"Design-wise, Dickies juniors are an apparel trifecta. They're hip enough for kids; they have value and durability for parents; and they meet most public school uniform guidelines," says Jon Ragsdale, Vice President of Marketing & Merchandising for Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co.
For high school boys, Dickies makes the grade with a wide variety of pants (including the popular zip-off pants that quickly convert to shorts), shirts and jackets that they're already wearing to work and other activities. The only modification is that most schools require logo-free garments, so the classic Dickies logo is on the inside instead.
Dickies also offers a way to help ease funding crunches for cash-starved schools with the Dickies School Uniform Curriculum program. Participating schools earn points for each Dickies uniform purchase, which can be redeemed for educational materials, athletic equipment or free uniforms for low-income students, which schools are often required by law to provide.
Public school uniform programs starting making news decade ago, when the Long Beach Unified School District in California became the first urban district in the nation to adopt a mandatory school uniform program.
Since then, dozens of major school districts, including in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Miami, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Memphis and Cleveland, have implemented similar programs consisting of basic solid color pants, skirts, skorts or walking shorts paired with white or other solid colored, collared tops.
marketing@alchempro.com
