Moving towards off-the-shelf uniforms

CHENNAI: Till last year Malini Ramnath, a mother of two living in Velachery, had a long to-do list for the weeks before school started for her children. This included buying uniform material, taking it to the tailor shop in Adyar and going back to pick up the stitched clothes. She recalls, “A couple of years ago, the tailor was not able to give the clothes on time. My son Amit, who was then going to Class 2, was quite upset that he had to wear the old uniform. This year, however, we opted for readymade uniforms. Amit is thrilled as this is something novel for him.”Available for a number of popular city schools, readymade uniforms are attracting more customers in the city. Amritha Uniforms, a readymade uniform manufacturer based in Ramapuram, sees equal demand for material and readymades, said Ramesh, a representative. The price is a tad lower than for the tailored sets as stitching charges are minimised. “The price of readymade sets varies based on the quality of cloth used. There are sets for as little as `300, and others go beyond `500,” said Ramesh. He said many people see this as a time-saving, and therefore preferred, option.A representative of one of the leading uniform material suppliers in the city, however, says that there has not been much difference in their sales this year. “Readymade uniforms might take some time to catch on, as people are not used to the idea yet,” he said.  Tailors say they still have a heavy rush of customers, each demanding their child’s uniforms be stitched first. “I am strapped for time and people. My three employees and I have extended our working hours for the past month, but I am still going to disappoint some of my customers,” said Rajesh, a tailor in Purasaiwalkam. For the school-goers themselves, the prospect of getting back into uniform is not very appealing. Vidya, a student of Class 6, says, “It would be nice if we could wear normal clothes. School shopping would be a lot more fun!”