Private businesses are working at full speed to make skirts, shorts, pants, and shirts or polo shirts.
14ymedio, Darío Hernández, Havana, August 14, 2026 – With just over two weeks to go before the school year begins, the State appears to have definitively washed its hands of providing uniforms for students. Their production and sale are now being handled, at high prices, by an increasing number of private businesses.
One of them is Chikyos Confecciones, on 12th Street, in the heart of Havana’s El Vedado neighborhood, where a long line was waiting outside this Thursday. The operating method, made-to-order sales, is similar to that of other stores of the same kind that have proliferated through advertisements on social media. Customers — mainly women — provide the desired size and, after paying in advance, return to pick up the garment once it has been made.
From a balcony of the building, the owner of the place can be seen tearing fabric, sewing, hanging things out and occasionally looking out. She oversees a thriving business, although not everyone can afford those prices.
“My child is in first grade and last year they only gave him a pair of shorts,” one mother says. “He was able to go to school thanks to a neighbor who gave me her children’s used uniforms”
Prices vary depending on the garment — skirt, shorts, pants, shirt or polo shirt — the size and whether it is for elementary or secondary school. A polo shirt with an insignia costs between $4 and $5 at Chikyos, while skirts cost around 1,500 pesos, and shorts between 2,000 and 3,000.
“These businesses are overwhelmed, and they are the only supplier of uniforms there is,” a young mother waiting in the Chikyos line tells 14ymedio. Desperate, private businesses are her only option. “My child is in first grade and last year they only gave him a pair of shorts,” she says. “He was able to go to school thanks to a neighbor who gave me her children’s used uniforms.”
In 2025, another customer, a mother of two daughters, says, “the little they gave out was in July. This year it’s August, and they haven’t given anything. And they almost certainly won’t.” The State’s sale of school uniforms traditionally began between May and June, but in recent years the date has been pushed back because of shortages of raw materials. Their sale, which in fact used to begin at the end of July, has always been marked by long lines and problems with sizes.
This mother buys the garments from a small private business because her sister “sends the money from Miami,” but she knows that not all Cubans have that privilege.
“The ideal thing for a child is two sets — two shirts and two pairs of shorts, two shirts and two skirts, two polo shirts and two pairs of pants — and if each piece costs around 2,000 or 3,000 pesos, that comes to 10,000 pesos, and I have two [children],” she sums up. “But of course, very few children in Cuba have the ‘ideal’ things to go to school, or for anything else.”
Anything else includes, given the situation on the Island, not only uniforms but even more basic things, such as food, electricity, running water or rest. Hundreds of users complain about this in an official post denying that classes will begin on any date other than next September 1. “Attendance from the first day is essential for the success of the school year,” says the post, which has been filled with angry comments. “Electricity and water are also essential for education,” says Yoimar Pérez. Many others express the same sentiment, such as Roxy Casales: “Attendance is essential, but so are rest and a good breakfast. Most children don’t sleep, much less eat breakfast.”
Several commenters are pleading for uniforms, but for the most part, they lament the lack of electricity and, consequently, insufficient sleep to perform well. “We’ll see,” objects Tere Trastoy, “because if there’s no electricity and those children don’t get enough rest, it doesn’t seem right to me, because they’re too young to be guerrilla fighters.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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