Let’s talk about uniform

Should we be wearing uniform?

Girlguiding is a uniformed organisation. That means uniform is – give or take specific circumstances – non-optional.

Look, it’s a pretty practical uniform. I compare our hoodies and softshells to the Scouts. Yeah, they look nice and smart in their shirts but they don’t have a lot in the way of warm options, which is why you see them so often in what they call the “casual clothing” and “collections”. Haven’t you seen them at Remembrance Parade, freezing smartly in their shirts while we stand nice and warm in our good jackets? They’ve got more choice in belts than they have in jumpers!

Our uniform may not be “smart” but isn’t it so much more practical for crafting, cooking and running around in the woods?

I don’t necessarily think the younger girls need the bottoms. Because it’s uniform, of course I’d rather they were wearing them but as a Brownie leader, I try not to be too fussy if they’re not wearing the right trousers. I’d like them to have the t-shirt and the hoodie but honestly, do they really need uniform bottoms? It’s part of the uniform so yes, but I’m not going to nag the parents to get the correct ones and I’m not going to send them home for not having the correct ones. Even for Remembrance Parade, when we’re supposed to be as smart and formal as we get, the uniform requirements on my consent form say something along the lines of “Brownie uniform please, Brownie bottoms if you’ve got them, otherwise something smart (no denim, no leggings) in brown, navy, black or grey (whatever you usually wear to school is probably fine)”.

Which brings me on to custom/personalised unit/district “uniforms”. These are fine. They’re great, in fact – for occasions when you’re not going to be seen in public. When we’re in public, we’re supposed to be representing the movement and that means we’re supposed to be wearing the uniform. I’d love a custom unit uniform. But are you really going to ask your parents to buy a custom unofficial uniform as well as the official one? Because that’s what it is – as well. Not instead. Looking at you, that very prominent unit with the great resources who proclaims loud and clear that “we don’t like the new uniform!”.

To be fair, my Rangers did once have a custom unit “uniform”. That’s because Girlguiding discontinued the Senior Section uniform several months before releasing the new Ranger uniform and we had a flap and a panic over what to wear to Remembrance Parade. Our stop-gap solution was Primark hoodies with trefoils and logos sewn on. It was only meant to be for that one day but the girls ended up wearing them regularly to meetings – until the official uniform finally came along. Even then, the custom ones tended to appear when we did outdoors stuff, camps, adventure activity evenings, any time they didn’t want to mess up their expensive proper ones.

But it’s expensive

Uniform is expensive, especially when you get to Ranger age when it’s considered adult clothing and has VAT on it. That’s why it’s particularly unreasonable to ask parents to buy a custom one too and of course, it’s why no one has a spare uniform to wear on camp.

Let’s have a look at just how expensive it is, section by section. Every section now wears a polo shirt – oh! except Brownies who are still in either short- or long-sleeved t-shirts. That’s close enough to compare prices, according to the Girlguiding shop today, 04/01/23:

Rainbows: £13
Brownies (short-sleeved t-shirt): £10.50
Guides: £15.25
Rangers/Young Leaders: £19.75
Adults: £19.25
Trefoil Guild (non-uniformed organisation that… has a uniform): £20.00

However, it does get easier in one way as you go up the sections. Guides and Rangers only need a top of some kind – most have the polo shirt and the hoodie which is more adaptable weather-wise, which comes to £38.75 and £52 respectively – ouch! £52 just for the basic Ranger uniform! Guides have an optional dress and skirt too. My experience is that you’ll have one, maybe two girls maximum, in each unit who’ll wear the skirt and some six years on, I’ve still never seen the dress in real life. 95% of Guides wear whatever they want on the bottom and Rangers are absolutely free with no optional uniform bottoms.

But Brownies and Rainbows are supposed to have the bottoms too. If we go for the leggings, that works out at £44.50 and £47 respectively for the basic outfits. That’s assuming you’re not going to get the trousers/shorts/skorts etc as well and that your unit doesn’t expect you to wear a sash.

Just for the fun of it, let’s do the adults too. Polo shirt plus fleece, which is the cheapest of the four outer options, comes to £43.50. That’s cheaper to outfit an adult than any other section except Guides. That’s very interesting.

But… on the other hand, you’re there anywhere between three and five years. It’s a pretty horrendous outlay but if you don’t outgrow your first uniform, it doesn’t work out too badly for the amount of time you keep it. By Ranger age, you’re probably not going to grow significantly. Don’t buy it skin-tight when you’re fourteen and it’s probably just fine by the time you’re eighteen. Guide uniforms don’t get as much wear, even over four years, as other clothes – as a general rule, you’re probably only wearing them for two hours a week. Wash them at half term, or even at the end of term, or when they get muddy – they don’t need washing every week! Rainbows and Brownies, you may want to size up when they’re new if you’re trying to avoid re-buying later on.

