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A free school uniform swap has been set up by two mums who want to help stop families from "forking out" on "expensive" clothing.

Bex and Faye created the Tavistock Uniform Swap Shop in Devon where people could donate clothing their children had outgrown along with having a selection of new items as well.

A stall at Tavistock Library was set up on Thursday where they received three "huge boxes" of uniforms from lost property at local schools, as well as half a dozen bags from the community.

Bex said a lot of parents and guardians were "in the same situation" and she and Faye hoped it would help people financially while also stopping clothes being thrown away.

Donations in Tavistock included branded and unbranded jumpers, shirts, skirts, dresses, wet weather clothing, shoes, lunchboxes and trousers.

Bex and Faye, who have been friends for 10 years, said people who visited were "shocked" everything was free and they did not have to make a donation to do a swap.

Bex, who works at a nursery in Tavistock, said: "We are all in the same situation, it doesn't matter if you're working full-time, things are really expensive and if we can save on something like this, then let's do it."

In September, a new law from the Department for Education will be introduced on branded school items in England.

It means parents and guardians will not have to buy more than three branded items, plus a tie for children in secondary school.

The government decided to create the law after it was estimated a quarter of secondary schools still had four or more items on its list last year.

Bex said it was "relief" there was at least a limit on the branded items, but it depended on what items the school or establishment chose.

"I think in the long run, if the cost of living keeps going up, we are going to need to push for there to be less and less uniforms with logos, but it will definitely help," Bex said.

Mum-of-two Faye said the price of uniform depended on the school and what their rules were around branded items, but some school uniforms could set a family back about £60 per child.

She said the swap event helped families from having to "fork out" on uniforms.

The retail supervisor said: "Children lose their uniforms or it gets dirty, so you're often having to re-buy stuff throughout the year.

"But at least this way it helps with the cost for families not worrying so much about how they're going to get their school uniforms for their children."

Bex said it was also a sustainable way to re-use clothing that would otherwise be thrown in the bin.

She said her daughter's dresses and labelled items still had "so much wear left in them", but they were too small.

"It's great places like the recycling centres take clothing, but that doesn't go back to families again," Bex said.

"I think it's really important, particularly the grey trousers, the dresses and the whites to be reused because they're all universal and any school can use them."

Faye and Bex said the event in Tavistock had been a "success" as more than half the uniform they started with had been taken and they received lots of messages asking when the next swap would be.

They hope to run another event towards the end of the summer holidays.

The pair added if they received good feedback, they would make it an annual event.

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