The biggest back to school discount for first responders is adidas at 30% off, and it applies to clothing as well as shoes. Seven more brands run one, from 20% down to 10%. Between them they cover most of what goes on a kid before the first bell: shoes, jackets, hoodies, joggers, backpacks and gym kit.
One thing to know before you start. Every discount below is on clothing and footwear. Not one of them is on school supplies, and that is not an oversight in this list, it is what the category looks like. The pencils, folders, calculators and laptops are full price everywhere.
The 8 Brands With a First Responder Discount for Back to School
Ranked by how much comes off, largest first.
adidas: 30%
The largest in the category. Verified through ID.me, and it works online, in store and at factory outlets. Eligibility is the widest here too: police, firefighters, EMT and 911 dispatchers, active or retired.
Read the exclusions before you build a cart, because they are unusual. adidas excludes Samba, Campus, Gazelle, Stan Smith, Superstar, Ultraboost, NMD, adizero, SL 72 and several limited editions. Those are the sneakers a school-age kid is most likely to ask for. The apparel is not excluded. So the 30% is worth considerably more on a jacket, hoodies and joggers than on the shoes it looks like it is for.
There is also a frequency cap that nothing else here has: two discounts a month online, one in store, one at a factory outlet.
Under Armour: 20%
20% off all purchases online and at UA Brand House stores, and 10% at UA Factory House outlets. Under Armour names the roles plainly: police, fire, nurses, doctors and EMT. Verification runs through ID.me.
The catch is the one that matters during a sale. It cannot be combined with other promotional codes, sitewide promotions or gift card purchases. If Under Armour is running a back to school sale, you are choosing between the sale and your discount rather than stacking them.
PUMA: 20%
20% off your order for doctors, nurses, first responders and military, verified with ID.me. Straightforward, with one limit worth knowing: the offer is only available on PUMA.com, so a trip to a PUMA store will not get it.
Crocs: 15%
15% off through ID.me. This is the one genuinely footwear-only entry on the list, and it applies to select styles rather than the whole range, so check that the pair you want qualifies before verifying. Worth it if clogs are already what your kid wears.
New Balance: 15%
15% off, verified with ID.me, covering first responders alongside teachers, nurses, medical and hospital staff, government employees and seniors 60+. It runs across shoes and apparel.
Three limits, and they stack up. It is valid only at newbalance.com, only on full price purchases, and you get one code per 30 days. It cannot be combined with other offers. So it is a poor fit for sale shopping and a good one for a single full price order.
Nike: 10%
10% off most items for first responders and medical professionals. Nike names EMTs, firefighters and law enforcement, and verifies through SheerID rather than ID.me, so an existing ID.me account will not carry over. You also need to be a Nike Member.
It is online only. Nike is direct about this: the discount can only be redeemed on Nike.com and in the Nike App, not in a Nike store. It is capped at the first $500 of the purchase, the code is single use and expires two weeks after it is issued, and Nike By You, gift cards and select Launch and SNKRS products are excluded.
The part most lists miss: you can request a new code every seven days. If you are spreading back to school shopping across a few weeks rather than doing it in one trip, that matters.
Skechers: 10%, and it stacks
This is the one to use during a sale. Skechers gives an additional 10% off on top of promotions and offers, for active and retired military and first responders, naming police, firefighters, EMT and 911 dispatchers. Verification is through ID.me.
Stacking is rare in this category. Under Armour explicitly forbids it and New Balance restricts to full price items, so a 10% that sits on top of a sale price can easily beat a larger discount that cannot. It will not combine with other stackable offers.
L.L.Bean: 10%
10% off your order, verified through SheerID, for EMTs, firefighters, police and search and rescue. Useful for backpacks, fleece and outerwear heading into fall.
Two things to check. The code is one time use, and the exclusion list runs to more than a hundred brands carried on the site, plus firearms, alterations and Outdoor Discovery Programs. Confirm your item qualifies before you verify.
Check the Word “Military” Before You Verify
The most common way to lose an afternoon in this category is a page that sounds like it covers you and does not. Several brands run a real program for military only, and a few of them put first responders in the title anyway.
JanSport is the clearest example. Its discount page is titled for military, medical and first responders. The terms underneath cover military personnel, their spouses and dependents, and first responders appear nowhere in the offer itself.
The same shape, without the misleading title, applies at Kohl’s, which runs 15% for military on Mondays in store only. Michaels, Big 5, Acer and ASUS all sit in the same position.
If you are a responder who is also a veteran, this is good news rather than bad. Verify on the military side and every one of those opens up.
Three That Look Live and Are Not
These are worth knowing because other lists still carry them.
Academy Sports + Outdoors is switched off right now. The program is real, it names first responders, and it pays 10% on the entire purchase online or in store. It is also seasonal, and Academy currently states that it is not running. Worth checking again before a big sports kit order rather than assuming either way.
The North Face has ended its first responder discount. Its current discounts page lists student, teacher, military and nurse, and first responders are not among them. The old first responder link still works, which is why it keeps appearing on other lists, but it now redirects to that same page.
Dickies has paused its program and says so. Its page states that the first responder discount is being restructured with a new version to come. That is more useful than a stale page, and it is worth a look again later in the year.
How to Get the Most Out of These
Verify once, in one sitting. Most of these run through ID.me, so a single verification opens adidas, Under Armour, PUMA, Crocs, New Balance and Skechers. Nike and L.L.Bean use SheerID instead, which is a separate account.
Then match the discount to how you shop. If you are buying into a sale, Skechers stacking on top of it may beat a larger discount that cannot be combined. If you are placing one full price order, adidas at 30% is the most money off anything on this page. If you are buying the shoes your kid actually named, check the adidas exclusion list first, because the popular sneakers are the ones left out.
Q&A
Q: Does Target have a first responder discount?
A: No. ID.me, which operates the programs for most of the brands on this page, states it is not aware of Target offering one.
Q: What about Walmart, Staples, Office Depot or Amazon?
A: None of them either. This is the honest gap in back to school shopping for responders: the discounts are on what your kid wears, not on what goes in the backpack.
Q: Is there a first responder discount on a laptop?
A: Not from Apple, Best Buy or Microsoft. Acer and ASUS run military programs that do not extend to responders. Dell, Lenovo and Samsung do have responder offers listed but publish no rate, so ask at checkout rather than planning around a number.
Q: Do these work in store or only online?
A: It varies and it is the detail most worth checking. Nike, PUMA and New Balance are online only. adidas works online, in store and at factory outlets. Under Armour works both, at a lower rate at outlets.
Q: Do dispatchers and EMTs qualify?
A: At most of them, yes. adidas, Skechers and Nike name dispatchers or EMTs directly, and L.L.Bean names EMTs and search and rescue. Where a brand lists only police and fire, verify anyway and let the check decide.
Q: Can I use one of these more than once?
A: Nike issues a new code every seven days, adidas allows two online discounts a month, and New Balance allows one code per 30 days. L.L.Bean and Nike codes are single use each time.
Q: Do school uniforms have a discount?
A: Not from the uniform specialists. Lands’ End publishes no occupational discount at all, and French Toast has no program. Dickies is the one to watch, since its responder discount is being rebuilt.
More Information:
Every discount above was confirmed on the merchant’s own discount page or in its own FAQ, and the rates are the responder rate rather than a public sale price. Terms change often in this category, so confirm at the merchant before you buy. For more, see our full guide to first responder discounts and our roundup of home improvement discounts.
