Meijer: Retail Round Up Series

Miejer is a hypermarket chain with both groceries and department store merchandise headquartered in Walker, Michigan.  They have over 200 locations mostly in Michigan and Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. They carry French Toast brand items, Classroom Uniforms brand items, a handful of Dickies brand items and boys shoes by Deer Stag. For purposes of this review, I'll highlight mostly the Classroom Uniforms brand, as French Toast items will be covered in their own post.

To browse the uniform items on their website, navigate under Clothing & Jewlery, then Kids Clothing & Shoes, where you'll then find a category for School Uniforms.

The Classroom Uniform items for girls includes four different styles of skorts, four different styles of pants, two styles of shorts, and two styles of jumpers.   They carry girls polos in both short and long sleeve in a wide variety of colors.  The boys items include two styles of pants and shorts.  The brand then includes unisex tops including short and long sleeve polos, cardigan sweaters, a sweater vest, fleece zip up jacket.

The Dickies brand items include several styles of boys shorts and pants, as well as polos in a wide variety of colors.  The girls items are limited to a faux wrap skort, shorts and flare pants in girls and junior sizes.

There is a nice selection of Deer Stag brand shoes for boys that would be appropriate with a school uniform.

Meijer offers two free shipping options..  It is free to ship to a store and pick up your items.  Also many items (as noted on the site) will ship to your free standard delivery.  Items purchased in the store can be returned to a store within 30 days.  Items purchased online can be returned free within 30 days from within the lower 48 states by using their special return label.

Video Pick: The case for a School Uniform Dress Code

This quality video by French Toast School Wear makes the case for a school uniform dress code and addresses criticism of restricting individuality.

Related Posts: 

French Toast Dollars in Uniform Fundraiser Program 

School Uniforms at French Toast - Retail Round Up Series

Back to School Pictures and What She Wore

Over the past few weeks, I've enjoyed seeing pictures on my Facebook news feed of my friends kids on their first day of the new school year.  Last night, there was a huge flurry of Back to School pictures as the last of our kids head back after the Labor Day holiday. Back in my day, I don't recall posing for the obligatory first day of school pic, except for Kindergarten.  In today's digital age of digital cameras and smart phone with access to Facebook, Intragram and Flickr, we are capturing and sharing these moments with family and friends in real time.

So in the spirit of the fashion blogs out there, I decided to share my daughter's back to school picture so we can chat about "what she wore".

My daughter picked out her own outfit for the first day of school.  She likes this picture because she was pretending to be walking, but was actually posing for this picture. My little supermodel. ;)

Disclosure – Affiliate Links in Use 

Thanks for supporting Uniform Mom

© 2013 Rene Shonerd

Shirt
Izod Peter Pan Collar Shirt (JCPenney)

Skirt with Bike Shorts underneath
Lands' End Little Girls' Slim Solid A-line Skirt - Classic Navy
French Toast Bike Shorts

Shoes
Stride Rite Molly
These are their mary jane style from 2 years back. I picked them up on clearance in a half size larger than she was wearing at the time at my local outlet last school year. (This year's version is called the Claire.)

Socks
French Toast Cotton-Blend Cuff Socks

Backpack and Lunchbox
This is one of last year's styles we bought at Lands' End in the summer of 2012.  It is still in great shape, so she'll use it again this year. (Lands' End has all new, redesigned, best backpacks in class. Find the right backpack and lunchbox for any size kid -- shop today. Plus, receive free shipping on your orders over $50.)

Inviting Guest Posts on Uniform Mom #Blogger Op

Uniform Mom invites other bloggers, writers and parents to submit a guest post.  Because I'm a Mom of a young girl in a public school with a uniform dress code, my direct experiences with clothing items are within that limited  scope.  While I welcome input from all, I especially am interested in receiving guest posts from other perspectives such as parents of boys or parents with kids at parochial schools.  Below are a few ideas of the types of posts that will work well on Uniform Mom:

"What S/He Wore Today" posts

With a wink and a nod to the "what I wore today' fashion blogs, I recently did this post which included one of my daughter's back to school pictures and listed the items in her outfit.  It is already one of my most popular posts, so I'd like to solicit enough similar posts to begin a weekly series with these posts.  So one idea would be to submit a picture of your kid(s) in one of their school uniform outfits with narrative including the brand and title of each article of clothing in the outfit (preferably with links to those items online).  You can retain the copyright of image, an appropriate caption and alt tag will be included, and grant use of the photo to Uniform Mom with that single post and it's promotion.

Wardrobe Review

A second type of guest post is a wardrobe review (example post here and here).  In this type of post, you share your story on your child's school uniform wardrobe.  Below are a list of questions to give you an idea what could be included:

• Tell us a bit about your kid(s) such as age or grade, gender, and give us an idea where you live (town, state or region).
• Tell us about the school's uniform policy or uniform dress code. 
• What's in the closet? How many of each type of item? 
• Do you have a uniform shopping strategy? 
• Does your child have clothing preferences (IE - My daughter won't wear a jumper.) or issues (IE - My son blows out the knees on all his pants.) that you work with or around?
• Do you have brand preferences? And if so, why?

Product Review

I'd also welcome reviews of school uniform clothing and accessories (plenty of examples). As mentioned above, I especially need assistance covering boy's clothing items and parochial school type uniforms and brands. If you receive complimentary or discounted clothing items or other compensation for purposes of the review, it must be disclosed in the post.   

