Bursar’s Review ISBA Annual Conference 2019

HEADLINE PARTNER 62 Helping to build a confident and active generation As a leading supplier of curriculum sportswear to the UK’s top schools and colleges, Squadkit is driven by the core principle − that helping aspiring young athletes to look and feel good is essential to unlocking their potential. There is increasing pressure upon and within schools to inspire and engage young people in sport. There is also a growing understanding that the reasons for disengagement are complex, and they’re often not helped by poor- fitting, low- (or no) tech activewear in a social media-influenced world, where high-performance gear that looks good carries a great deal of weight. This raises two challenges when it comes to designing school sportswear: ■ how to foster an ethos of inclusion in an activewear market driven by ‘exclusivity’; and ■ how to do this in a way that is sustainable – for school parents and the environment. Inclusivity in an exclusive world There are plenty of brands only too happy to be associated with the elite players. But what about those pupils who will never make the first team but who love sport nonetheless? What about those who, when they realise that sport will never be their strongest point, simply give up? Those who just need a chance to develop an interest in getting active? Those whose main wish is to feel comfortable when their body doesn’t live up to an elusive ideal? Sportswear can’t solve any of these issues. It can, however, help – and it can help to support change and a shift towards greater engagement. There has to be a place for both Stand 134 SQ016_Squadkit_A4_Ads_V1_AW.indd 1 11/02/2019 09:57 elite, and for the vast majority that makes up everyone else – and one where both hold equal, if different, importance. Sustainability There is little point in talking about inclusivity if it cannot be lived across every aspect of the business. While Squadkit is a relatively small company, it recognises and embraces the fact that it has an important role to play in ensuring that the clothing industry rises to the environmental challenges it faces, and that Squadkit’s own operations have as positive an impact as possible on the world and the people involved. Mirroring the Squadkit positioning statement of ‘Count Me In’, the company is also an unashamed globalist. The trading agreements it has with its suppliers mean that they can offer meaningful employment to their staff, which gives them the opportunity to grow and develop. But this cannot come with a cost to the environment. To this end, Squadkit is also investing in dramatically reducing single-use plastics; moving to recycled polyester where it can; and ensuring that its manufacturing processes produce clean waste water and its cotton is sustainably sourced. Squadkit’s “we’re in this together” ethos is one whose time has been long overdue, and is a welcome change in the school sports landscape. This is the first year that Squadkit has exhibited – and they are on the Schoolblazer stand (134). Squadkit will be launching their new range of fitness kit for girls, including their revolutionary new sports bra ‘Limitless’. www.theisba.org.uk