SCOTLAND’S biggest retailers of school uniforms have been forced to introduce supersizes to accommodate the country’s burgeoning population of obese children.

Firms that supply uniforms for the country’s state and independent schools are selling blazers with 50in chest sizes and trousers with 46in waists.

Edinburgh-based Aitken & Niven said children are wearing sizes that, a generation ago, were worn only by adults. National Schoolwear Centres (NSC), which has branches across the country, is stocking lines known as “sturdy fit” for children of normal height with very large waists and bottoms.

Scottish children are among the fattest in the world with one in five 12-year-olds classed as clinically obese, one in 10 severely obese and one in three overweight. Poor diet and lack of exercise are the main causes.

“Children are getting bigger and our stock is reflecting that,” said a spokesman for Aitken & Niven. “We still get the skinny schoolkids but, increasingly, we see children who are much heavier and at an earlier age. We had one child of five who needed a duffle coat for an average eight-year-old.”

Aitken & Niven says many young teenage boys, who previously wore trousers no bigger than a 30in waist, now require sizes up to 46in. Girls often wear skirts with 34in waists — equivalent to an adult size 16.

“We don’t think twice now about trousers with 44in waists. A generation ago you would not have seen sizes like that,” said a spokesman.

NSC said it has had to introduce its new line to accommodate the changing shape of children. “Children who are, for example, eight years old, often have a tummy and bottom you would once have associated with a much older child,” said a spokeswoman.

“We have also had to introduce a range for girls which is known as a ‘generous fit’. It reflects that the fuller figure is more common. Much larger children are now a fact of life.”

Daniel Tomlinson, marketing manager of Trutex, Britain’s leading uniform maker, said blazers with chest sizes of up to 48in are now regarded as standard. “We produce boys’ trousers with waists up to 44in. They are our biggest seller. Retailers tell us what’s needed now, but they would not have seen these sizes 10 years ago.

“We did not produce these sizes on spec in the hope there was a market. We have been reactive — the customer need was there.”

Laurence Gruer, director of public health science for NHS Scotland, said the problem of obesity was fuelled by “unprecedented access to cheap and appetising food”, adding: “Obesity is a trend that will be extremely difficult to reverse.”

Fiona Hinton, of the Edinburgh Dietetics Centre, said: “Everyone has their part to play in trying to solve this problem. The worsening level of childhood obesity is storing up huge problems for the future. We must not underestimate it.”

Slimming World, one of Britain’s biggest diet companies, is to introduce courses for children in an effort to tackle early obesity. The weekly classes for 11 to 16-year-olds will target a generation whose eating habits and sedentary lifestyles have produced Scotland’s fattest children.

Liz Miller, who runs Slimming World clubs in Glasgow, said: “Overweight children are commonplace. Our scheme is free, if the child has a supervising adult and a doctor’s letter indicating we might help. I have six children in classes. We do not put them on diets, they are too young. We persuade them fast food should be a treat.”

Meanwhile, a charity is planning to run American-style fat camps across Scotland to help children to lose weight. The King’s Foundation, a Sheffield-based charity, will run camps in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Hamilton, Lanarkshire, at Easter and over the summer.

“We do not put children on diets. We address their lack of confidence through sport,” said Emily Glaves, business director of the foundation.

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