A retailer who came under fire for only supplying state school uniforms one day before the scholastic year opened has blamed the fiasco on shipping delays, disorganised parents and an inordinate number of overweight children.

What are you supposed to do when faced with an 11-year-old with a 42-inch waist?

Alex Calleja, of Yorkie Clothing, also said he had no problem with other retailers selling school uniforms, provided they adhered to the same financial and garment quality guarantees Yorkie had provided in its successful tender.

Interest in the supply and sale of school uniforms was piqued by a preliminary report released by the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority earlier this month. The report criticised the current school uniform system, saying it left parents “in a very vulnerable position”, forcing them to buy uniform items from exclusive suppliers.

But an Education Ministry spokesman dismissed the authority’s claims, saying there was no exclusivity in the school uniforms tendering process.

“Nothing stops any other retailer from producing such uniforms and selling them,” the spokesman said.

Last Sunday, hundreds of parents flocked to Yorkie Clothing in an attempt to secure their children’s school uniforms at the eleventh hour. Many parents complained of a frenzied and disorganised “free for all” while others said a number of items were not available in certain sizes.

Mr Calleja, however, shook off the criticism. “The government tender process was only concluded on August 17, and the clothing orders shipped the following day. Unfortunately, the containers were held up overseas by events out of our control. We only received the shipment last Friday, and decided to open up on Sunday to ensure parents could get uniforms in time for the start of the scholastic year.”

The entrepreneur also felt parents only had themselves to blame for last Sunday’s mayhem.

“Each school was given a specific time when parents could come and purchase their uniforms, but parents didn’t follow this timetable and instead everyone came at 9 a.m. It was obviously chaotic in the morning, but by 2 p.m. the shop assistants were all sitting around eating pastizzi”.

Parents have complained about uniform supplies being inadequate but Mr Calleja had an interesting explanation.

“We were gobsmacked by the number of obese children in Malta. What are you supposed to do when faced with an 11-year-old with a 42-inch waist?” he asked.

Nevertheless, he said “less than one per cent” of orders had not been fulfilled. “Anything up to a five per cent margin of error is acceptable, so I think we’re doing all right.”

A few parents outside the store begged to differ. “It’s a disgrace” said one. “I’m not interested in who is to blame – all I know is that at the end of the day, my children went to school in jeans this morning.”

Another had a similar story. “I’ve just managed to buy most of the items” she said, “though a few things were out of stock. My son had to wear a normal T-shirt to school this morning though”.

In a letter to this newspaper, an outraged parent called the situation “an absolute shambles” and described the uniforms as being of “sub-standard quality”.

College principals were reluctant to discuss the issue, directing any questions to the Directorate for Educational Services. One principal said there was “a lot of anger” about the way the issue had been handled, while another said the bedlam did not come as a surprise.

An Education Ministry spokesman said that questions could be directed to the directorate. The directorate, however, suggested that any questions be sent through the ministry’s communications office.

Mr Calleja, meanwhile, was confident that any difficulties will be ironed out over the next few days.

“I’m sure things will have settled by Wednesday. We’ve had to adapt to a new system, and all changes take some getting used to.”