FAQs

We are no longer accepting donations or preloved uniform via drop-off baskets in shops and libraries across the city. Parents and carers who have good quality preloved items should offer them to their local school instead. 

If you would like to donate new uniform items this can be done online via our shopping partner Give Today: Edinburgh School Uniform Bank – Give Today

We have a wishlist of items we currently need listed with our shopping partner, Give Today. Anything purchased via Give Today is sent directly to us.

Edinburgh School Uniform Bank – Give Today

You can donate online here, or send money via bank transfer, or post a cheque. For further information please contact us. Regular monthly donations are particularly welcome as they allow us to plan our work going forward. 

We need volunteers to sort and pack uniform at our premises at Edinburgh Park, and occasionally to deliver packs of uniform around Edinburgh.

There is no minimum age for volunteering with ESUB but please note that: 

• Volunteers aged 16 or 17 must work under adult supervision and their parent or guardian must sign their consent. 
• Volunteers aged under 16 must be closely supervised at all times by a named adult (usually their parent) who must sign their consent. 

No, you can sign up to sessions and activities as and when you are available. 

Yes, we sometimes invite groups to volunteer with us for half-day sessions. 

Please email us at info@edinburghuniform.org. 

We provide Clothing Crisis Packs on a referral-only basis for those who are in crisis and have no other way of accessing school clothing or money to buy clothing. They must meet the following criteria:

• are enrolled at a City of Edinburgh School, and 
• have a demonstrable need for school clothing to avoid adverse consequences around attendance, participation or wellbeing, and 
• cannot obtain suitable clothing via their own in-school ‘uniform bank’ or other local clothing initiatives, and 
• face significant disadvantage compared to their peers in accessing financial and practical support to obtain school clothing.  

You need to tell us the child’s school, year group, gender, initials and DAY of birth. This is for our internal admin. We also need to know their clothing size (and foot size if you are requesting footwear), and what colour and style of clothing is preferred. You will also need to pass on your full contact details. 

When completing the form you will be asked:

• How well do you know this child/young person and/or their main parent/carer? 
• Why do they face significant disadvantage compared to their peers?  
• Please explain why this child/young person needs new school uniform at this time. 
• Please explain what impact a set of new uniform from ESUB would have, and what the consequences would be if this child/young person does not qualify for a Clothing Crisis Pack. 
• What other resources or support have you tried to help the family to access? 

We will ask you for information about the family’s circumstances, and what other forms of support you are helping the family with including the Council’s clothing grant. 

We will only provide one bag of new uniform per calendar year (Jan to Dec) for each child/young person, unless there are exceptional circumstances or they are changing school. Please contact us before submitting a second request if you consider that there are exceptional circumstances.

No, we do not supply school uniform directly to families. You need to ask a professional who knows your family’s circumstances to get in touch with us. This could be a family support worker, a teacher at school, a welfare adviser, or someone similar. Please ask them to email us at info@edinburghuniform.org 

You can request up to 8 brand new items from the following list. Our aim is to allow you to select the items most needed by the child or young person. We ask that you request a maximum of 2 of the same item if possible.

• Jumper/Sweatshirt/Cardigan 
• Trousers 
• Skirt
• Leggings 
• Polo Shirts
• Jogging Bottoms
• Shirts or Blouses
• Coat (warm coat in autumn/winter, light jacket in spring/summer)
• Trainers
• Wellies
• Pencil Case/Stationery
• School Bag
• Gym Shorts
• Gym T-Shirt 
• Gym Shoes (plimsolls)
• Socks (10 pairs)
• Tights (5 pairs)
• Pants (10 pairs)
• Summer dress (during the warmer months)
• Hat and gloves
• Swimming Trunks/Costume
• Sports Bra 

It is extremely important to obtain accurate sizes for the child from the adult the child or young person lives with. The child may be 9 years old but they may fit age 11-12 year-old clothes. Please do not guess based on year group. It is quite common from P7 onwards for a young person to have had a growth spurt and need adult sizes. The issue is even more important for teenagers e.g. collar size for boys, waist size and inside leg length for boys’ trousers including skinny jeans, maybe chest size for girls, or is it S/M/L/XL/XXL, or Adult size 12/14/16 for instance for girls.

Please select the correct size on the form. Tell us as much information as you can to help us provide the most suitable clothes. 

Please allow for room for growth in primary children. While we do not wish to provide clothing that swamps a child or young person, a little growth room extends the useful life of their clothing. 

Please clarify any specific requirements. One referrer said a teenager would only wear long sleeved shirts for personal reasons, another said the child had sensory issues so needed less fussy clothes. We want to make sure the items we provide are suitable for the young person receiving them. Realistically, it can be difficult to meet all requirements but we will do the best we can. 

We will supply what we have available from stock in the correct size and colour. We don’t supply cardigans to boys. We are most likely to supply round-neck sweatshirts to primary children and more traditional V-neck school jumpers to high school pupils. Please provide any other information for us in the box provided if you have a particular preference. 

Upon receipt of a request we aim to provide the completed uniform pack within approximately three weeks.  This can vary and where possible we will notify you if we believe it may take longer to provide the uniform pack.  In addition, during the months of May-August when we are preparing hundreds of packs it can take longer to provide a clothing pack.

Please let us know both the preferred and alternative colour for each uniform item you request as this helps us to have your bags ready sooner. There may be supply chain issues at times and some items may be more difficult for us to get hold of than others. We usually have white polos in stock, so a bag with white polos may be ready sooner than a bag asking for green or navy polos. 

We will deliver the pack to your workplace as soon as we can. The address that you ask us to deliver to must be easily accessible with someone available to accept the delivery during office hours. Alternatively you are welcome to collect it from our premises at Edinburgh Park, by arrangement. 

No, you or a colleague must receive the pack from us then pass it on to the family/young person in whatever way is most appropriate for them.

Contact us to confirm which items need to be exchanged.  List all items needed along with sizes and any other requirements.  When collecting the new items please ensure the original items are returned at that time, complete with their original labels if possible. 

Referrers make an application on behalf of a family. Please work with the adult who helps the child/young person to be ready for school, or directly with older teenagers as appropriate. 

Our service is anonymous and we wish to ensure those receiving our uniform packs do so with dignity. If you would like to publicise photos on social media, please ensure none of the clothes from our packs would be recognised when the child wears them, no paperwork is visible and no children are in the photo. Please contact us to discuss further. 

Refrain from entering any identifiable information.  For instance, please do not tell us the child’s name and address. 

We work with schools and community groups such as youth clubs to support them in providing school essentials to their families. Every community is different, so we tailor our support so that families can access free clothing and footwear in the way that is most accessible and dignified for them. 

We are rolling out our programme of community partnerships according to local needs and priorities. Our aim is to work closely with staff and volunteers in schools and groups where we can make a real difference. 

We are currently based in Edinburgh Park. 

We serve the whole of the City of Edinburgh. 

There are several similar organisations in other parts of Scotland and the rest of the UK. We each operate independently but we are often in touch with one another to share best practice and to support each other. 

Families who meet certain criteria are eligible for a School Clothing Grant from the council. Details can be found here. 

We provide uniform for children regardless of whether their family qualifies for the grant or not. Children grow and their circumstances change but they always need the chance to fit in with their peers and be fully included in school life. 

We support thousands of children and young people every year.