Thomas Tallis School New Uniform Design Brief

Thomas Tallis School New School Uniform - The Brief Designer: Alina Moat Thomas Tallis School will move into a new building in October 2011. The new school includes six blocks that have the following names: create, imagine, experiment, explore, question, innovate.

The school is a Specialist Arts College (Visual), a Leading Edge School and a national School of Creativity, and is an oversubscribed mixed comprehensive school serving a local community in and around Kidbrooke, Blackheath, Greenwich, and Lee Green. There are 1650 students on roll and this is set to expand to 1800 students once the new school is open.

As part of the transition to the new building, where new spaces, infrastructure and technology will open up new possibilities and horizons for learning, the school has decided it is time to review its uniform. The current template has been in place for over 20 years, and this is a moment to reflect on what the uniform represents about our community, the learning that takes place here and the signals we send to the outside world about ourselves and our identity.

A mixed group of staff, students and parents have been assembled to begin the design process in collaboration with Alina Moat a Fashion Designer. Following input from all these stakeholders we have decided that we would like to commission a uniform that fits the following criteria.

It must: ● Be smart and comfortable. ● Incorporate elements that will engage future learners and wearers. ● It should provide for personalisation and customisation using a basic palette of colours and garments, so that students can express their individuality while conforming to a common template. ● It should reflect our identity as a diverse, energetic and creative community and mark us out as a learning community that is distinctive and unique. ● The uniform needs to be easily identifiable. ● The uniform design should take into account the local community and history - either by using local sites, groups and history in the design, or by involving the local community for example in its production. ● The uniform needs to include at least one or two items that are designed from scratch. ● The uniform should also select from a range of items that can be purchased with ease from wholesalers or manufacturers. ● These items should be specific about a shirt, knitwear and top layer, trousers, as well as sport/PE Kit. The items should be garments only. We are not looking for the accessories to be ‘designed’ or planned. ● These items should not be specific about any footwear - this will be left open to the students and their parents. ● The uniform should reflect the colour palette in the new school - it should complement and

harmonise with it, and be based around the four central colours of the logo and graphic identity.

● ● ●

● ● ● ● ●

●

The uniform is to be worn by students in Years 7 to 11 - aged between 11 and 16.

The uniform needs to differ for boys and girls - the tailoring should reflect the different fashions and cuts for different body shapes.

It should make a clear allowance for storage and portability, especially as we are moving further into an age where the technologies for learning are becoming more personalised and mobile.

The uniform should be ‘easy to wear’ and the different layers should fit together well - with the flexibility to easily take layers on and of.

The element of the uniform chosen for PE needs to differentiate the wear for boys and girls.

The uniform needs to be durable and easy to care for - including being easy to dry after washing.

The uniform needs to be affordable and should not include a major increase on the current pricing levels. If it is possible to achieve savings on some items this would be good.

The price range of the uniform should ensure affordability. Any elements from a catalogue or wholesaler should be sold at the wholesale price. Those elements designed from the ground up should be sold at a marginal profit in order to feed any profit back into the community to support future purchases and a hardship fund.

To support the community in saving for the new uniform we will operate a ‘savings’ plan so that parents and carers can deposit money in the school in order to save up for the new uniform in installments.

●

The uniform needs to be safe and secure - it should be visible as well as provide protection from wet weather and the cold. It should also allow learners to store and carry things safely.

It is desirable that the new uniform: ● Minimises the impact on the environment and be produced in such a way as to ensure decent working conditions for anyone involved in its manufacture. If it is possible to affordably source any items locally and that they be manufactured within the United Kingdom that would be an advantage. ● Incorporates an element of ‘jeanswear’ for the trousers - with the Thomas Tallis logo as the pocket design. ● Incorporates a link with an ethical clothing producer, eg Howies Jeans.

We plan to introduce the New Uniform in one phase - and thus we will need to start selling the new version from June 2011. To this end the design phase must be completed by the end of March 2011, with the pattern cutting and manufacturing taking place in April-May 2011. Ordering and delivery can then take place in May 2011.

We would like to explore the possibilities for online retail to replace the need for a school shop where the uniform is sold.

Recycling the old Uniform In order to reduce the waste of disposing of old uniform we will use a clothing bank to collect the any old items of uniform in the first half term of the Autumn 2011. We will then use the uniform collected to do two thins: 1. Some of the discarded uniform should be used in a community project to produce pieces of artwork based on recycling the old uniform and other items of detritus from the current building.

2. Embroider over the badge on the old uniform and donate the tops and polo shirts to charities working in disaster zones and the less developed world.

Thomas Tallis School Uniform Design Group February 2011