Trousers are the new skirts for schoolgirls

Sales of school skirts have plunged by 51 per cent in three years while school trousers have enjoyed a surge in popularity.

Girls are choosing trousers because they are more practical than skirts and now come in fashionable styles, analysis by Woolworths indicates.

Just three years ago the store's sales of skirts and trousers in its primary and secondary ranges stood at 98 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. This year, trouser sales rose to 52 per cent. Rhian Jones, Woolworths' schoolwear buyer, said girls were choosing trousers because they are more stylish and practical. "If the decline continues at its current pace, skirts could be a thing of the past in schools by 2017," she said. "Trousers are more practical because they are suitable for all weather and, at schools with a large mix of cultures, trousers are almost universal dress."

The store still expects to sell more than 100,000 skirts this year.