By mid-August, school conversations are starting to come alive: classroom teachers send parents a list of essential things for the new school year. Much attention is paid to clothing: almost every city school has its own requirements for the uniform of students. The correspondent “socialbites.ca” received the “valuable list” on August 12.
Screenshot from a school chat/socialbites.ca
Sunday
We decided to start with the Sadovod market: several rows are reserved for children’s clothing, and in August, people from all over Russia come here to “prepare for school”. The range is quite large, but almost the same for all sellers. But you can dress a student on a turnkey basis: there are casual clothes, a uniform for physical education, and “ceremonial” options. Everything looks very good in the window, but on closer inspection it turns out that many things are of rather poor quality – protruding threads, crooked seams and questionable fabrics. After reading the reviews, we tried to find points with the “Factory Turkey”: there are such markings on the “Bahçıvan” in about every three points, but the assortment in them is no different from the others.
Anna Egorova/socialbites.ca
He still asked the price: shirts and blouses – from 800 rubles, trousers – from 1.3 thousand rubles, dresses – from 1.5 thousand rubles, cardigans – from 1.5 thousand rubles, “troika” suits – 3 from a thousand rubles.
With shoes, everything is sad – ugly, uncomfortable and expensive. The price of rather coarse boots made of pressed leather is 2.5 thousand rubles. An attempt to find a form for physical education also failed. It is impossible to find a tracksuit “without a name” on the market: you buy either fake Adidas or Nike (price from 2,000 rubles) or Gucci or OffWhite (price from 5,000 rubles). The same as sneakers – fake Nikes cost 2 thousand rubles, but if you bargain hard they will sell you for 1800. seams and zippers) or voluminous bags with characters from children’s cartoons. They cost 1.5 thousand rubles.
Anna Egorova/socialbites.ca
According to sellers, there are fewer buyers this year, but it was expected that after the departure of foreign brands from Russia, everything will turn out to be the opposite. At the same time, the sellers themselves are not particularly kind, especially if you are trying to bargain for 200-300 rubles. We were upset when one of the marketers finally said, “We came too late to get dressed for school.”
“You came too late – you need to buy clothes for school in May. Meanwhile, all the school’s belongings come here. By August, even half the sizes are gone, and the assortment remains small,” he explained.
mass market
After the noisy “Gardener”, the air-conditioned mall looks like a spa resort. We decide to start with H&M leaving Russia, luckily there is no queue for entry. But, as it turned out, there is nothing to catch here: frankly, they did not bring new school collections to the store, and the rest looks quite sad – the assortment is small, there are almost no sizes. We leave with nothing.
The next stop is a Russian children’s clothing brand in the middle price segment. The school collection is quite extensive, the offered products are well combined with each other, and in principle here you can collect sets for the whole academic year. Prices are comparable to market prices, but the quality is many times better – no protruding threads and “chemical” fabrics.
Anna Egorova/socialbites.ca
Shirts and blouses – from 600 to 1.5 thousand rubles, trousers – from 1.5 to 1.7 thousand rubles, cardigans and jackets – from 1.7 to 2.5 thousand rubles, dresses and sundresses – from 1.6 to 2.5 thousand ruble. Here we also find t-shirts and shorts for physical education. Prices are affordable: T-shirts are 249 rubles, shorts are 599 rubles.
The next stop is a sporting goods store. The task is to find a warm suit for physical education. The selection is wide, sizes available, but prices are much higher than in the market. So, a tracksuit will cost an average of 4 thousand rubles. But you can save on shoes: light sneakers for indoor activities cost 999 rubles.
Anna Egorova/socialbites.ca
Prize
Finally, we go to a multi-brand children’s clothing store with products from Europe (mostly from Italy). Prices here are much higher than in previous points, but you can dress a schoolboy “from the needle”. Consultants do their best and select images no worse than personal stylists. The assortment is wide, things look solid, there are models for both “very thin” and “big” children, which greatly simplifies the search for many parents. Here you can also find shoes: a pair of leather shoes will cost about 8 thousand rubles.
Anna Egorova/socialbites.ca
But be prepared to go out – prices here are about 2.5 times higher than in previous stores. A school set for a boy will cost at least 10 thousand rubles, for a girl – more expensive, about 13 thousand rubles.
And that does not include shoes. It turns out that it is not very budgetary, given that at least two such sets are required.
Conclusion: Despite the fact that many foreign brands leave the Russian market, there are enough stores where you can buy for school. But going to the market does not make sense: it will not be cheaper, and the quality leaves much to be desired. About the same money can be met this year by buying local brands that try to please schoolchildren and their families. Multi-brand spots with collections of European manufacturers have not gone anywhere – it is still easy to dress a student in the latest fashion, if there was only money.
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.