Skorts - Unisex or Girls Only

[DoggyBird]

Skorts for kids - some suppliers (like Canterbury) say they are unisex - other suppliers (like Slazenger) say that they are exclusively for girls. Any opinions on this? I say they should be unisex.

I still wouldn't put a boy in a skirt/pinafore/summer dress or a skort

The girls options are all variations of skirts/dresses plus trousers/shorts

Why would a boy want to wear shorts that look like a skirt when they could just wear shorts?

This was something mentioned at a primary school where I volunteer and the answers were evenly divided as here.

What do you mean evenly divided as here? The poll is 89%YABU. That's not evenly divided ffs.

Why do boys need anything but something long legged and something short legged? They can wear a shorts and polo/short sleeved shirt in summer.

Why does it matter? Clothes are simply clothes. If a male wishes to wear clothes cut for the female body or vice versa why get worked up about it. Skorts or any other item should be marked with sizing no need to put girl or unisex on it. As it happens I can’t imagine a boy wearing one unless they were trans or making a point but who actually cares

Once a boy is old enough to choose and have the courage of his convictions then wearing a skort or skirt is absolutely fine. Personally I wouldn’t do this to a primary school boy as there is the potential for them to stand out/be ridiculed. I can’t imagine many primary school boys would actively choose a skort, and shorts are completely functional/practical so no issues with them sticking to shorts.

Girls

The problem here is the school’s uniform policy. Uniform should all be unisex so in my DDs school it is just “black trousers/skirt/shorts” and summer dress after Easter - does not divide into boys/girls uniform.
Most boys won’t want to wear a skirt or skort (which is definitely “girls” clothing btw) but if they did it doesn’t matter.
Clothes are just clothes

Skorts are not on your list, or is that your point? At my DD school there was the choice of Shorts or Skorts for PE. Are you suggesting kids could wear a skort as the regular uniform? The trend is to wear very teeny Skorts...so so short... which I'm sure boys would not be into as long baggy shorts are in for boys. I'm talking secondary school here though and think you're meaning primary!
I can't imagine any boys opting for a skirt or a skort. The main downer my son faced was that secondary school meant Shorts were no longer an option and he was stuck with hot trousers in the summer - aside from for PE obviously.

What do we think about boys wearing cardigans?

The men in Star trek wear skorts. There would be a lot less 'trans issues' if we stopped gendering clothes. High heels used to be for men.

How is this possible? Surely as his mother she would have seen otherwise?

If there are boys who want to wear skorts then there's no reason why they shouldn't. I saw a male shop assistant wearing a long skort in Uniqlo a couple of weeks ago.

Its good to see that boys can wear shorts because often girls can wear dresses, skirts or trousers but boys only have the option of trousers. These are too hot in summer and on occasion, groups of boys have worn skirts to highlight the unfairness.

Equity is what you want, not equality. It’s not fair to treat everyone identically, because people are not identical. It’s fair to treat everyone well, in this case, by giving girls all the options available to adult women, and boys all the options available to adult men.

She was told by idiots online that because her son wanted to wear pink he must be a girl.

Anyone can wear smart city shorts at my son's Secondary school, a few boys do. I was a bit surprised that DS didn't want to as he's gone through Infants and Juniors in shorts all year round, through choice. 🤣

But adult can wear what they want, including skirts, dresses, skorts and anything else they choose. There’s not law against a man wearing a dress just like there’s no law against women wearing trousers. Therefore by your argument a boy should be allowed to wear what they want, just like an adult man can.

Just a couple of points. I'm not talking about skirts - we are a long way from those being universally accepted as anything other than for girls. But a skort is a hybrid - it has features of both a skirt and shorts and surely it makes the perfect unisex garment. There is only one reason for a boy not wanting to wear a skort and that is because it is at this moment unfashionable to do so. There is nothing intrinsically feminine about a skort.

Second, I am not advocating anyone "puts a boy" in anything. I am advocating for re-categorising the garment itself as unisex, just as jogging bottoms are not a unisex garment, or even jeans can be worn by both genders. Once it is accepted as such, then people can still wear what they like, but those boys who choose a skkort will at least know they are not wearing something made and marketed exclusively for girls.

They are designed for girls. If boys want to wear them they can but it's the same as wearing a skirt

Look again at the examples I mentioned - one example was Canterbury brand junior skorts which are shown as unisex. I emailed them and they confirmed they are designed to be unisex.

You are conflating PE kit with uniform.

Plus... those style of skort are extremely tight at the front.

Nothing wrong with that. Many men wear cardigans. I don't know any who wear skorts

Maybe they are trying to widen the client base as they have absolutely loads of skorts that nobody wants to buy.

I don’t know what else they could say. They can hardly say it’s forbidden for boys to wear them.

I'm talking about the general principle - can skorts in general be regarded as unisex or are they exclusively for girls? Or are you saying PE skorts are OK for both boys and girls but uniform skorts are only for girls?

It says unisex but all the photos are if women or girls wearing them and the fuller description talks about women's sport .
Wouldn't most boys just prefer to wear shorts. What would be the advantage in them wearing them?

You seem very over invested in this, do you own a skort manufacturing company?

Joggers and jeans are unisex, skorts are just not

But how about just leaving it at if a boy wants to wear a skort or even a skirt that’s fine?

You can say any item of clothing is unisex really but in reality skorts are for girls right now. Of course fashions can change and there may well be a male skort movement but certainly in schools boys would not wear skorts even if it was on the uniform list under the boy section.