A lot of units have a box of free/cheap uniform. Usually it’s gathered from ex-girls. The parents, having nothing in particular to do with the old uniform, donate it to the unit when they leave and it goes in the second hand box. My current Brownies seem to be almost exclusively clothed from that box. When I was running Guides, we applied for a grant from the local parish council and spent that on a few sets of uniform which could then be given out to girls in need. You may be able to apply to your division, district, county or a local organisation if your girls have trouble with uniform.

Where do you get it from?

For most people, second hand is going to be the best option. Makes it much easier and cheaper when you realise your nine-year-old just isn’t going to fit into the uniform you bought her at seven for another whole year and it’s better for the planet. Win-win!

If you’re buying new, the absolutely best place to buy it is from your local volunteer shop, if you have one. Leaders should be shouting about this to new girls so there should be no doubt about whether you have a local shop or not. The beauty of a local volunteer shop (or “depot”, as they used to be called, and you may still hear the word) is that the profits go directly back into the local area. My old district of half a dozen units was quite unusual in being a small district that had its own shop right there managed by one leader and run on a rota by all the leaders and we funded an annual district trip out. If your district doesn’t have one, maybe a nearby one does, or maybe there’s a division or county shop not too far away.

Second option, the Girlguiding website. Profits stay within Girlguiding which is also good, but it’s just not quite as good as the profits staying within your specific local area. It’s the most convenient way, to be able to shop from home when you want to instead of having to wait until the one hour a week (term time only)when your district shop is open.

Absolute last resort, the school uniform shop on the high street. This isn’t benefiting Girlguiding or your girls in any way. They’ve already got you over a barrel over what the kids wear during the day, since you can’t just buy plain white shirts and black trousers from M&S or Asda anymore; don’t let them hold you over what they wear to their after-school activities. My one recommendation might be to go in there to see exactly which items of the mix-and-match uniform your young member wants and to find out what size fits best. Then go home and order online!

What about adults?

Same advice for where to get it from but you get an extra twist in who pays for it.

It depends on your unit. Some units will pay for volunteers’ uniforms, on the grounds that leaders shouldn’t be out of pocket for all the work they do with the kids. Some units will pay for one piece of uniform, usually the polo shirt. Some units won’t pay anything at all. You’ll have to find that out from your leaders if you’re walking in brand new.

I’ve had my own uniform when I’ve walked into my last several units so it hasn’t been an issue and at this stage, I can’t remember whether I paid for my first Ranger leader uniform or whether the unit did – I wasn’t in charge of the money at first so it wouldn’t have been my decision. Since then, I’ve definitely bought my own – I really don’t need a polo shirt and a zip hoodie and a normal hoodie and a softshell and a casualwear pink t-shirt but they all serve purposes. The pink t-shirt is for activity instructing, when I don’t want to sweat in my uniform polo shirt or when the collar hits my throat when I’m fencing. The district requested that we wore the softshells to Remembrance Parade because they’re stiffer and therefore smarter than the hoodies. I like the temperature control of being able to unzip my hoodie. I haven’t yet invested in a uniform fleece, but I do have a county fleece from a Switzerland trip more than eight years ago which I often wear as an outer layer.

If your unit buys your uniform, they may request it back when you leave, by the way. Not always – some units may regard that as being petty, or that it’s yours regardless of who paid for it, or that it’s not really in a fit condition to be passed onto anyone else anymore.

And Young Leaders?

Same deal as adults. If your unit is buying adults’ uniforms, they should be buying the Young Leaders’ too. If they’re not buying adults’ uniforms, they may still buy Young Leaders’, or they may not. It depends sometimes on tradition and often just on the unit finances.

I’ve heard there’s a new uniform coming

Girlguiding are rebranding starting right now. I think they want to make Girlguiding a more cohesive whole from Rainbows up to Rangers and make us more recognisable. I hear rumours therefore that they’re toning down the section colours, to make it less “Rainbows are the red ones, Guides are the blue ones”. You’re right, there is a new uniform coming but you don’t have to panic. It won’t be until 2026. Officially, there will be a year’s changeover, when new girls will wear the new uniform and the old girls will be allowed to continue wearing the old uniform.

Unofficially, it’ll take far longer than that to phase out the old uniform. No leader with an ounce of sense is going to say “I know you’ve only got another year, Annie, but the old uniform has expired and you need the new one now or you can’t come back to Guides”. Older sisters, cousins and friends will continue to pass down old uniforms to younger members and it’ll take time for unit supplies of second-hand uniform to build up again. So it’ll still be at least four years before the current uniform stops being official and it’ll be even longer before you realistically have to worry about it.

No, I don’t know what the new uniforms will look like. Girlguiding’s track record suggests that they’ll start designing them somewhere around October 2025 at the very earliest. Rumour has it that they’ll all be very similar, perhaps with section-coloured accents or neckerchiefs or something, like the system in Canda where everyone, including the leaders, wear the same navy t-shirt or tunic with optional “branch” sashes, badge tabs and ties. But that’s just a rumour. I daresay Girlguiding themselves don’t know yet. We’ll have more of a clue when we start seeing the new branding but even then, it’ll only be a clue. Don’t worry about it yet.