School Uniform Supply Monopolies

TechnoBadger

A timely thought here as the 'Back to School' season is nearly upon us!

I was thinking about the way schools often use suppliers on an 'exclusive basis' for their uniform. There seems to be absolutely nothing in law to stop schools having just one supplier with a monopoly. I believe that in many cases the schools get a 'sweetheart' payment or gift and maybe the PTA gets the odd raffle prize to keep them sweet too. Other suppliers are then excluded from consideration because the school does 'very well, thank you' out of the current arrangement.

I do have an amount of knowledge having supplied my childrens' school for some time (from my PTA days) and whilst I'm not in a position to offer my services to other schools I am very aware of what is going on. I feel it's time now that this practice was stopped and parents had a genuine choice as to where to buy their children's uniform. I know it may seem a small concern to some but the markup that schoolwear shops can put on this uniform knowing parents have no choice is often (usually?) over 100%.

What do forum users think?

pigpen

Given the extortion from my sons school and my daughters school scraping a close second.. I think school should have available anywhere uniform.. especially as a lot of families do struggle financially to provide stuff so their children are not singled out in any way.

My sons uniform last year cost about £600.. just for him... before I got started on the rest of them. The school the others are at has 'banned' plain v-neck jumpers and have started doing their own poor quality monologued sweatshirts which fade quickly, bobble even quicker andlook like floor rags in a few months at the lovely price of £20 each for yr 7 up to about £30 for the bigger sizes.. last year I got 3 plain ones for £5.. it is disgusting!

The schools decided a few years ago hat and gloves were 'not allowed' .. then they decided they could wear them to and from school but had to take them off at the gates.. WHY??!!??.. they were not allowed winter coats when DD1 started they were expected to manage in snow with a polo shirt, fleece jacket and a thin kagoule... that rule was changed day one for my daughter and not long after for the other children, then they introduced their own winter coats! When she went into yr 9 she outgrew all her polo shirs and I cold not for love nor money buy her the correct size.. the school saidd she could wear the ones from yr 8.. that were way too small she had actually worn those 2 years already.. so she ended up with plain pale blue ones.. 3 for £8.. the school ones are £14-£24 each!

DS2's jacket is £150 and the hat £65... before we start on ties, shirts, trousers, shoes, games kit, rugby kit, fooball boots, trainers, swimmies etc..
there should be price capping or more competetive pricing.. I don't see why they cannot issue the monologued badges to be sewn onto whatever jumpers, polo shirt, beret you choose to buy..

they cannot legally enforce uniforms at a primary school so while mine wear uniform none of it is monologued stuff.. but the sweatshirts are £18+, the coats £35 and the polo shirts £12+

beckseven

Oh my goodness that is extortionate! My ds is at primary school and they are very flexible and there is monogrammed uniform to buy-at £12 per sweatshift, £8 a polo shirt and £20 for the jacket but I just buy one polo shirt, two jumpers and the jacket (as it is quite good quality) and get the rest plain from m and s because they had a good offer-I got three pairs of trousers, three polos and two sweatshirts for £18 with free delivery. We also have a second hand uniform shop via the psa and I've bought good condition school sweat shirts for a quid from it.

Rebob

The bit that gets me is the pe kit. Football shorts (black) and a pale blue polo shirt with the school emblem on for £10. I could have got 3 polo shirts and 2 pairs of shorts for £6 at tesco the other day!

aliasojo

We're moving and the new school my daughter will be going to has a strict uniform policy. I'm happy about the policy, I support the wearing of uniform, I'm balking a bit at the cost though. As with the OP, we have been given the details of one supplier and a plain jumper alone in a specific colour is a tad under £20. We chose to send her to this particular school so we'll bite the bullet with the costs but I do feel it's unfair and especially hard on those with more than one child to kit out.

jellyhead

Our primary does sell uniform but they can wear anything plain in the same colours. Most of the boys have a monogrammed sweatshirt but it really doesn't matter if they wear plain ones from Tesco. It still looks smart without the logo.

