At the end of a challenging year for many schoolwear businesses, Matthew Easter and Mark Stevenson, co-chairs of the Schoolwear Association, reflect on the last 12 months and look at what lies ahead in 2021.

 

The festive period offers a good opportunity to reflect on a year that has brought both personal and professional challenges on an unprecedented scale. Looking back on the first members communications we sent out at the start of the pandemic in April, it is a great source of pride to recall the different ways our industry has come together and adapted our time, facilities and skills to help the national effort.

While, for many businesses, the pandemic brought with it a threat to prosperity and future survival, the schoolwear industry had already encountered an existential threat of its own through Mike Amesbury’s Private Members Bill and subsequent Education (Cost of school uniforms) Bill.

This issue has not gone away. It has been a major focus for the SA this year, working closely with several stakeholders including the Department for Education to make the industry’s voice heard and attempting to ensure that sensible legislation is introduced.

Early 2021 will bring Parliamentary debates and further scrutiny of the proposed legislation. Your continued support and efforts to communicate with your local MP will be as important as ever over the coming weeks and months.

In April we wrote in CWB that, “As an industry, and particularly those who are Schoolwear Association members, we feel there is a unique dynamic in the way we operate. Whether in the form of putting time and effort into campaigns that are being undertaken and events that need organising. Or donating funds to help support the efforts of the wider Schoolwear Association. Individuals and competing businesses come together not in self-interest, but for the benefit of everyone involved in schoolwear.”

While the pandemic has postponed the chance to join together and celebrate the industry’s achievements at this year’s Schoolwear Awards, there is still much to reflect on with a sense of pride. We are sure that 2021’s event will be a bumper celebration.

As we look ahead to 2021, a year that promises hope for a more optimistic outlook but also some bumps in the road, those words seem more relevant than ever. We are sure that the industry will continue to work together to support each other and the communities we serve.

Thanks for your continued support and have a merry Christmas.

Matthew Easter and Mark Stevenson, co-chairs of the Schoolwear Association.

For more information about how to join the Schoolwear Association, please click here.