A Consumer’s guide to school wear and uniform

Have you ever thought where your children’s uniform comes from or where the material was made?

Ever wondered questioning the price of school wear as these days a complete uniform (including shoes) can cost less than a small box of Thornton’s chocolates, that’s less than a tenner! How can this be ethically sourced & made is the next question? Well child labour suggestions may come to mind, there are no available details as to where the uniforms are made, probing more details about the factories used , which countries are viable used and how much the workers are getting paid.

Meaning one thing, how possibly can the workers be getting paid a decent wage, when most of the big supermarket chains are selling uniform at such low prices?  There is no evidence as of yet to suggest that workers are being paid properly and not being overworked. Only vague ethic details have been provided but no translucent facts to suggest that these companies can provide school wear at such prices and maintain the welfare of the workers that are being used.

Most retailers researched by the ethicalconsumer.org (REF 1) Sam Mayer found that 90% of workers are women and that they do not earn enough to send their own children to school, let alone afford uniform and because there are so many people on low wages in the UK as well as low paid workers abroad and in the middle, the companies are making massive profits.

There are a lot of ethical issues that need to be considered and thought about when buying school uniform, especially when small U.K businesses are struggling to cope in this economy and everywhere big chains of retailers are making profits and putting U.K manufacturers of uniform into melt down.

ENCOURAGING NOTE:

Schoolwearunited.co.uk is a well established U.K retailer of school uniform and school accessories. They hold good quality school wear from a vast range of pinafores, skirts, girls and boys trousers and many more school wear essentials. They are proud to take positive steps in ensuring that all there garments are sourced from the U.K, from British manufactures and that all workers are U.K based and are paid above the minimum wage. School wear united have done the very best to ensure U.K manufacturers are being supported and consumers should be encouraged to favour U.K businesses where quality does match the price. So when purchasing a product from school wear united, you can guarantee the garments have been ethically sourced, good labour relations, above decent living wages and most all that we are behind U.K businesses that are struggling due to the price wars amongst the big chain retailers and questioning how can it be possible to sell such cheap school wear and for consumers NOT to think twice about where that item may have come from and under what circumstances?

REFERENCES

Ref 1: Conversation with Sam Mayer of Labour Behind the Label 09/07/07