos wash up easily and hold their shape.  My daughter is required to wear white tops so I bleach out any stains to keep it looking fresh through the school year.  It retails for $11.99 but is currently on sale for 25% off, or $8.99 which is right in the Uniform Mom target price range sweet spot for polo shirts. Got boys? Here's the link to the boys long sleeve French Toast polo instead.

Shop 25% Off Kid's Uniforms Sale!

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Cherokee Girls Pleated Scooter, a Review

One of our favorite scooters is this Girls Pleated Scooter by Cherokee.  I was reviewing old posts over the holiday break and I couldn't believe I hadn't written about it yet.  I think we got ours from the uniform exchange program second-hand several years ago.  But it is such a classic that you can still find it at Target online.

The reasons we love it-

The box pleats are classic without being too traditional.  

It is a scooter with shorts built in for modesty.  It has a side zipper closure. They can be a bit tricky for the youngest students, but my daughter doesn't mind it.

The fabric has held up very well over time. it comes in both navy or khaki.  As I mentioned above, I think we got this scooter second hand and my daughter has been wearing it for 3 years.  It still looks great.  The material is listed as a 60/40 cotton poly twill blend with a peached fabric treatment.  The label says to machine wash in cold water and tumble dry on low heat.  I throw this skirt in a load with all of our workout wear then hang it on a hanger to dry. No ironing needed. 

Did I mention the adjustable waist? This is why my daughter has been able to wear it for so long. While she's gotten taller and stronger, she hasn't grown more than an inch or so in the waist since Kindergarten. We adjust the waist a button or two each season. 

This scooter has an above the knee length which is another reason it has stayed in the active wardrobe rotation for so long. Many skorts that would otherwise still fit became too short as my daughter has grown taller.  Those were taken out of rotation and passed along to the uniform exchange program. Because this one was designed to hit above the knee, it is still long enough for her to wear and pass the fingertip test.

The classic styling, the longer length, and the quality fabric make this scooter a winner. When my daughter does finally outgrow this one, I'm sure we'll order another one.

Pass the Fingertip Test

During the development of a schools uniform dress code, there is typically some back and forth that leads to an common understanding of the policy between the school board and the larger community of parents and students.  Once the policy is adopted, enforcement can be a constant battle for school administrators everywhere.  Recent articles included in the "in the news" series show many examples of battles between administrators and students, and in some cases, a larger group in the community.

A policy with clearly stated expectations and guidelines makes it easier for parents to understand so they can guide the student's choices when shopping.  Consistent enforcement by different teachers make clear examples of what's acceptable and what's not acceptable.

The length of a girls hemline for shorts, scooters, and dresses is a huge area for consternation.  Many schools have tried to set a simple easy to understand rule of thumb which is commonly referred to as "the fingertip test".   A young lady passes the fingertip test when the length of the skirt is below the fingertips of the student while standing with her arms extended straight down.  The same test works for jumpers, scooters and shorts. Maybe its a backlash to the mid-thigh trend we've been seeing for the past few seasons, but this fall, I noticed a trend of several retailers offering new longer lengths. Lands End's fall school uniform catalog features girls skirts in 3 lengths: above the knee, top of the knee and below the knee.  The French Toast fall catalog page on girls skirts feature both "the long and short of it" featuring two knee length skirts and one long skirt.  This can make shopping easier if your school has adopted the fingertip test as a rule of thumb to guide enforcement.

Below are some examples of new longer skirts:

Lands' End
 Girls' Plus Solid Pleated Skirt (Below The Knee)

French Toast
Kick Pleat Skirt

Lands' End
Little Girls' Solid A-line Skirt (Below The Knee)

French Toast
Knee Length Straight Skirt

Lands' End
Little Girls' Box Pleat Skirt (Below The Knee)

What do you think of these knee length and longer styles?

Lands' End Uniform Girls Solid A-line Skirt, a review

I noticed this little skirt online during the clearance sales.  I was placing an order for something else and added this in as an add on to reach the $50 threshold for free shipping. I prefer to get scooters for my daughter with the built in knit shorts, so at $9.99- the price on this was too good to pass up.  

