Unlike British schools and some International and American schools around London, students at ASL are given the opportunity to wear their choice of clothes to school every day. Whether they catch trends on social media, magazines, or from stores and shops, students at ASL are constantly coming to school with the newest brands.
In 2017, Fortune 500, an annual list of the five hundred largest US industrial corporations ranked the top 50 clothing brands and put Nike 1st as well as ranking the top 100 brands (including clothing) in the world and putting Nike 30th.
Nike’s ranking for clothing brands clearly shows here at ASL. In a recent poll, 43 percent of middle school students at ASL said that Nike was their favorite brand of clothing to wear and 61 percent of the middle school said Nike was their favorite sneaker brand. Seventh-grader Louis Savastano likes Nike shoes because of how well they fit. “I want to be comfortable at school and I think Nike shoes are the most comfortable.”
In recent years, Adidas’s new shoes Yeezys and NMD have been popular at ASL as a large group of students have been wearing them around school.
Advertising and brand promotion are crucial parts of a company’s success, especially in the clothing industry. The most successful companies know how and where to advertise and know their audience as well. Nike spent $805 million in 2016 on digital marketing and brand events.
We clearly see this impact at ASL. In a survey of the middle school, 30 percent of students learn about the newest trends on social media, and 45 percent of students learn about the newest trends from their friends. Only 2 percent of students use magazines and newspapers to learn about new trends and clothes. This shows middle school students rely heavily on technology, social media, and their friends to give them up to date information about new clothes.
Although, as students walk around school, dressed in the newest styles and trends, they are expected to be aware of other students because while some clothing brands might be appealing to one person, it can be shown as a sign of disrespect or offend others.
Meghan Lang, an eighth-grader, thinks it is right to ban clothes that are offensive to others. She also thinks it is not right to ban clothes that show females shoulders because that is not offensive to anyone or disrespectful.
One of the reasons schools have uniforms is so they can focus the emphasis on school rather than fashion trends. Some schools are worried about freedom of clothing choice because they are worried students will not focus on the material that is taught to them rather who has the “better” clothes.
When asked about her opinion on having uniforms at school, eighth-grader Alice Agostinelli thinks that wearing clothes of your own choice is a way of demonstrating self expression and with uniforms, students would have no voice.
Students at ASL have the ability to chose many different clothes to wear and many different styles. Although Nike is the most popular, there are still many other brands that students at ASL enjoy wearing.
