Picture Courtesy of S'coolWear for Less

There are two … maybe three sure-fire businesses, the first is selling elastic bands to Royal Mail but I understand that contract is tied up. The second is to become an undertaker, not everyone's ideal business opportunity but the third and I feel the best … start a business selling schoolwear.

Let's take a look at the reality; students and pupils grow, by their very nature, they are messy creatures and are very destructive when it comes to school uniforms. Schoolwear is practically a disposable commodity and needs frequent replacement. Can you hear the tills ringing?

There are a lot of politics about the selling of school uniforms, indeed DfES (Department for Education & Skills) have guidelines that say "school governing bodies are expected to give high priority to cost considerations." - This alone is great ammunition if certain schools insist on a specific uniform from expensive suppliers although many schools have adopted a uniform policy based upon low-maintenance casual tops such as sweatshirts, polo shirts and fleeces in basic colours and easily embroidered for identification purposes.

The perfect school uniform supplies business would be able to partner with their local schools and provide branded schoolwear at affordable prices. Be mindful that some parents struggle to pay for expensive school uniforms and are not aware of alternative cheaper schoolwear suppliers.

You might have never of heard of 'The schools costs campaign coalition'; but you would certainly have heard of Barnardo's, Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens Advice, End Child Poverty, the Family Welfare Association, One Parent Families, NUT and Save the Children …this powerful group is urging the Government to enforce its own guidance which state that 'No school uniform should be so expensive as to leave pupils or their families feeling socially excluded'. The situation is getting worse for families who struggle to afford school uniforms as fewer and fewer local authorities are providing uniform grants.

The school costs campaign coalition is specifically recommending that:

· Local authority scrutiny committees should check the impact of school costs on families and review what support is available.
· School governing bodies should ensure that their school uniform is kept simple, and is available from more than one outlet.
· DfES should produce a model charging policy for schools outlining good practice.
· OFSTED and schools should ensure that school policies promote the inclusion of children from low-income families.
· The Government should consider placing a statutory duty on local authorities to provide school uniform grants for children from low-income families. Central government should make funds available to enable local authorities to provide grants.

Even the OFT (Office of fair trading) is investigating whether school uniform policies have a detrimental effect on low-income families,. This investigation is a result of receiving complaints from parents about the high prices and poor quality school uniforms.

Okay, in fairness to high street school uniform retailers, they have High Street business rates and expensive overheads - but what if you had a business selling branded quality discount schoolwear without these tough profit-zapping overheads? … can you hear the tills ringing?