Furthermore, since schools select distinctive uniforms, students attending a school serving an economically deprived neighborhood are instantly distinguishable from their more fortunate counterparts at the other end of town. Within a given school, uniform styles often denote a student's grade level, thus are more likely to promote, rather than reduce, rank-based bullying such as hazing and fagging. The assumption that clothing is a factor contributing to gang violence is based on a naive notion of what motivates people to violent acts and to gang affiliation. The forcible substitution of officially-approved colors for gang colors during school hours does not address the root causes of youth violence nor does anything to impede the violence itself. In fact, the uniform may facilitate violence because its wearer's individual identity is subsumed by the group identity.
Students require two distinct, non-interchangeable sets of clothes.
Manufacturers of school uniforms typically cooperate closely with the schools that use their product. This relationship, founded on a captive market, invites corruption. Not surprisingly, school uniforms, relative to mufti of equivalent quality, are more expensive. This is due in part to the relatively low production runs of a particular design. In response to the cost factor, some schools have a clothing pool consisting of donated old uniforms.