Uniform buyers predicted that school skirts would be consigned to history within a decade if the trend continued. Rhian Jones, schoolwear buyer for Woolworths, said: “Trousers come in more fashionable styles than skirts and in a pair of trousers girls can play more freely, enabling them to do activities such as climbing and cartwheels.

“Trousers are more practical because they are suitable for all types of weather and, at schools with a large mix of cultures, trousers are almost universal dress.”

It has been a remarkable turnaround in just three years. In 2002 the sale of school skirts for girls aged 5-18 was more than 50 times higher than girls’ trousers. Then Woolworths, which sells one in ten items of schoolwear, sold 200,000 school skirts and just 4,000 pairs of trousers.

But in the past three years, demand for school skirts has dropped by 51 per cent, while demand for girls’ trousers has risen by nearly 2,600 per cent.

Nowadays the high street retailer sells 104,000 pairs of trousers and 100,000 skirts.

Asda, which is the market leader with 12 per cent of school uniform sales, confirmed the trend. A spokesman said: “It’s true that trousers have overtaken skirts this summer. Trousers are definitely in. They are easy to wear and very practical.”

The rise in popularity of trousers comes despite them often being more expensive. Trousers typically sell for about £7 while skirts are more likely to be around £5.

School uniforms have existed since the 16th century in Britain. Most girls have worn school skirts only since the late 19th century, when education opened up to women.

Since then the skirt has passed through years of changes in fashion and style and survived countless debates about length, sex appeal and practicality. In the 1970s uniforms went out of fashion as part of the “progressive reaction” against traditional schooling.

Last year the Government declared that all schools should have a uniform to instil a sense of pride and community.

In June last year, Kesgrave High School in Ipswich became one of the first to ban skirts after hemlines rose to inappropriate levels and warnings were ignored. A year on, Broadstone Middle School in Poole, Dorset, did the same so that the girls could “maintain modesty” in lessons shared with boys.

The blame for the skirt’s recent demise may also possibly be laid at the feet of fashion gurus. Alexander McQueen and Prada have taken to dressing models in striped blazers, tomboyish polo shirts and prep-school-style shorts to impart a sense of boyish glamour.

However, for some independent schools, the skirt is still a symbol of femininity which has not yet outlived its usefulness.

Parents spend more than £1 billion a year buying school uniforms. This year the cost has plummeted after stores launched a price war. Asda was declared the cheapest with prices of its George range down 14 per cent from last year.

Martin Ward, deputy general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said that when more adult women were wearing trousers, it was not surprising that young girls were following them. “It is obviously up to individual governing bodies, but we are finding that increasing numbers of schools are allowing girls to wear trousers to class nowadays.”

FASHION VICTIMS

Sales of skirts v trousers

2002 98% v 2%
2003 65% v 35%
2004 52% v 48%
2005 48% v 52%

Source: Woolworths

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