Girl claims victory in trouser pockets battle

Georgia wrote to Sainsbury's asking for girls' trousers to include pockets

An eight-year-old girl has claimed victory after supermarket chain Sainsbury's started including pockets on the school trousers she wears.

Georgia, from Ipswich, said she was unhappy to find some trousers at the store had pockets stitched in and others - which she wore - did not.

She wrote a letter to the retail giant and started a petition at her school.

Sainsbury's sells clothes under the brand name Tu and a spokesperson said: "Customer feedback is really important to us and we share Georgia's passion for offering a choice in style of school uniform."

Georgia said she had been shopping with her mum to buy trousers for school and recalled: "They didn't have real pockets; they just had fake ones and then we went in the boys' and they had pockets and I thought it was unfair, so I bought boys' trousers."

Tu said its school clothes were categorised by age and not labelled by gender.

The new trousers that Georgia's family have bought have a bow stitched into the waist, as well as the deep pockets.

Georgia's new trousers from Sainsbury's, on the left, have deeper pockets and bows stitched on.

Georgia said she wrote a letter to the supermarket in 2024 and received a reply saying her feedback would be taken into consideration.

A representative from the company wrote back: "I'm sorry currently girls' school trousers do not have pockets. I agree they should."

She said she did not feel listened to and she subsequently persuaded 56 children to sign her petition at school, and "some of them were boys".

Sainsbury's did not reply to her petition, but she said when she returned to the store this year, "there were pockets in the girls' trousers".

When approached by the BBC, Sainsbury's did not confirm whether Georgia's letter and petitioning influenced its decision.

Georgia's letter said that girls needed pockets to carry things, as well as boys

Sainsbury's response to Georgia said that girls trousers should have pockets.

The TU spokesperson said its range was "thoughtfully designed with comfort and durability in mind".

Contradicting the letter sent from Sainsbury's to Georgia, the spokesperson added a "wide selection" had been offered by the brand for "many years" and this includes "trousers with pockets".