I am not interested in hosting guest reviews of other types of products or services at this time.

Uniform Exchange Program

If you manage a uniform exchange program at your local school or in your community, we'd love to have you share information about how the exchange is organized and manged by the PTA, PTO or other organization. Here are a few examples. 

The Details, Scheduling and Contact Information

A brief introduction of the guest blogger will be included at the top of the all guest posts. If you are a fellow blogger, we can include reference to your blog with a link.  You may include photos.  Quality personal photos are fine and you can reserve your copyright, if you choose, and grant use of the photo with that single post and it's promotion.  If you use a photo from another source, please include the link to the royalty free source or proof of ownership or rights to use the photo. I reserve the rights to add affiliate links to your posts and any commission generated from those links.

If you would like to submit a guest post, please contact me  and mention the type of post you'd like to submit.  If you have an idea for a different type of post than those mentioned above, by all means, lets chat.  I'll review the schedule and look to pencil it into the editorial calendar on a future date that works for both of us.  My email is navyplaid@comcast.net.  Please include "guest post" in the subject line.

Thanks, I look forward to working with you.

Back to School Shopping Finds from Our Closet

Following my own advice in the A Strategic Plan for your Back to School Shopping post, I got out all of my daughter's school clothes mid summer as the Back to School shopping season started and sorted through them. To start off a new donation pile, I pulled out a few T-shirts that are now too small and dug out the scooter that shrunk earlier last year.  And then I made her try on everything that was left over from last school year.  It took a good 30 minutes of on and off, but it sure was time well spent.  We found a few more items that were too small, but most still fit fine.  Here's a list of items we found that still fit and are in decent enough condition to begin the school year:

2 pair of Pants
2 pair of Shorts
2 Skirts
4 T-Shirts for PE days
4 Short Sleeve Polos
2 Long Sleeve Polos
2 Sweaters
2 Bike Shorts
3 Blouses
A long sleeve and a short sleeve Polo Dress.
A bunch of Scooters we acquired last year that are still too big.

Feeling pretty fortunate that we already have a decent school wardrobe, I then made a list of additional items to pick up:

• A new sweater realizing that she lost a navy one at some point last year. 
• New pants in the same size as the ones she already has simply because the existing ones are showing  wear and won't last the year.  
• New shoes; she'll need both new sneakers and Mary Janes. 

I packed up a small bag of items for the uniform exchange program and one bag for the local clothing donation bin.

Back to School Basics - Socks and Underwear

Did you remember to pick up some new clothes for under all those new clothes?  And socks! Some kids are fine with the basics while other uniform kids like to wear crazy, colorful socks as a way to express their individuality.

Boys' Underwear

• Fruit of the Loom Boys' 5pk Stripe/Solid Fashion Briefs
• Fruit of the Loom  Boys' 5pk Assorted Boxer Briefs
• Fruit of the Loom Boys' 5pk White Crew  

Girls' Underwear

Fruit of the Loom Girls' 6pk White Cotton Briefs

Hanes Girls' 3-Pack Camisoles &
9-Pack Low-Rise Briefs Value Bundle

Girls' Socks

Faded Glory Girls' Days of the Week Low Cut Socks, 7-Pack

Jefferies Argyle Girls Knee High - 1 Pair

Basic White Sneakers for Back to School

The Back to School ads from the shoe stores feature brightly colored sneakers in a wide variety of trendy colors at prices that don't break the bank.  The uniform dress code at my daughter's school requires black or plain white sneakers.  Last year, I got her a pair of Saucony Radar Lt LTTs at my local Stride Rite outlet (read my review).

When I browsed the selection at the same outlet this year, I couldn't find any basic white sneakers at all.  I asked the sales staff and she brought me another pair of the Saucony Radar Lt LTTs from the back.  I bought them again for my daughter.  Please, if you know my daughter, don't tell her she's wearing a unisex shoe.  The box is labeled Boys and if she found out, we'll ..

This led me to 1) quickly dispose of  the shoe box when I got home and 2) begin to shop around to see if I could find other options or to confirm if the choices are in fact as limited as they seem to me.

I was pleasantly surprised at some options I found online.  I was also surprised to learn that most of these basic PE sneakers are also unisex shoes as you can see below from the "Children's" label.   I already know which ones I'll be ordering next time my daughter is ready for another pair.  I hope these links will help you out with your back to school shoe shopping.

If you found some other options that I don't have listed, please list them with the name of the retail store where you found them below in the comments.

Update - This post originally contained images,descriptions and links to basic white sneakers that I had found online.  The retailer links were no longer working, so I updated them with a simple list provided below. You are likely to find these shoes at national online retailers.

Affiliate Links in Use

Thanks for Supporting Uniform Mom

• Saucony Kids Radar LT LTT (Children's) - White Leather
• Reebok - Club (Children's) - White Sheer Grey
• File - Disruptor II (Children's) - Triple White
• K-Swiss - Class (Girls') - White/White
• Skechers - Fireflies Glintzy Girl (Girls') White/Silver
• Reebok - Classic Jogger (Children's) - White/White
• New Balance - KX624 (Boys') - White

Related Posts:

School Shoes with Man Made Materials

Stride Rite for School Uniform Shoes - Retail Round Up Series

School Shoes at Shoebuy.com - Retail Roundup Series

Payless Shoes for School Uniform

Stride Rite Carla, a quality shoe for school

Saucony Radar LT LTT Sneakers, a Review