Clothes make
the kid
For some public school
By Cherie Chun
students the new look for
the year is uniform
Star-BulletinWHEN Billie Hamilton gets dressed for school this fall, she can slip on either a white or blue T-shirt or polo shirt, or an aloha shirt over her walk shorts or skorts. Those might sound like a lot of choices, but she's not enthused about it.
The 13-year-old is a student at one of the about 10 Hawaii public schools that have made uniform clothing a requirement.
"If I had a choice, then I'd rather wear my own clothes," said Hamilton, who will be a Kailua Intermediate eighth grader.
Hamilton, who has never had to wear a school uniform previously, says she would feel more comfortable wearing clothes of her choice.
Well, comfort and style are the focus when it comes to public school uniforms, says Sam Alvarez of Oahu Surf.
"What they're looking for is not a traditional uniform," said Alvarez, whose company manufactures uniforms for several public schools. "It's contemporary clothing."
Public schools have adopted aloha shirts, T-shirts, walk shorts and skorts into their fashion lines, which are distinctively different from their private school counterparts."One is more of a comfortable, casual approach to uniforms, and one has more, I guess you could say, tradition," said Malia Gray, vice president of Potpourri School and Business Attire.
Kailua Intermediate, which instituted a uniform policy last school year, has an aloha shirt and boxer shorts, as well as board shorts for boys and skorts for girls in the same print, among its uniform items. The design incorporates the school colors of blue and yellow, the school logo and flowers. It is also offered in a reverse print.
August Ahrens' aloha print also uses the school logo and the school colors of blue and yellow, along with sugar cane and palaka to represent Waipahu where the elementary school is located. Potpourri collaborated with both schools to develop the aloha wear.
"That's our concept of uniforms in Hawaii," Potpourri vice president Malia Gray said. "You could consider this our niche -- approaching it with their own Hawaiian print."
Highlands Intermediate School students helped to design their aloha shirt, which Oahu Surf made into a print that uses hibiscus, plumeria and the school's name.
Schools often have other clothing items, such as Kahakai Elementary's scrunchies, Wahiawa Intermediate's sweatshirts and Kailua Intermediate's logo jacket.
Luella Paekukui, whose son attended Kailua Intermediate and whose nephew will be going there in the fall, said, "They're looking for their identities, so they can't do it if everyone is in the same outfit."
Shorts and all other bottoms are optional for Moanalua Intermediate School, but students from there and from Highlands Intermediate School have been somewhat dissatisfied with them."The girls wanted everything a little bit shorter, and the boys wanted everything a little bit longer," Alvarez said.
He said his company made the girls' shorts based on Bongo-style walk shorts but with a longer inseam, and they made the boys' shorts based on Dockers-style walk shorts.
Karen Schmidt's two 12-year-old sons both attend Kailua Intermediate School, and she says the uniforms are expensive.
"You can't go out and you can't bargain hunt," she said. "You're limited to where you can go."
Even so, Norm Moriya of New Creations says his company tries to offer the lowest prices it can to its customers. He says his company can sell its Jerzees T-shirts to schools for about $7.25, but they can go as low as $6.50, depending on the color of the shirt.
"It's a more athletic brand so it does last longer," he said.
August Ahrens' students can also pick T-shirts, polo shirts, royal blue twill shorts, boxer and walk shorts. Girls can also wear skorts or a sundress.
"I like the colors and the design," said 6-year-old Arnold Ramos of the August Ahrens uniform.
Arnold's mother Dolores, who also has a daughter attending August Ahrens, said, "I like the uniforms because I don't have to worry about getting (the kids) ready in the morning."
Although uniforms might be convenient for parents, many kids' sentiments are similar to that of 10-year-old Melissa Garcia of August Ahrens, who said she'd rather wear her own clothes "so I don't look like everybody else in school."
