By Akiva Bryant
This winter has been a challenging one with the cold weather and snow days. It’s been made tougher due to the closure of the DENNIS Uniform store, meaning students can’t buy new uniforms. The school has compromised by allowing students to wear non-Woodward outerwear outside of buildings. However, this compromise can’t last forever. So what does Woodward have in store for future uniform purchases?
Woodward worked with Sue Mills, which was then bought by DENNIS Uniform, for over 20 years. However, their closure was a shock to all, including Woodward faculty like Dr. Jonathan Merrill, the Upper School principal.
“We have no idea [why DENNIS shut down] other than what we’ve read online, and…they ceased all operations nationwide,” Dr. Merrill said. “So they’re headquartered in Texas, and so all of their stores and all of their relationships with all of the schools that they serviced was shut down in December.”
DENNIS Uniform’s closure was at a particularly bad time, as Atlanta experienced several winter storms shortly thereafter. Woodward students aren’t able to buy certain items that protect against the piercing cold.
“So there has definitely been a difficulty in getting certain uniform items, particularly, for example, the hoodie,” Dr. Merrill said. “There’s no hoodies in the campus store unless you’re, like, a primary or lower school size student… Other uniform items are a little bit easier to get. Like, for example, you can get a blazer from, you know, Amazon or Macy’s or any other store, but you can’t get a Woodward hoodie from anywhere but DENNIS or the consignment store.”
However, fret not as Woodward already has a plan for students to buy uniforms in the future.
“So we do have a relationship with an apparel company that will make apparel for us as a school and will sell the apparel,” Dr. Merrill said. “So in other words, what our plan is moving forward is for Woodward to be the uniform provider, instead of another business like Sue Mills or DENNIS, and so we’ll have a retail store on campus, or you’ll have the ability to order online through the campus store.”
This decision is one formulated by Woodward’s senior administration, led by Dr. Gulley with the support of the Vice President for Finance, Louise Mann, and the Vice President for Auxiliary Services, Lee Conner.
Although DENNIS Uniform was helpful in providing an outlet that sold a range of clothing sizes, the location was a primary disadvantage. The store’s location in Sandy Springs, which is about 30 minutes from Woodward on a good day, can make things a little more difficult for those who live near the school and prefer to try on clothes. Selling uniforms on the Woodward campus would make the experience less of a drag. However, this sentiment isn’t shared by all, and some would prefer a uniform store such as DENNIS, including Lillian Stokes ‘26.
“I just feel like it [would be] easier to get all the clothes at a separate store than having, like, all the parents and kids from all the other grades infiltrate the high school just to get new uniforms,” Lillian said.
This year has been unpredictable and although plenty of challenges have been brought our way, Dr. Merrill recognizes the student body’s understanding throughout this process.
“I just really appreciate everyone’s, you know, understanding and patience,” Dr. Merrill said. “It’s definitely not ideal. It’s not something that we as a school could plan for. But we, long-term, I think we’re going to be better off when all of our uniform items are available here on campus. I think our students and… parents will really like that a lot more moving forward. But it’s going to take a little bit of time to get that up and running.”
