<p>OK- may seem like a silly, shallow question - however since son has NO interest in this I figure I'll be doing the shopping.</p>
<p>Are there any particular dos or don'ts for boys at exeter? Certain sneaker brand, popular clothing brand, typical store to shop at? Looking for some guidance so I don't buy all wrong and have son look extra "nerdy". :) </p>
<p>Are ties supposed to be certain width to be "cooler" rather than nerdier?</p>
<p>If it is his style to be very preppy, that is really easy to shop for. Go to the J Crew outlet and you are done. Otherwise, I have seen it all - the boys don’t really seem to notice or care what one another is wearing. Many (most?) of his friends don’t match or wear shorts unless there are snowdrifts. I had his ties dry cleaned over break - they seem to get really disgusting as they tend to live in the bottom of the backpack. Glad we paid outlet prices…they will not be able to be used next year. There are many kids with weird ties as far as designs - width I don’t know. I suppose really wide “Welcome Back Kotter” ties would be a bad idea. Last I saw his one friend had a plaid cowboy shirt on, flowered tie, and flip flops. The letter of the dress code, if not the spirit.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that Brooks Brothers is very popular also… but it is very expensive. J Crew of course is a prep school favorite. I would buy him some nice semi-casual ties, some nice shorts and kakis, and collared t-shirts. If possible visit an outlet so the prices will be cheaper.</p>
<p>Hmmm so we WILL have to do some shopping since right now he wears old navy or wrangler jeans, tshirts from sports teams or clubs, sweatshirts and red sox/bruins baseball caps.</p>
<p>LOVE the welcome back kotter reference! LOL</p>
<p>PA-C, don’t you wish he was going to attend Andover, where there is no formal dress code? 
It’s funny reading liddyb4’s account of those “disgusting ties” and the “plaid cowboy shirt on, flowered tie, and flip flops”… They say Deerfield is most preppy. They must have a way to identify especially “organized” boys. No wonder not many on CC made it to Deerfield.</p>
<p>I KNOW that son originally had preferred Andover because it had no dress code! He is NOT a fan of the tie! I heard that every so often they survey the student body about the dress code but the students keep voting to keep it. I think they should just have the boys vote since they are the only ones truly affected by this dress code- then it would probably be voted down.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t blame him! No one really likes to dress up exspecially boys at this age. Ugh… we are going to have to repurchase my whole closet because of the dress code. And it is going to be one exspensive bill!</p>
<p>As a future exeter guy, I like the dresscode =D. It just make things a little easier. To lazy to really elaborate, but you get the point =)</p>
<p>My son likes the dress code - it does simplify things tremendously. We went to J Crew and got 10 shirts, 10 ties, a mix of pants, cords, and dress shorts, and half zip sweaters to mix in with Exeter sweatshirts/team jackets for class. The rest of the time he wears sports apparel. On the weekends he just wears t shirts and khakis, jeans or athletic pants (or whatever is clean…or not). No thinking involved. All his classwear generally coordinates (from my standpoint - I doubt he feels this is important) so he rarely looks really terrible. Many kids wear jeans to class - I think they have to be free of rips and holes. Some teachers don’t allow hooded sweats in class. So, the code is hardly draconian - no rules regarding outrageous colors of hair (or length), garments, or type of footwear. Don’t need more than one sportcoat - my son has only needed it twice.</p>
<p>Im still crying after laughing at the Kotter reference. I can just picture it. I agree though, JCrew outlet is the way to go. Stock up on those flip flops. I dont agree that a school without a dress code is easier. Much harder imo, since the "cool"things will be extremely expensive and hard to figure out at first. I have a friend at Andover who is very concerned about child fitting in and constantly drops a ton of $ for ratty looking tshirts (at a tag of close to 75 a shirt). She is not in the minority, I hate to report.</p>
<p>Wow! That’s an eye opener mhmm! I cannot do that type of money for a tshirt. I am seriously questioning whether or not we can afford this wardrobe. Even if we went to jcrew outlet and get 10 shirts at $20 each (which would be a great deal from what I understand) that would be $200 just for shirts. Never mind ties, pants, shoes, exeter gear ect…</p>
<p>My s may will probably be wearing mostly old navy and lands end - are the kids that status conscious that he will be ostracized for that?</p>
