FASHION SENSE MAKES FOR NON-UNIFORM SCHOOL UNIFORMS

For the first time in its long history, the University High Lab School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has its students in school uniforms. And unlike most schools, where students don the prescribed garments with some reluctance, U High students are actually excited about dressing. Last year, the black and gold uniforms were optional; they were such a hit among students, parents, and school administrators that they are now standard fare.

The U High Lab School is unique in several ways. As part of the Louisiana State University system, it was established as a training ground for student teachers. It’s a private school with a limited enrollment and a long waiting list. And instead of laying out a strict dress code, like most private schools, U High allows the students to mix and match from among an assortment of garments. A girl’s wardrobe might include black-and-gold plaid skirts, a black skort with a gold monogrammed pawprint, and black, white, or gold tops, for instance, and boys can wear black or khaki pants with knit shirts in several colors.

For uniform supplier Inka Mims, whose husband graduated from U High in 1948, it has been an opportunity to really let her fashion design skills shine forth in an often stodgy industry. “I’ve had so much fun with this school,” the owner of Inka’s S’coolwear tells with an excitement that belies her decades in the uniform business. “We came up with some really cute garments, and that convinced the girls to wear them even though they were optional.” While the boys have been a tougher sell, the U High girls are mad for plaid.

It started with a plaid tennis skort – a hybrid of a skirt and shorts – that has fashionable slits on the sides. And when Mims noticed students wearing their plaid uniform skirts with the waist band folded down for a low-rise look, she removed the band completely, offering a low-rise skirt with a hem line three inches higher – a design that maintains the school uniform look, but graces it with a fashion sensibility.

This has worked well at more traditional private schools as well. Before selling the new skirts at St. Joseph’s Academy, a prestigious girls school in Baton Rouge, Mims approached the Catholic Diocese with the design, as well as several high school principals. They all agreed that the low-rise skirt was acceptable – and much preferred to one several sizes too large with the waist band folded under.

These fashionable and innovative uniform designs give Inka’s S’coolwear an edge over the competitors, who generally come out with similar designs not long afterward. “But even though they copy the design,” Mims says – even by coming to her store and buying one garment of every size – “they still don’t lay right. I can see someone wearing a skort, and even from a distance, I can tell it didn’t come from our store.”

The fabric and functionality has also contributed to make Inka’s uniforms the pick among the students. The unique “UpScale” design of many of her plaid garments lets them “grow” a size simply by making a few snips with scissors. And her poly-cotton plaid garments, made in nearby Eunice, Louisiana, feel much better than the coarser polyester that other companies offer.

Mims’s nearly-fanatical drive to make sure that students are happily dressed doesn’t hurt, either. When the manufacturer of the knit shirts required at St. Joseph’s was unable to provide Adult Small sizes – to any of the stores in the area – Mims obtained the banding that goes around the bottom of the shirt, and got her staff busy cutting down larger sized shirts, then sewing on the new banding. “It was a lot of work,” she recounts, “but we had Small shirts in time for school.”

Mims is still dreaming up what she will offer next for U High. Her store is already stocked with sweatshirts monogrammed with the school logo, plaid tote bags and hair accessories, and even black-and-gold plaid backpacks. To keep the competition at bay, she won’t tell what’s on her mind. But no doubt, it will be evident on the U High campus next school year.