Is it important to buy name brand clothing for middle schoolers? How far do you balance being themselves but not prevent them from fitting in?

My oldest is in 6th grade. We have always mostly shopped at thrift stores to save money. I stay at home and homeschool until middle school and we have 5 kids so we cut cost in certain aspects. We don't have cable either.My son said that he was getting picked on for the undergarments he was wearing because they weren't a popular athletic brand. We don't avoid name brand at all cost. I will buy it if it's cheap but I don't go spend extra money for the material. My son is getting frustrated because he thinks I don't care about him socially. I do care and he has friends. He plays sports and is involved in boy scouts. He isn't lacking for friends but he's bothered by the teasing. This extends to other areas. We don't have cable so he isn't caught up on a lot of the references that kids make and we don't allow video games so he's lost there as well.I want to help him feel better about school but I don't want him to think that he has to conform. First it's clothes and video games then it's drugs and sex. How do you all balance this? via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2RsRmtB