Too school for cool: uniforms in fashion

Beware school gangs and bullies: uniforms are squeezing into your territory.

While teen-apparel sales have been bumpy lately, demand for school uniforms has grown at a steady clip nationwide as parents and administrators look to protect kids from becoming fashion victims.

In addition to “label competition,” in which kids with cheaper clothes get picked on by their more privileged counterparts, proponents of uniforms are looking to reduce classroom distractions.

“It’s definitely accelerating,” says Michael Beusing, school marketing director for French Toast, a New York uniform manufacturer that is among the nation’s largest.

To make uniforms more palatable for style-conscious students, firms like French Toast have been updating girls’ designs with stretch tops and straight-leg pants. Button-down Oxfords for boys are made with high-tech, anti-moisture fabrics.

During the past 20 years, the ranks of uniformed public-school students in the US have swelled to 12.5 million — more than 20 percent of the total, according to statistics compiled by the firm.

This year, the 59-year-old company estimates that uniform sales jumped 7 percent — their strongest increase in five years.

The popularity of school uniforms was jump-started in the early ’90s, when President Bill Clinton endorsed their use. Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg gave uniforms his latest plug, complaining that “there are court decisions that don’t let us force it.”

But uniforms have also gotten a boost from characters such as Harry Potter. “You see kids wearing uniforms all over the media now — in movies, in rock videos,” says Michael Arking, vice president at French Toast.

The company estimates that about 623,000 of New York City’s 3.2 million K-to-12 students were in uniform.