Hayley Glatter looked into what the start of a school year means for children in the United States, where uniforms are not the norm:

• The average American household spends $674 on back to school shopping.
• More than a third of that is spent on clothing – including the clothes that the student will wear on the first day back.
• The trend for splurging on back to school merchandise seems to have started in the 1960s, as post-war consumerism began to take off.
• Spending has surged since then. In an era of social media and Facebook likes, image seems more important than ever, and students are responding by putting ever more thought into their dress.

Read more at The Atlantic