H&M School Uniforms - Retail Round Up Series

A few weeks ago, I was in H&M when I noticed a rack of uniform clothes tucked in the corner of the girls department.  Their simple offering included the following items:

• pleated skirts in navy, khaki, and gray
• a knit jumper in navy and khaki
• short sleeve polo shirts in navy, light blue and gray

Photo by Uniform Mom

I am unsure if this indicated a corporate effort to get into the retail space of offering children's clothing for kids in schools with uniform dress codes or if this was an effort by a local store manager to organize and display the inventory together. If it was the effort of a store manager, I'd give him or her an A for effort.  But I'd give corporate a D plus. Here's why.


The skirts are skirts, no shorts built in underneath.  When I saw the skirt,I immediate saw flashbacks of Brittany Spears in the "Baby One More Time" video.  As I link to it, I can see that even Brittany was wearing a skort in the uniform segments of that video.  I am not a total prude, but I would not allow my daughter to wear a skirt without shorts underneath. This skirt appears to be poorly made with loose threads in the seam and was made from thin, itchy fabric. To me, this skirt is useless. At $14.95, I can get a better made scooter elsewhere. 

The polos are basic, nothing special polos which are competitively priced at $7.95. But there was no basic white polo in the bunch. Ugh? They were fully stocked in the other colors so it didn't appear that they were simply sold out of basic white.

The jumper is cute, especially priced at $7.95. But like any jumper, in order to make an outfit, you also have to add a shirt and shorts or leggings for underneath.  Admittedly we haven't tried the item, but I wasn't impressed with the quality of the jumper and would expect it to shrink and fade.

Today I went back with the purpose browsing the uniform items. I walked the boys department and didn't see a similar display of school clothes. I did notice several logo'ed polos, oxfords, crew neck sweaters, varsity cardigans and pants in basic uniform colors, but they were scattered around the store.

I work near an H&M store, so I stop by during lunch on occasion. I am a fan of their organic t-shirts that I've written about here previously. My daughter wears them as her T-shirts for PE days. I own a few too. I am also a fan if their summer offering of $5 dresses for the toddlers and girls. 

 The H&M online store does feature a school uniform section for girls and boys.  For girls it also includes a gray cotton cardigan for $12.95. Also interesting is that the skirts I saw in the store a priced $2 higher than online.  The boys school uniform section on the site offers pants in black, navy and khaki for $19.95, shorts in navy and khaki for $14.94, basic polos in gray, navy and white for $7.95 and a white button up oxford for $12.95. The online store is not available in my market, so shopping online is not an option for me.  Here is a link to the H&M store locator.   

But based on what I can see, I just don't think their offering of clothing for kids with school uniform dress code is ready for prime time. It's not that you cannot find clothing that would meet the dress code requirements. I just cannot recommend it as a go-to retail outlet to include on your list of back to school shopping locations.