At St. George’s School, many consider the school store to be an issue for many reasons. Through discussions with fellow students at St. Georges, many believe that the store clothes are not fashionable, uncomfortable and expensive. All of these beliefs are true in some sense, but does the school store have a choice?

When it comes to fashionability there isn’t much choice for the school store. The pants must be a generic grey colour and the shirts must be generic white shirts. In my opinion the store provides students with fashionable enough clothes for the surrounding that they are to be worn in. Through discussions, I realised that some students wear clothes from designer brands for the reason of “being cool” according to an anonymous interviewee. The slight difference in a brand name or a line running around the cuff shouldn’t warrant a student to buy school clothes out of school according to Mrs. Benny, the Head of Retail Services.

The clothes being uncomfortable to some extent should be seen as a viable reason to buy school clothes elsewhere. Mrs Benny had this to say about students wearing out of school clothes due to comfortability, “If the school clothes don’t fit the student, I totally understand them buying out side of the school.” However, she followed this comment up qualifying that students should only be buying “unbranded” clothing outside of the school if fit is an issue, citing plain white shirts and grey socks as an example. Many students however have expressed issues of comfortability with the school clothes. Multiple times did students state that they buy clothes out of school because they are more comfortable and feel nicer. The school store however has prioritized there purchases on eco-friendly clothes that are produced in safe and fair labour environments. Comfortability is the second most important factor though when it comes to the purchasing of clothes. I for one believe that the school stores priorities are fair and should be the way that they are which leads to third reason students don’t always buy from the school store.

Price was talked about heavily as a reason for not buying clothes at the school store. Many believe the prices at the school store are exacerbated to the point where profit is heavily being made. The truth is, the school store is not in business for profit. All profit that’s created, goes back to the school directly to the students usually in the form of scholarships according to Mrs. Benny. The prices however seem quite expensive to not be making much profit. The reason for this, is that the eco-friendly clothes are made in an ethical environment which ramps up the price. One student informed me that the school pants that he wears were purchased at Marks and Spencers in England for a third of the price of the school store pants, after a quick search, I realized this was in fact true. Marks and Spencers however has been highly criticized for there producing of clothes in Cambodia which offers cheap and unethical work.

Will students change their ways? Well School Captain Jaden Bains hopes so. “When students go out of there way to buy clothes, it really devalues the work Mrs. Benny and the rest of the school store has put into the purchasing of our clothes.” Jaden’s statement is true on many levels. I believe that the easiest way to solve this issue, like almost every issue in the world, is education. Students really have no idea why the clothes are the price they are. When it comes to parents deciding to buy the $45 school store pants or $30 bay pants, it seems like a no brainer that they might as well go for the cheaper option. People must be notified about the work the members of the school store have put into the clothes they buy and the students must be informed why the prices are what they are. If this education process occurs, the pants of the students will turn from a spectrum of dark colours to a beautiful pure grey.