Uniform Shopping Tips/Advice
revised 6/2/2014
French Toast – www.frenchtoast.com Some uniform items for K-6 girls and boys are to be purchased from
French Toast. These items were chosen because they are inexpensive and a good value. They include:
•
•
•
•
Girl’s White Long Sleeve and Short Sleeve Peter Pan Blouse (Feminine Fit)
o Style numbers 1460B, 1460G, 1460N, 1460U, 1461B, 1461G, 1461N, and 1461U
Boy’s White Long Sleeve Oxford Shirt
o Style numbers 1017A, 1017F, 1017M, and 1017S
Boy’s Navy Red Plaid Adjustable Plaid Tie or Plaid Full Make Tie
o Style numbers 10301, 10302, 10303 and 11333
Boy’s Grey Adjustable Waist Double Knee Pant (Modern Fit)
o Style numbers 1519A, 1519F, 1519L and 1519S
If you enter the school’s Source Code QS5EDRW on the front page of the French Toast website, (box middle top)
the site will show you only the Providence Uniform items. Also, if the same Source Code is included when you
check out, Providence will receive 5% of your purchase donated to the school.
Shrinkage is not generally an issue with the French Toast “Wrinkle No More” fabrications.
Sales and Discounts – French Toast regularly runs specials for reduced shipping or 10% off your order. On the
front page of their website, near the bottom, you can sign up with your email to receive exclusive offers and
discounts.
Returns – French Toast does not have a local store presence, so all returns must be made via mail. They
generally require the customer to pay for the return shipping.
Lands’ End – www.landsend.com
All vendor-specific 7-12 items and some K-6 items are to be purchased
from Lands’ End. Lands’ End offers good quality uniform items in a wide range of sizes.
Lands’ End has set up a uniform store for Providence which displays only the uniform items for the students you
set up. On their site, under uniforms, click on the “Find My School” button and follow the directions. The
Providence Preferred School Number with Lands’ End is 900057530. When you are adding a student to your
profile, be sure to choose the grade that the student will be when they will be wearing the uniforms you are
purchasing. If you order uniform items from the Providence list, the school will receive a Preferred School
contribution of 5-6%.
Sales and Discounts – Lands’ End periodically runs “% off the entire site” sales. These tend to be the best times
to purchase uniform items. We have been told to expect 30%-40% off everything sales between now and the
end of the summer. The advice from the Lands’ End sales rep was to have your order ready, and put it in when
Page 1 of 3
one of these opportunities appears. If you sign up with your email address on their home page, they will send
you sale announcements and extra discount offers.
Sizing – At the bottom of the entry for each garment is a light blue box with links to “Fit & Size Information” as
well as a .pdf file with Item Dimensions. Lands’ End also has an option of custom fitting hard-to-fit students.
There is an additional $10 fee and a 6 week waiting period for anything that is custom made. Please contact the
office if you would like to pursue this option.
Store Shopping – St. Louis has two Sears stores that have Lands’ End shops, carrying a selection of the same
items you can purchase online.
•
•
Chesterfield Mall Sears
Mid Rivers Mall Sears
At these stores you can try garments on before purchasing. These stores may not carry all of our specific
uniform items, but the associates at Sears can also help you to order the correct items online. If you are in a
store and order any Lands’ End item, it will be shipped to your home for free with no minimum purchase.
Returns and Exchanges – One strength of Lands’ End is its “Guaranteed Period” customer satisfaction policy.
Each online order comes with a label you can use to send items back to Lands’ End, but they will reduce your
credit by $6.95 if you use the label. A garment purchased online from Lands’ End can also be returned with no
shipping cost to any Sears store (including South County). If you have the receipt that came in the box with the
items, items can be returned at any time, even worn and without tags. If you have lost the receipt, write down
the order number and order date which can be found in your “order history” online. With this information,
returns can be made to the store without a receipt.
If you return an item purchased online to a Sears store with a Lands’ End shop, they will give you an extra 10%
off your in-store Lands’ End purchases on that day.
Specific Garment Notes Dress Shirts for Young Men (7-12) -Beginning next year (2014-2015 school year) the Lands' End pinpoint no-iron oxford for boys and men is the shirt included in the uniform policy. Please note that if you
purchase this shirt, it will require ironing. Though crisp and comfortable once pressed, it is not a truly
"no-iron" shirt. Because of this issue, until the 2017-2018 school year, any vendor that provides a white,
long sleeve, button down oxford shirt is allowed.
Dress Pants (7-12) – Lands’ End will hem the pants to whatever length you request. However, once they
are hemmed, the pants cannot be let out. If you order them unhemmed, there is enough fabric to “let
out” the pants later as the student grows.
Also the youth sizes have an adjustable waist and a trimmer cut leg which is better for thinner young
men.
Lastly, there is a current clearance opportunity on the grey dress pants (either $14.98 for youth sizes or
$19.98 for men’s sizes.) Lands’ End is making the fabric a little heavier, and so is offering last season’s
version at a discount. The two pants look the same.
Page 2 of 3
Polos – Lands’ End regularly runs a promotion where if you buy 3 or more polos at a time, you save $3
each on children’s sizes or $5 each on adult sizes.
Plaid Jumpers (K-3) – The jumpers tend to run a bit small, so plan to order the larger size if you are “on
the fence.”
Plaid Skirts (4-12) – Girls’ sizes have adjustable waists. The skirts run large in the waist. Expect to wear
at least one size smaller than other brands.
Blouses for Young Women (7-12) – The collars and cuffs on these shirts are quite stiff when first
purchased, but if washed and dried a couple times, they fit much more naturally.
Sweaters – All sweaters and sweater vests are 100% cotton. We have experienced some shrinkage with
machine drying.
Other items – Lands’ End carries items which can be purchased from any vendor. These include
leggings, tights, bike shorts, belts, headbands, socks, etc. Although they change seasonally, shoes can
also be a good value. There is a School Uniform Girls’ Unit Bottom Mary Jane shoe that would be a
comfortable option for grammar girls as well as a School Uniform Youth All Weather Moccasin for boys.
Labeling –
All uniform garments should be labeled with a student or family name so that they can be identified and
returned if lost. Lands’ End Uniform items come with a “name tag label” located beneath the care label. Write
the name in permanent ink on that label. French Toast uniform items can be marked with permanent ink on the
care label. Please mark student outerwear also.
Grandfathered Items To ease the transition for our families, specific items already owned that match the “look” of the new uniform
policy may be worn.
For three years (until the 2017-2018 school year) the following items, in good repair, can be substituted for the
comparable uniform item:
•
•
•
•
•
•
K-3 girls French Toast or Famously Yours plaid jumper (at the knee or longer)
4-6 girls French Toast or Famously Yours plaid skirt or jumper with bib removed (at the knee or longer)
7-12 girls French Toast or Famously Yours plaid skirt (at or below the bottom of the knee cap)
K-6 boys Famously Yours plaid tie
7-12 boys white button down oxford, any vendor
7-12 navy polo shirts
Page 3 of 3