We buy school uniforms without thinking too much about them.
The school tells us the colour, the style and where to buy them. We check the size, pay the bill and send our children off to school.
But have you ever turned the shirt inside out and checked what it is actually made of?
100% cotton? 65% polyester? A cotton-polyester blend?
And perhaps an even more important question:
Do we know whether the fabric, dyes and finishes used in children's clothing have been tested for safety?
These questions are worth asking—not because polyester is automatically bad, or because cotton is automatically good.
They are worth asking because children wear these clothes for hours every day, often for years.
And then there is another side to the story.
When a child outgrows a uniform after a year or two, what happens to it?
That is where child safety and sustainability meet.
A responsible uniform should be appropriate for its intended use, transparent about what it contains, durable enough to stay in use and, wherever possible, designed for reuse or recovery when its first life is over.
In short
A school uniform should not be judged only by whether it is made from cotton or polyester. Its fibre composition, dyes and finishes, applicable safety requirements, testing, supplier traceability and durability all matter. So does what happens to the garment when a child outgrows it.
A uniform is more than a colour and a logo
We often reduce clothing to the fibre.
Cotton feels natural. Polyester is synthetic. So it is tempting to conclude that cotton must automatically be the safer choice.
But it isn't that simple.
Polyester is widely used in school uniforms because of its durability, shape retention and easy-care properties. So the better question isn't:
“Is cotton better than polyester?”
It is:
“What exactly is in this garment, is it appropriate for its use, and can we verify it?”
That is a much more useful conversation.
Do school uniforms in India have to disclose fibre composition?
It is often assumed that Indian law already requires every school uniform to carry a label saying exactly how much cotton and polyester it contains.
That isn't quite the case.
In 2022, the Department of Consumer Affairs amended the Legal Metrology framework for garments and hosiery sold loose or open. The specified information includes details such as the manufacturer, marketer, brand owner or importer, country of origin for imported products, consumer-care details, size and MRP. Fibre composition is not included in that particular list of declarations.
But India is moving towards greater transparency.
The Textiles Committee's draft Regulations on Labelling and Marking for Textiles, Apparels and Made-Up Articles propose mandatory disclosure of information including fibre composition, care instructions, country of origin and manufacturer or buyer details. The draft also proposes traceability through mechanisms such as barcodes or QR codes.
Importantly, this is a draft regulation. The document itself states that it would come into force from a date notified by the Central Government in the Official Gazette.
If implemented in its proposed form, the change could make it much easier for consumers—and institutions such as schools—to know exactly what they are buying.
What else could be in the cloth?
A garment is more than its fibre.
There are dyes, finishes, coatings, trims and other components.
The dye question
India has had restrictions on certain hazardous dyes for decades.
The government issued the relevant order on benzidine-based dyes in January 1990, with the prohibition on handling the specified 42 benzidine-based dyes taking effect from 1993. A separate notification in 1997 addressed 70 specified azo dyes.
It is important not to turn this into the misleading statement that “azo dyes are banned.”
They aren't.
“Azo dye” is a broad chemical category. The concern is with particular dyes capable of releasing restricted carcinogenic aromatic amines.
The important question for school uniforms is therefore not simply whether a dye is “azo”.
It is:
Does the garment comply with the applicable restrictions, and has that compliance actually been verified?
And then there are finishes
This is where the fibre label can become particularly misleading.
A garment may be marketed as stain-resistant, water-resistant, wrinkle-resistant or easy-care. Such properties can come from treatments or finishes applied to the fabric.
A 2022 peer-reviewed study published in Environmental Science & Technology examined 72 children's textile products marketed as stain-resistant in the US and Canada, including school uniforms. PFAS were detected in all of the products in the study that were analysed for targeted PFAS. The researchers also found that the tested school uniforms made from 100% cotton had higher targeted PFAS concentrations than the tested synthetic blends.
Why is this significant?
Because it demonstrates an important principle:
The fibre alone cannot tell us whether a garment is chemically safe.
“100% cotton” is not a chemical-safety certificate.
At the same time, this study does not establish that Indian school uniforms contain PFAS. The products tested were purchased in the US and Canada. What it does show is why fibre composition alone should not be treated as a proxy for chemical safety.
What safety standards apply to children's clothing in India?
This is an area where schools, procurement teams and suppliers need to be more specific.
Rather than simply asking for a “good quality” or “premium” fabric, schools can identify the applicable specifications and standards for the garment being procured.
India's proposed textile-labelling framework also points towards a more structured system of conformity, testing and traceability. The draft regulations refer to applicable Indian Standards and provide for conformity assessment and testing by the Textiles Committee, government laboratories or appropriately accredited laboratories.
For schools, the principle is straightforward:
Specify what is required. Test what is supplied. Keep a record of what was tested.
Now comes the sustainability question
There is another part of the school-uniform story we don't talk about enough.
What happens when the uniform is no longer needed?
A child outgrows a pair of trousers.
