School uniforms are back in fashion

THIS week will be the busiest of the year for children's outfitters as parents spend up to pounds 300 per child kitting them out for the new school year.

School uniforms, from the ties and blazers of traditional schools to the sweatshirts and polo tops of the trendier comprehensives, have made a strong comeback in the 1990s.

The simplistic egalitarianism that saw uniforms sneered at as stuffy or "for toffs" is long out of fashion. Parents and teachers today see uniforms as an aid to building an identity for their schools, and helping smooth over differences between the affluent and less well-off.

However much parents back schools in their attempt to revive uniforms, it leaves them having to balance the twin perils of fashion and school regulations in a vain attempt at keeping their offspring happy. Prices can range from pounds 300 for a complete public school kit to pounds 40 for a state school outfit.

Among the retailers who benefit from the uniform spending spree are the leading chain stores, Marks & Spencer and Bhs, which last week took out full page ads in national newspapers to promote its bootleg trousers as the fashion item for girls.

Some of the most traditional outfitters in the country survive thanks to the late-summer clothes boom. One such shop is R Monkhouse, based in the Cheshire town of Cheadle Hulme, which sells uniforms for 400 schools and last week saw streams of parents queuing for its ties, V-necked jumpers, scarves and blazers. "It's like Sainsbury's deli counter in here. It's so busy, people need a ticket to get served," said school- wear director Fred Twist. "We have tried to educate people to get things early but every summer it always ends up being a mad rush... The uniforms vary enormously. The private and public schools have a more demanding uniform list. Their pupils often need summer and winter outfits plus a variety of different sports kit. Many of the state sector schools have opted for a more up- dated look of sweatshirt and polo shirt, often with embroidered school crests."

Nick Keevers, owner of a traditional gentlemen's and school-wear outfitters in Sandbach, Cheshire, has seen the revival in school uniform coincide with a growing competitive market in schools, boosted by the growth in grant-maintained schools. "There was a time when schools in the state sector were really phasing uniform out," he says. "Few got rid of it altogether, but on the whole it became a lot more relaxed."

Some prospective parents, who make a correlation between uniform and discipline, have been spotted outside school gates observing how well students are turned out.

Public schools still have the heftiest uniform bills. At Benenden, the Princess Royal's old school, parents must provide seven shirts for everyday wear, at a cost of more than pounds 100. At Eton, the basic uniform of tailcoat, waistcoat, trousers and white shirts with specially stiffened collars costs at least pounds 300, and there is still the rest of the extensive sports kit to come on top of that.

For most families, school uniform comes cheaper. A cheap blazer, made of poly-viscose, costs around pounds 25, complete with embroidered badge, while some retailers are selling school trousers for just pounds 10.

Manufacturers have managed to combine the education establishment's growing demand for smart school clothes with a wink towards fashion, keeping pupils happy.

Paul Scates, managing director of Banner's school- wear division, says it is possible to devise fashionable uniform: "We find that fashion tends to filter through into our school- wear collection. We are not talking about high fashion, but just enough to keep pupils and teachers happy".

In their latest range, Banner have bootleg trousers, in black and navy, short swing skirts and fleecy "trackpants". "These days, you can buy a complete outfit for a senior school child for around pounds 40," said Mr Scates.

Simon Smith, this year's chair of the Independent Schools Specialist Association, who also runs a schools outfitters in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, says many schools are trying to adopt a more corporate look.

"We are definitely seeing a move away from sweatshirts. More and more schools want their students to have a corporate look, which they get with blazers... Tartan kilts are very big - you have to buy them from a proper uniform shop and they aren't easily shortened by turning up the waistband."

As with most things, school uniform varies according to where you live. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, both places proud of their rigorous approach to education, schools tend to hold on to old-fashioned uniform designs. In the Rhonda Valley, limited incomes translate into a relaxed dress code.

But most surprisingly, in Essex, which has had its fair share of detractors, traditional uniform is enjoying something of a boom. "Many schools in Essex want the traditional look," says Mr Smith. "It's a sort of domino effect. Schools are more competitive these days and once one school goes into blazers, everyone follows. Essex epitomises this trend."