Hawke’s Bay student creates site for second-hand uniforms

Hawke’s Bay teenage entrepreneur Hugo Moffett noticed a problem - school uniforms were expensive. So he decided to fix it.

The 17-year-old Napier Boys’ High School boarding student decided instead of spending hours scrolling online, he’d try to create a second-hand uniform website.

Hugo Moffett created the New Zealand School Uniform website to help families with the cost of living. Photo / Paul Taylor

Moffett launched the New Zealand School Uniform website designed for buyers and sellers to connect in a cost-effective and eco-friendly way to buy school uniforms.

“I googled the average price of uniform and it was about $300, some are more expensive and some are cheaper - I was like that’s a lot.”

He said his website was different to others available online because it was designed to help parents with uniform expenses and was available nationwide, for primary, intermediate and high schools.

The teen outsourced the website design and invested $1500 of his money after he saw headlines of families forced to cut down to afford school uniforms.

Uniform items are bought straight from the website by connecting the buyer and seller, and he takes a five per cent commission.

He considered targeting only Hawke’s Bay schools but said “the bigger the better” and decided to make listings available across the country.

“I’m trying to make it as big as possible so many people can benefit from it.

“I’m helping someone and I’m earning money from doing it as well”.

He hoped the website would gain traction and planned to donate a percentage to charity.

A link to the uniform website can be found here.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.