The Spinoff: Why are school uniforms so expensive?
2 Feb, 2021 10:19 PM
7 minutes to read
Why do school uniforms cost so much? The Spinoff s Dylan Reeve investigates. Photo / Tina Tiller
Why do school uniforms cost so much? The Spinoff s Dylan Reeve investigates. Photo / Tina Tiller
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This story originally appeared on The Spinoff and has been republished with permission.
Incensed by yet another sky-high school uniform bill, father-of-three Dylan Reeve tries to get to the bottom of the school uniform racket.
For New Zealand parents, the end of January tends to mark the end of one nightmare – the seemingly endless summer school holidays – and the beginning of another: new uniform-stationery-and-shoes season.
Opinion
Incensed by yet another sky-high school uniform bill, father-of-three Dylan Reeve tries to get to the bottom of the school uniform racket.
For New Zealand parents, the end of January tends to mark the end of one nightmare – the seemingly endless summer school holidays – and the beginning of another: new uniform-stationery-and-shoes season.
The vast majority of New Zealand’s intermediate and high schools require a uniform. This uniform is usually only available from a single specialist retailer and for many parents it will be among the most expensive basic clothing items they will purchase for their little darlings.
But just how expensive? Even at lower decile public schools, the bill can stretch well into the hundreds. I put a call out on Twitter and got numbers back ranging from around $250 to around $1,000. And that’s not including the inevitable winter uniform which many parents were putting off purchasing.