And lo On Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:00:45 +0100, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>  
did spake thusly:

> Warp wrote:
>> the government provides the students with the material they need
>
> Interestingly, my understanding is that "school uniforms" are usually  
> *not* paid for by the government, and the point of the uniforms is to  
> avoid distinguishing wealthy from poor. If everyone buys the same  
> clothes, there's no way to have a status symbol your parents bought for  
> you in that way.
>
> I may be completely mistaken about this, mind.

In theory that's partially correct, however there are normally only two  
unique items in a uniform - the tie and a school patch. Everything else is  
generic and just states 'shirt - blue/white, trousers/skirt - black' so  
you'll still get some kids turning up in Asda/Wal-Mart trousers and some  
in designer ones.

As for the unique items it's often a single store that's given permission  
to sell them and as a result they can charge what they like knowing the  
parents have to buy them. I was speaking to a parent who complained they  
didn't sell a patch itself, just the jackets with the badge already  
affixed and the silly money they wanted for it compared to a supermarket  
own-brand jacket.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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