High school insist of their logos though, and certain PE items. My son lost his PE kit within a few weeks of starting school and it cost me over £100 to replace it. Everything was named, including his bag, but we never got it back. I wrote a letter explaining what had happened, but they still gave him detention after the fist week for every time he didn't have the correct kit. It was mad - the kit disappeared from the school hall during an assembly and there was every chance that it might turn up again within a few weeks, but they wouldn't allow us to wait.

jellyhead

pigpen wrote: »

The school the others are at has 'banned' plain v-neck jumpers and have started doing their own poor quality monologued sweatshirts which fade quickly, bobble even quicker andlook like floor rags in a few months at the lovely price of £20 each for yr 7 up to about £30 for the bigger sizes.. last year I got 3 plain ones for £5.. it is disgusting!

Our high school has also banned plain sweatshirts. If they wear a plain one outside they have to remove it before they enter the building!

Their sweatshirts are truly awful quality though, and they would be too expensive even if they were good enough quality to last a season.

They only sell 3 sizes so my tiny child had to wear one that was far too big for him when he started, but some of the year 7's started wearing the biggest size so by the time they got to year 9 they couldn't get them in their size and they just have to shiver

My youngest is huge so I think he'll be starting year 7 without one

happy35

my ds attends a state school and everything has the school emblem on it apart from school trousers that are black nd cn be bought from anywhere

school coats are also your own choice but there has been an official coat mentioned for a while but that hasnt materialised

pigpen

jellyhead wrote: »

Our high school has also banned plain sweatshirts. If they wear a plain one outside they have to remove it before they enter the building!

Their sweatshirts are truly awful quality though, and they would be too expensive even if they were good enough quality to last a season.

They only sell 3 sizes so my tiny child had to wear one that was far too big for him when he started, but some of the year 7's started wearing the biggest size so by the time they got to year 9 they couldn't get them in their size and they just have to shiver

My youngest is huge so I think he'll be starting year 7 without one

Ours do a good size range 30" up to 44" last I looked.. which is very good.. but still rubbish quality and poor value for money. I do complain every year about something lol.

This Sept. I only have 3 at high school and most of the stuff from this year should still fit.. I buy it huge too.. so hopefully the rubbish sweatshirts won't break the bank and they can have new poloshirts next year

I can't even hand down trousers as DS2 has black and DS3 has grey!

TechnoBadger

pigpen wrote: »

they cannot legally enforce uniforms at a primary school so while mine wear uniform none of it is monologued stuff.. but the sweatshirts are £18+, the coats £35 and the polo shirts £12+

Indeed they cannot they enforce it, but primary schools near me have suddenly started having a requirement for jumpers / cardigans with a STRIPE! These MUST be worn and bought from their chosen supplier! There's now no chance of parents 'getting away with' a plain one from M&S. They're acrylic jumpers / cardigans which don't last as long as a good sweatshirt. And they cost more of course... Now call me a cynic if you like but I think this trend has more to do with suppliers protecting their 'patch' by suggesting 'improvements' to schools. There's less chance of a competitor coming along and fancying his chances with what is effectively custom-made uniform. For the schoolwear supplier this is job done. For the school's parents this is extra expense for uniform that probably won't last as long as what they had before.

[Deleted User]

Ooooh, i feel i FINALLY qualify to join in with one of these discussions and thanks to the person who suggested enquiring about second hand uniform shop, i've just emailed the school.

As you can tell from my signature I have a child starting reception and we went to our first taster day on wednesday and were given the uniform price list. The HT said they obviously prefer the children to wear the logo stuff but they also realise chain stores and supermarkets polo shirts etc are cheaper, but they really encourage ALL children to wear a logo'd jumper or cardigan and to have the proper pe tshirt, in addition to the pe bag and book bag.

The prices if it helps are:-

Cardigan (all sizes) - £8.75
Sweatshirt (26-34) - £7.00 or a medium £9.25
Polo shirt (all sizes) - £5.75
Navy shorts (all sizes) £4
Infant pe shirt - £4.75
Junior pe shirt - £4.25 (why the bigger size is cheaper i don't know)
PE/swim bag - £2.95
Book bag - £2.20
Fleece/waterproof jacket (all sizes) - £16.50
Sun hat/cap (all sizes) - £2.95

The items in red are the "compulsory" ones and to be honest as no one wants their child to be different EVERY child has them.

The only rule is uniform has to be worn, my only complaint is i wish my kids school would change the sweatshirts to a v neck jumper, much smarter in my opinion and allows the children's neck to be less restricted and easier to put on.