The Schoolwear Association has issued
guidance to its members about “potentially dramatic” changes to the school uniform supply chain.
Following The Department for Education’s (DfE)
announcement that its School Uniform Guidelines are becoming statutory, the
association is advising all those involved with any part of the school uniform
market to make themselves aware of the changes.
The statutory guidelines, which are
expected to be in place by the end of next year, will require schools to
undertake tendering before selecting suppliers for school-specific uniform. The
announcement that the previous guidelines would no longer be optional has led
to a rush of enquiries from schools to the association about how to respond.
David Burgess, Chairman of the Schoolwear
Association, said: “Although we believe that schools generally make sensible
and pragmatic decisions about supply, price and the balance of school uniform,
we welcome the changes as we believe they will create greater certainty for schools.
However, this will have an impact on the industry, and we are advising members
to contact us to ensure they prepare efficiently.”
The Schoolwear Association anticipates one
effect of the statutory guidelines is that schools will take more control over
who supplies with more schools trademarking their badges as a part of the
tender process.
Mr Burgess said the schoolwear industry
was already a highly competitive marketplace but that schools and suppliers
needed to be aware of areas that might be seen as anti-competitive.
He said: “The Competition and Markets
Authority has said it will monitor the effect of the rules to ensure that schools
and suppliers comply with Competition Law. It is important that the industry
responds to this, and as an association we have promised our cooperation with
the CMA.”