Boomerang School Uniforms is a social enterprise, recycling initiative focused on providing affordable school uniforms while promoting community engagement and sustainability. We aim to assist low-income families/disadvantaged children, reduce textile waste, and create a circular economy in Adelaide, creating employment and supporting the community.

Karen and Rilla's dedication to sustainability, coupled with their community-focused approach, underpins their work with Boomerang School Uniforms. They see their venture as a significant step towards reducing textile waste and offering affordable, environmentally conscious options for school uniforms. “It is very disappointing that so many schools are now outsourcing, and no longer provide second-hand uniforms and onsite shops. One of the downfalls of outsourcing is the impersonalisation and lack of knowledge by their staff, of individual family’s circumstances.”

A local family business, having over 25 years of involvement in school committees, governing councils, and fundraising for schools. We have firsthand experience of the need for access to cheaper uniforms, and for a physical location to access good quality school uniforms at a fraction of the cost of new uniforms.

We collect second-hand public-school uniforms via donation bins located in schools, libraries community centres and recycling hubs. The uniforms are then sorted, laundered, repaired and graded. Uniforms that are too worn or beyond repair go into our end-of-life bin to be deconstructed and recycled.  The remaining good condition uniforms are tagged and priced, ready to be sold in our pop-up stores.

We aim to reduce the number of uniforms being sold on Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree by introducing selling on consignment in our stores, alleviating the need for strangers contacting you/coming to your home, removing the need to drive all over town, preventing your kids standing on stranger’s doorsteps trying on uniforms, also eliminating the expectation that you will buy. Boomerang School Uniform shops are where your children can try before you buy, ensuring piece of mind with your purchases eliminating the unknown quality and inconsistent sizing of items.

We will be having pop-up stores and events locally in schools and community centres, and we hope to establish permanent stores in central locations in and around Adelaide. All staff and volunteers have working with children clearances.

A percentage of all profits will be donated back to participating schools and charities such as KickStart for Kids and the Smith family.

To have all schools recycling uniforms and for good quality, pre-loved uniforms to be available to all families at an affordable price. To ultimately change the way uniforms are designed, with challenges in recycling materials like nylon and logo patches, we hope to see uniforms designed for full recyclability in the future. Through initiatives like Boomerang School Uniforms, we aim to drive a shift towards sustainable design in school uniforms, ensuring materials can be recycled at the end of their life cycle rather than being discarded.