A shirt gets stained.
A student graduates.
A school changes its uniform design.
And suddenly a perfectly usable garment becomes “old”.
But clothing doesn't disappear when we put it in a bin.
There is a long story behind every garment:
fibre → yarn → fabric → dyeing → finishing → cutting → stitching → packaging →transport → use → disposal
India's textile-waste challenge is already significant.
The Ministry of Textiles' 2026 Mapping of Textile Waste Value Chain in India estimates that India generates approximately 70.73 lakh tonnes of textile waste annually. The report also highlights significant opportunities to strengthen recovery, recycling and circularity across India's textile value chain.
School uniforms are particularly interesting because the waste is relatively predictable.
Schools know approximately how many students they have.
They know when children are likely to outgrow uniforms.
They know when students graduate.
And they often know when a uniform design is going to change.
That gives schools an opportunity to do something practical.
What if the uniform had a second life?
Uniform exchange isn't just an idea.
There are schools and organisations already doing it.
For example, Luton's Uniform Exchange in the UK works with schools to redistribute pre-owned uniforms to families.
The idea is simple:
A uniform that has become too small for one child can still have plenty of useful life left for another.
No new technology is required.
Just a mechanism to keep a perfectly usable garment in circulation.
And that is an important distinction.
The most sustainable uniform is not necessarily the one made from the most fashionable “sustainable” fabric. It may simply be the one that is used for longer.
What should a responsible school ask?
A school doesn't necessarily need an expensive “green uniform”.
It doesn't necessarily need to move to 100% cotton.
It can start with some very basic questions.
1. What is the actual fibre composition?
Don't rely on phrases such as “cotton-rich” or “premium fabric”.
Ask for the actual composition.
2. What safety and quality standards apply?
Specify the relevant requirements rather than leaving everything to the supplier.
3. Has the fabric been tested?
Ask for appropriate test reports and, where relevant, representative batch testing.
4. Does the supplied material match the specification?
This is where fibre-composition testing and quality checks matter.
5. Who made it?
Create basic supplier and batch traceability.
6. Will it last?
Durability is sustainability.
A garment that needs to be replaced every year creates a very different environmental footprint from one that remains usable for several years or passes from one child to another.
7. What happens when it is no longer needed?
Have a plan for collection, repair, exchange, donation, reuse or recycling before uniforms are purchased.
The bigger opportunity
Perhaps the most interesting thing about school uniforms is that they give us a very tangible way to teach children about sustainability.
We teach children to switch off lights.
To save water.
To segregate waste.
Why not also ask them to look at what they wear every day?
What is this made of?
Who made it?
How long will it last?
Can someone else use it after me?
What happens when it can no longer be worn?
These are simple questions.
But they connect a child's everyday life to a much bigger system:
resources → production → consumption → safety → reuse → waste → circularity
And that is where the conversation becomes much more meaningful.
It is about asking for something much simpler:
If we require children to wear a garment every day, shouldn't we know what it contains, whether it meets the required specification, how long it is likely to last—and what happens to it when it is no longer needed?
A responsible uniform is therefore not simply one made from a particular fibre.
It is one that is appropriate for the child, transparent about what it contains, made to last, used for as long as possible—and given a responsible next life when it is no longer needed.
And this conversation should not stop at school uniforms.
The same questions apply to sports uniforms, workwear, hospital uniforms, corporate apparel, children's clothing—and clothing in general.
Because every garment we wear has a material story, a safety story and a waste story.
Maybe it's time we started asking what that story is.
Know what you buy. Use it longer. Keep it in circulation.
Frequently Asked Questions About School Uniforms
Are school uniforms safe for children?
Safety depends on several factors, including the materials, dyes, finishes, trims, manufacturing processes and applicable standards. The fact that a garment is made from cotton or polyester alone does not establish that it is chemically safe.
Is cotton safer than polyester for school uniforms?
Not automatically. Fibre type is only one part of the picture. Dyes, finishes, coatings and other treatments also matter.
Do school uniforms in India have to mention fibre composition?
Current Legal Metrology requirements for garments sold loose or open do not include fibre composition among the specified declarations. However, the Textiles Committee's draft 2025 regulations propose mandatory fibre-composition labelling for covered apparel and made-up textile articles. The draft is not yet a notified regulation.
Can school uniforms contain PFAS?
PFAS have been detected in tested children's textile products, including school uniforms, in a 2022 study of products marketed in the US and Canada. This does not establish that Indian school uniforms contain PFAS. It does demonstrate why fibre composition alone cannot be treated as a measure of chemical safety.
What should schools consider when buying uniforms?
Schools can consider fibre composition, applicable standards, testing, supplier and batch traceability, durability, care requirements and what will happen to uniforms at the end of their first use.
Can old school uniforms be reused?
Yes. Uniform exchanges, hand-me-downs, donations, repair and school-based collection programmes can extend the useful life of garments before recycling or disposal.
