apperances might make no sense, but it is what it is and unless you want to go into the hills and be a hermit . it's something we all just have to accept, and yes it does stick with you all your life, you had to wear a torn faded shirt because your poor and cant afford nice clothes the teasing never stops.
you constantly get judged all the time, while you might not care as much when your an adult you still get judged the same you might just not realize it, but people are still talking about you!

its just more troublesome because as a child your network of people is confined to the amount of people at school. day in day out you have a small group (and yes its small compared to "the outside world" judging you all day. because they are insecure about their own selves.

do you remember when you were nine...i do. thats around 3rd grade..and i was being teased in the second grade if your old enough to tease then your old enough to know how to judge. some kids are sheltered and know no difference other are not and have a lot of older siblings so they tend to be more aware of the things such as 'style'
yes teach your kid good morals and values and in the end they will follow your example so you better be following what you teach. but if you have the money and the way, it doesn't hurt to get the clothes 'more in style' and if the kid is having a bad day/self esteem day let them stay home from school. i had many of those and thank god my mom let me stay home. these are things you will always remember and it will stick with you. the only way to escape it is home school or online school (which is what i eventually did)