Emma's Little World: July 2014

When it gets to this time of year, I begin thinking of the new school year! Early I know, but better to get sorted out and I can relax for the rest of the summer.

With this being my manta, last year about this time, I was shopping in a well known supermarket. Not my usual one and my mum doesn't work there, so if you know me you should be able to work it out!
As I was wondering around, I saw the school uniform on sale and thought I would get what I needed. Couple of pinafores, skirt, tights, socks etc.
The children's school have their own logo polo shirts and jumpers and cardigans, so I didn't need to get those.

Anyway, a couple of months into the school year and the skirts and pinafores were pretty much ready for the bin.
At the time I bought them, I thought they were thin, but with regular washing they were now threadbare.
More school uniform was bought and I learnt my lesson to be a bit more choosy when buying it!

So when I received an invite from Matalan to visit their HQ and find out about their school uniform, I jumped at the chance.

On the day, when we arrived, we were shown into a room where there was a selection of school uniform and the new range of children's wear out soon.

We started the day by looking at the new range and picking our favourite and least favourite outfits in the various children's age ranges. This was hard, as there were so many gorgeous outfits.

We had an opportunity to speak to the children's designers and buyers and to find out a bit more about the buying process.

We then split into smaller groups to give our own personal views on Matalan, it's products and ways in which Matalan could become more family friendly. We had the opportunity to share our thoughts on the range of products and compare with Matalans competitors.

After a lovely lunch, we had a good look at the school uniform.

When we came to the school uniform range, it was really interesting to compare the uniform against other stores, on style and affordability.

We were treated to a presentation on the whole design and manufacture process and the stringent tests that each item must pass before it can we considered fit to go on sale in the stores.

Presentation on school uniform

This was very interesting as we had a chance to look at new improvements for this year's new range, such as softer, easier to wear collars and velcro top buttons. As a teacher, that idea is amazing, as when you are asked thirty times to fasten top buttons it becomes very tiresome!

Matalan's range of very reasonably priced jumpers and polo shirts.

Matalan,s range of dresses and skirts.

Finally, towards the end of the day, we watched a presentation on how the footwear and in particular, the school shoes, are designed and made. I found this quite interesting and one fact has stuck with me. That is that each shoe is hand made. I am not quite sure why this surprised me but it did. I find it amazing that each individual shoe is made by a person and how much time this would take for just one shoe, never mind a pair!!!

Fab footwear that I am very tempted to buy.

As the day drew to a close we were treated to a goody bag with lots of lovely Matalan goodies such as a gorgeous candle, socks for the children, sunglasses, caps and lots more.