Back-to-school price war cuts cost of jumpers and skirts to Pounds 5

HIGH STREET chains and supermarkets are fighting a school uniform price war.

Big retailers, reeling from nine months of collapsing consumer confidence, are slashing prices in a bid to dominate the Pounds 200million-a-year market.

Sainsbury's has fired the opening salvo by pricing its new range at 30 per cent lower than last year's offering.

Rival Tesco said its school uniforms were now 49 per cent cheaper.

An Evening Standard survey found that Velcro plimsolls are now being sold for Pounds 1.25 while zip-up pinafores are priced at less than Pounds 5. In Asda, a boy's jumper can be bought for Pounds 5 and shorts for Pounds 4, making the cost of a uniform only Pounds 9.

Kate Ison, spokeswoman for the British Retail Consortium, said that consumer confidence was low, which was encouraging retailers to cut prices and hold sales for longer.

She added: "Backto-school has started very slowly even for value ranges.

It's fair to say that retailers see this time of year as an opportunity to attract shoppers by carrying a large range of school- related stock."

The back-to-school market is a lucrative one. The latest figures show that the average parent spends more than Pounds 200 to kit one child out for the new school year. They spend about Pounds 90 on clothes, more than Pounds 50 on shoes and trainers, Pounds 26 on stationery and Pounds 34 on electronic equipment. More than half buy all these items in supermarkets.

In a bid to kick start sales, Tesco - one of the five big players in the market along with Asda, Sainsbury's, Woolworths and Marks Spencer - has delivered back-to-school brochures to four million households. A spokeswoman said sales were expected to rise by 29 per cent year on year.

Asda said it was able to reduce prices on its schoolwear range because of the large quantities it bought from suppliers in eastern Europe.

Its spokeswoman added: "It's a winwin situation - the more that's manufactured, the cheaper the cost." With the exception of Asda, the retailers all said they were able to keep prices low by sourcing their school ranges from suppliers in the East, mainly Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and China.

All said their suppliers followed codes of conduct relating to working conditions and wages. But Trini Leung, a policy adviser with Oxfam, said: "The big firms are very good at talking about how their ethical code will make sure that workers in these factories are paid a minimum wage, but at the same time they are demanding an unrealistically low price from the supplier."

However, welfare groups said the low prices could offset a reduction in clothing and uniform grants from local education authorities.

Helen Dent, chief executive of the Family Welfare Association, said: "The cost of school uniforms is a serious concern to many families. We encourage schools to set uniforms that enable parents to shop around."

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