KEY POINTS:
Take one polo shirt, add a logo and - voila! - the price skyrockets.
Buying a drawer full of $25 monogrammed polo shirts is a reality thousands of parents are facing as they prepare their children to go back to school this year - and more primary schools make uniforms compulsory.
At uniform supplier Janbells in Mairangi Bay, Sarah Bridge said most North Shore primary schools now had a uniform.
Murrays Bay School introduced one midway through last year, while Torbay Primary's becomes compulsory this year after two years spent phasing it in. Hauraki Primary's was compulsory for new 5-year-old students from term four last year, with a goal of all pupils wearing it by 2010.
In east Auckland, supplier John Russell said most schools already had compulsory clothing.
The arguments for schools to have a uniform are many, including the theory it reduces competitiveness among children and strengthens their sense of pride and belonging.
Some say the uniforms end up paying for themselves over time because, overall, children need smaller wardrobes. But that's little solace for parents stumping up for new uniforms at the end of cost-ridden school holidays.
Polo shirts can be bought at major stores for under $8 but often cost $25 or more in school shops. Some parents questioned if schools sold the shirts at inflated prices to make a buck.
"Our youngest is going to a private school. They [the school] have the market cornered as we have to buy the uniform off them," wrote one parent on an online forum.
Another complained about the quality: "'Official' school shirts are double the price. I wouldn't mind so much paying big bucks for official school stuff, but it doesn't seem to last."
But principals told the Herald some in-school uniform shops run at break-even to reduce costs for parents.
One Auckland primary apparently took low prices too far last year, running up a debt when they forgot to add GST and sold items below cost.
"The people that work there do so with the best intentions," said School Uniform Centre managing director David Kranz. "[but] They are not in the retail trade."
Glendowie College opened a uniform shop five years ago. Principal Louise Moore said: "The mark-up when you purchase from an external store, it can be huge.
"We try to keep costs down for our parent community and that's one way we can do it."
Paying more for less...
Last year it was the case of the expanding trousers, but this year school uniform sellers are noticing shrinking dress sizes.
School Uniform Centre managing director David Kranz told the Weekend Herald while there was still demand for the likes of the 140cm-waist shorts that made headlines last year, demand at the other end of the scale was also, well, big.
"There's definitely some smaller kids going into Year 9," said Mr Kranz. "I don't know if vegetarianism was really in 13 years ago, or what it was."
At Janbells in Mairangi Bay, Sarah Bridge had noticed a similar trend.
"The boys are very tall and the girls are very petite. A couple of years ago, we had some really big girls - but this year we've gone the opposite way. We almost need a smaller size rather than bigger sizes."
Getting shirty
* A polyester and cotton boys' polo shirt at The Warehouse: $7.90.
* Polycotton child's polo, with 45+ UV protection on the website of SchoolTex, part of listed company Postie Plus Group: $14.99-$15.99.
* Many primary schools sell their polo shirts for $25 or more.
