NHS Local Article - Are School Uniforms Getting Bigger?
Clive Rose, our Managing Director, was quoted in a recent article on the NHS Local website
Clive was asked to give his views on the subject of the worrying increase in childhood obesity and how evidence of this can be seen in a steady increase in school uniform sizes.
Are school uniforms getting bigger?
School children may not like being lectured to, but when it comes to their waistlines many could do with paying a bit more attention. Evidence that school children are getting larger is now visible on the clothes racks of high street school uniform stockists. The sizes of the clothes being worn by today’s generation of increasingly overweight children are bigger than ever.
School aged children are now being routinely decked out in adult sizes.
And the problem would appear to have got worse over recent years, despite a massive focus on healthy school dinners and fitness initiatives such as walk to school ‘buses’.
One such specialist school outfitter is Clive Mark Schoolwear Ltd, which was founded in Bearwood in Birmingham nearly half a century ago and is now based at Uniform House within Kings Norton Business Centre in Birmingham.
Managing director Clive Rose said: “Sizes of school uniforms have probably gone up over the past 10 years, but over the course of the last 4-5 years the biggest sizes have become extreme.
“We are now stocking trousers with a 44 inch waist. That would have been a special made item at one point and we would have had to make it as a special order or send them to a men’s outfitters.
“Blazers are now being stocked up to a 54 inch chest, but we have also made them by special order up to 60 inches.
“We also hold skirts in stock up to a 40 ins waist and up to a size 50 ins by special order.
“But it isn’t just from the age of 11 at secondary school that we are seeing this increase.
"We are having to do these bigger sizes from the age of seven.”
So why are children continuing to grow ever larger when there has been so much focus on childhood obesity?
“I would say that there are not enough sporting activities and maybe it’s because kids are spending more time on computers.” Mr Rose suggests.
“Schools are trying to bring it back but it all went awry when schools stopped doing competitive sport anymore.
“Once that went, it appeared to be that kids started to get bigger.
“There was always a sports day once a year but you don’t seem to hear about that much anymore.
“And a lot of schools have also sold off their playing fields in recent years.
“There was one in the Walsall area that sold off theirs and it’s now a pizza place.
“Hopefully, the decline will have peaked with the introduction of healthier school dinners, and the work that Jamie Oliver has been doing, but it hasn’t shown itself yet.”
Just as worrying is the fact that primary aged children are also getting bigger.
“We now go up to the medium adult range among junior school age children, which we are mainly seeing for sweatshirts.
“Normally, a seven-year-old would take a 28-30 ins chest, but now we are seeing sizes of 38-40.
“And, whereas we would have started from a 22 ins chest for a four-year-old at the very start of their school life, some of those are now having 26 ins chests.
“If they were doing more exercise at school, that would help get rid of any podginess they may have.
“The fact is that children are getting bigger from an earlier age and it’s also in increasing numbers.
"On average, we now see one or two children in each year at school that need a much bigger size.”
Ironically, at a time of financial constraints, the increasing size of school children is also hitting parents in the pocket.
School uniforms are subject to VAT, which rises from the current 17.5% to 20% in January 2011, but this is done on the size of the school uniform, not the age of the child.
“It used to be age-based in the 1950s but has been done on size ever since.” Mr Rose points out.
“Any child with a 37 ins chest or above for a jacket or blazer has to pay VAT, regardless of their age.
“The same also goes for 29 ins waist trousers, a 36 ins chest for a blouse and a 14.5 collar for a shirt.
“It should act as an extra incentive for parents.”
The Schoolwear Association, of which Clive Mark is a member, is lobbying for VAT to be reduced or scrapped on school uniforms.
Clive Mark is a member of the Schoolwear Association.