It is navy with an adjustable waist and a side zipper. It has a cute detail of the 2 button tabs and a pleat on one side. It also has a pocket only one one side.  The length on this skirt hits my daughter right above the knee.  I've washed it several times already and the polyester/rayon blend resists wrinkles and looks great right out of the dryer. She likes it; in fact, this is the skirt she choose to wear on the first day of school this year.

This solid a-line skirt I got is still available at that clearance price in slim and plus sizes (see details below).This season, Lands' End is offering quite a few styles of skirts in a longer length. This little girl's skirt is now also available in a below the knee length.

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Best Bet in Girls Scooters for School

Some brands call them scooters: while others call them skorts; I just call them convenient. I have stated here before, I prefer the convenience of skirts with the knit shorts built in underneath for my daughter.



The image below shows the regular retail price at each of the major retailers. Regular retail prices for the girls scooter range from $8 to $35. Based on my review, the target price is to find scooters for under $12-15. When you are watching the Back to School ads or out shopping and you find one at or below that target price, make the purchase with confidence that you've found a good sale price.

Regular Retail Price

Legend of Retailers

C8	Crazy 8’s	FT	French Toast	LE	Lands’ End
CP	Children’s Place	Gap	Gap	ON	Old Navy
CWO	Children’s Wear Outlet	Gym	Gymboree	T	Target
CK	Cookies Kids	JCP	JCPenney	WM	Walmart

This data is shared for informational purposes only. Please verify details directly with the retailers. Read more information on how the information was collected and analysed.

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Updated: This post was reviewed and updated in June 2014 to update links and ensure pricing is still accurate for the 2014 Back to School Season.

George Girls Wrap Scooter 

Best Bets on a Budget

• Walmart George Girls Wrap Scooter  $8.97 
Colors: Navy, Black or Khaki.
60% cotton/40% polyester. Machine wash cold. Imported.

• CookiesKids Genuine Tabbed Scooter $9.99
Shell: 60% Cotton, 40% Polyester.
Lining: 65% Polyester, 35% Cotton.
Machine Wash Cold. Made in China.

• JCPenney Izod Pleated Scooter Skirt $10

  

  French Toast
  Two Tab Scooter

  
  Colors: Navy or Khaki.
Machine Wash Cold. Imported.

• French Toast Two Tab Scooter $11.98
  Colors: Black, Burgundy, Green,  Navy, Heather Grey, or Khaki.
  100% polyester. Imported. Machine wash.

There are quiet a few additional options that retail just under the $15 price point:

• Crazy 8 Uniform Pleated Knit Skort $14.88
• Children's Place has a variety of skorts in regular, slim and plus fits that retail for $14.95.
• Target Cherokee Girls' School Uniform Knit Scooter $14.00
• Target Cherokee Girls' School Uniform Pleated Scooter $14.99

Best Bets for Plus Size

• Walmart George Girl's Pleated Scooter Plus $9.97 
  Colors: Navy or Khaki.
  100% polyester. Machine wash cold. Imported.

• JCPenney IZOD Pleated Scooter Skirt Plus $12
Colors: Navy or Khaki.
Machine Wash Cold. Imported.

• French Toast has a wide selection of  Plus size Scooters.  Regular prices range from $12.98 to 20.98.

• Lands' End has several styles of scooters in Plus size available, including plaids. Regular prices range from $20 - 45.

Best for those looking to stand out from Classmates

• JCPenney IZOD Corduroy Scooter Skirt - Girls $10

Related Posts:

Lands' End Uniform Girls Solid A-line Skirt, a review
Cherokee School Uniform Scooter, a Review

Lands End Girls Uniform Pleated Twill Skort

Izod Flat Front Uniform Skirt, a review

Best Bets for Kids Polo's for Back to School

Best Bets for Girls Sweaters for School

Best Bets in Girls Blouses for School