Dennis Uniforms Closure

By: Izzy Z. ‘28

Bryn Mawr’s uniform is a strong display of its community and values. Having a uniform, as stated by the Bryn Mawr website, is “based on the belief that students should arrive on campus dressed neatly and appropriately for a school setting and free of distractions.” However, Bryn Mawr's uniform provider, Dennis Uniforms, closed this October due to funding issues. In light of this, Upper School students have been permitted to wear the spring and fall skirts if delays with Dennis Uniform have caused them difficulty getting the hunter green winter skirt. What will be the lasting effects of Dennis Uniforms’ closure on Bryn Mawr, and how is the search going for a new provider? 

In an interview with The Quill via email, Ms. Fetting stated that many factors go into selecting a new uniform store. For example, few stores offer skirts in the light blue color worn in fall and spring, which is called Green Pinfeather. Additionally, she mentions that Bryn Mawr’s uniform includes “a lot of choices and styles that we need to be able to offer, [such as skirts, pants, and jumpers], so there is a lot to consider in identifying a new vendor.”

Ms. Peters, who manages the Brynmawrket, is also highly involved in the search for a new uniform vendor. She told The Quill, “I'm dealing with several different companies trying to find our uniform fabric.“I had no idea that our spring [and fall] uniform fabric was unique.” She also emphasizes how much complexity this process entails, noting that in addition to finding a store that offers the Green Pinfeather fabric, she also needs to know about prices, shipping locations, contracts, and more. “Most of these companies are telling me that if they source our fabric, they will need a six-month lead time before our uniforms are even available for order,” she says. “[Finding a new vendor] has taken a lot of my time.”

In addition to finding the Green Pinfeather fabric, Ms. Peters and Ms. Fetting both stress the issue of making sure Bryn Mawr students will still be able to choose what they wear within the dress code. “We are looking for a company that will source our fabric and keep our uniform styles the same,” states Ms. Peters. According to the Upper School uniform guidelines page on the Bryn Mawr website, “the uniform includes various options and combinations because, for students of this age, some degree of individuality is desirable.” But how do Bryn Mawr Upper School students feel about the uniform policy? Freshman  Radha H., sophomore Alice S., and junior Maddy S. have shared their perspectives with The Quill.

For Alice, there is one thing she feels would improve the uniform: “I don’t have anything against the uniforms,” she says, “but if I could change something, it would be the option to wear a hooded Bryn Mawr sweatshirt.” Maddy supported this, saying that she would like to be able to wear hoodies “on days that don’t have visiting days and panels” or similarly formal times of year. Additionally, Maddy says that sweatpants would be helpful on colder days, especially when walking to coordinate classes. Radha, however, suggested eliminating the seasonal uniform change altogether.  “Only one uniform for the whole year would be the change I would make, because many schools only do one uniform.” She also highlights the extra cost that buying two different sets can create for families, and how it can be hard for students to remember when to wear each uniform.

So far, Radha, Alice, and Maddy have not been significantly affected by the closure of Dennis Uniform. “Personally, I wasn’t affected by Dennis closing because I have hand-me-downs from my sisters and other Bryn Mawr students,” Alice explained. Similarly,Radha and Maddy noted that they rely on uniform pieces purchased in previous years as well. However, special occasion uniforms may pose a challenge. “The only difficulty I would have [getting uniform pieces] is probably if I ever wanted to buy a jumper for my convocation, or a pleated skirt for Gym Drill,” Maddy said. Radha added that her family had experienced “problems with backlogging, especially during the time winter uniform starts,” even before Dennis closed.