SCHOOL uniforms have been priced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) since November 1982 as part of the Consumer Price Index.
The index is based on the cost of girls’ and boys’ uniforms in a range of department stores and school uniform stockists every July, so takes into account prices for schools with different polices within the figure for each year.
However, the index figures provided by the CSO indicate that inflation in this area follows a pattern in line with the Celtic Tiger years.
Analysis of the figures by the Irish Examiner shows the cost of school uniforms rose by almost a third between July 1997 and 2006, with annual inflation rates of between 3.2% and 5.1% in that period.
This was followed by two years of little variation in prices, but they fell almost 8% last summer from those of 2008, to prices almost identical to what was being charged in July 2002.
The latest figures from earlier this month show that a further fall has occurred in the past 12 months, with a 1.2% drop on July 2009 bringing uniform costs in line with 2001 prices.
The National Consumer Agency advises that, to save money on school uniforms, parents should shop around for generic items of clothing like grey skirts or trousers. "The larger chain stores can be good for these but remember that stocks don’t last. So if you think you’ll need more than one of an item for the year, buy it before the start of the school year," a spokesperson said.
Some items are very costly new and get little wear — if you have to have a blazer, which your child might grow out of quickly, try to buy one second-hand from a friend or neighbour who has children at the school, she said.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, August 26, 2010
