The lack of material for school uniforms is making some parents blue vex and seeing red.
Retailers and tailors in Bridgetown say there is currently a shortage of polyester/cotton and poly linens in colours such as royal blue, navy blue and heather grey.
As a result, some children attending schools such as Harrison College, Combermere School, The St Michael School, Coleridge & Parry School and The Lodge School may end up wanting.
Abed’s in Swan Street is one of the island’s largest fabric retailers. Managing director Eddy Abed said international unrest was to blame.
“We’ve placed our orders since October last year, but because of the war in Iran, the available ships have been stockpiled in the Strait of Hormuz for months. Our goods are actually a month late and we are beyond frustrated,” he said, adding customers had been asking for the missing fabrics since last month.
Abed said the delay did not bode well for Christmas and if nothing changed soon, it would be the same song as December approached.
“This is a warning of what may happen for Christmas if this war isn’t resolved soon. If it goes on for another month, we will have delays then as well,” he said.
However, there is some silver lining in the clouds, as Abed revealed their shipment had arrived recently and they were hoping to have stock in store by Wednesday. He said he empathised with parents of children attending smaller schools as factories did not make uniforms for them due to it not being cost-effective, resulting in those parents having no choice but to purchase fabric and get the uniforms made.
Tailor Cicely Harewood of CH Needleworks in James Street said sourcing tailors was also an issue, as many needleworkers were no longer around.
“It is not only a problem with getting the fabrics, but there is also a shortage of workers to make the uniforms. I’ve been sending away people for the whole week; I’m booked up. Nuff of the old-time needleworkers are no longer with us, so there is no one to sew the uniforms,” she said.
Harewood said the problem was compounded further when uniforms bought at the factories needed to be altered, meaning people had to again seek out tailors.
At Sewing World Department Store in Swan Street, floor supervisor Joan Gittens said they had some fabrics but were missing some as well, mainly polyester/cotton. She said unless a shipment came in by [this week], people were going to be scrambling.
Sharima Best was shopping for fabric for her daughter’s school uniform. She said she had visited Abed’s with no luck but managed to find what she was looking for at Sewing World.
At Marmax Haberdashery in James Street, the proprietor, who gave her name only as Marilyn, said she was waiting on a shipment and most of her school fabrics had sold out. She said people were constantly asking but she had no idea when the fabrics would be available.
Customer Jenifer Thorne said she had no issues getting fabric for uniforms because she knew where to go. She said it was around the sixth time she relied on Marmax and she was hardly ever disappointed.
A manager at a department store, who requested anonymity, said the issue was multifaceted. He said part of the problem could be due to a shortage from the suppliers, but there was more to the matter.
“If a product doesn’t sell, you aren’t going to keep stocking it, so those looking for that specific size obviously won’t get it. Also, shopping trends have changed. For the past couple of years, people were not buying a lot of school clothes, but now you see people buying five shirts and five pants at once.
“We stock according to what sells, so if people suddenly start buying more, you will find you will get things running out of stock faster until we catch up with the new trend. There are many factors involved, but customers are not business people, so they don’t understand,” he said.
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