<p>PA-C - my daughter mainly wears clothes from Walmart and Kohls. She did want us to buy her something from Abercrombie over spring break and we managed to find a sweater on sale. It’s hard for me to imagine that boys care as much as girls do about brands. Why not go to a discount store to get the staples? </p>
<p>Exeter gear is a whole other problem. There is class gear, dorm gear, and sports gear. You can go broke buying that stuff. Our main problem with her wardrobe was coming from a no-snow area - we had to buy some warm stuff that we can’t even buy around here - ordered it from Land’s End and took up a collection from the grandparents to pay for it.</p>
<p>Anyway, for school clothes - and I know this is for a girl, not a boy - we bought her two pairs of dress pants, several “tops” and sweaters, and she had a couple pairs of jeans already. We didn’t break the bank over it, but her wardrobe is pretty scarce. I had to supplement at Christmas with some sweaters and turtlenecks. I picked up a really nice, heavy sweater at Ross for $8! Did I mention Ross? They sell men’s wear as well as women’s. :)</p>
<p>Thanks PhotoOp- I was beginning to question whether BS was for us- we cannot compete with the Jones’ so to speak even though we are FP. I’m glad to hear that brand names are not required in all cases. I don’t think we have Ross around here- I’ll have to check. I will probably do a mix of stuff- some Marshalls, lands end, old navy and throw in a few pieces from jcrew outlet if I can get there. I just don’t have another $1000 to get S a whole new wardrobe. </p>
<p>Question: those sports teams sweatshirts, jackets and hats - do you have to purchase those or are they given to everyone who makes the team?</p>
<p>From what I gathered, PhotoOP’s daughter is an exception - very mature and considerate to her parents. I hope a good part of her class is like her in that respect, if not at least she shouldn’t feel too much “peer pressure” by not following the crowd.</p>
<p>One word - “BOXERS”!!</p>
<p>PA-C - I don’t think you need to buy as many as 10 each of dress shirts and ties.</p>
<p>Not that many but you will want to think about the laundry service. They dont get their clothing back for a few days so you will have to make sure he has enough clothing to make it till the next drop off time.</p>
<p>My S is always running out of boxers and sox. He must have 20 pairs!<br>
Speaking of that you will need 2 pairs of sheets.</p>
<p>Have your child do their own laundry -saves a lot of $$, things don’t get misplaced and runied and it really shouldn’t take much time. Thow a load into the wash - go study - come back and put it in the dryer - go study - come back and pick it up. </p>
<p>Oh, an the wrinkle free, no iron shirts from Brooks Brothers and others are a good way to go!</p>
<p>PAC – J Crew Outlet Mall - States AL through ME:</p>
<pre><code> Tanger Outlet Center - Foley, AL
Napa Premium Outlets - Napa, CA
*Desert Hills Premium Outlets - Cabazon, CA
Gilroy Premium Outlets - Gilroy, CA
Silverthorne Factory Stores - Silverthorne, CO
The Outlets at Loveland - Loveland, CO
Tanger Outlet Center with a J Crew in the outlet mall - Westbrook, CT
Tanger Outlet Center - Rehoboth Beach, DE
St. Augustine Premium Outlets - St Augustine, FL
Sawgrass Mills - Sunrise, FL
Silver Sands Factory Stores - Destin, FL
Prime Outlets at Calhoun - Calhoun, GA
Tanger Outlet Centers - Commerce, GA
North Georgia Premium Outlets - Dawsonville, GA
Chicago Premium Outlets - Aurora, IL
Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets with a J Crew Outlet Mall- Michigan City, IN
Tanger Outlet Center - Seymour, IN
Wrentham Village Premium Outlets - Wrentham, MA
Prime Outlets at Lee - Lee, MA
Prime Outlets at Hagerstown with a J Crew in the Outlet Mall - Hagerstown, MD
Freeport Outlets - Freeport, ME
Kittery Premium Outlets - Kittery, ME
</code></pre>
<p>J Crew Outlet Mall - States MI through WI</p>
<pre><code> Prime Outlets at Birch Run - Birch Run, MI
Tanger Outlet Center - Tilton, NH
Settlers’ Green Outlet Village - North Conway, NH
Woodbury Common Premium Outlets - Central Valley, NY
Tanger Outlet Centers including a J Crew Outlet Mall - Riverhead, NY
Waterloo Premium Outlets - Waterloo, NY
Manchester Designer Outlets - Manchester Center, VT
</code></pre>
<p>I imagine that if you go shopping for long pants/long sleeved shirts/blazers now you will hit sales on top of their regular low prices (Im not a jcrew rep lol)</p>
<p>Thanks- My sister lives right near Wrentham so we’ll check out that one or Tilton, NH! </p>
<p>I was thinking he needed 10 because of the laundry service which I thought only came once a week and dropped off / picked up on the same day therefore making it necessary to own 2 weeks of clothing. I would love to save the money and not have laundry service and then he wouldn’t need as much stuff either but I don’t want to overburden him if he needs every minute to study. I just don’t know yet how stressed he is going to feel. </p>
<p>My son may be more like photop’s dtr where he couldn’t care less about fashion- but I don’t want him to look completely out of place either.</p>