SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Striped blouses and pleated skirts are out, stretchy tops and cargo pants are in. The Girl Scouts are getting a new look after years of moaning that their uniforms are fashion duds.
The organization hopes a hip wardrobe will combat an image among teens that only the uncool stay in scouting years after trading in their Brownie beanies.
"One of the biggest challenges is to even get the girls to wear uniforms," said Linda Mills, council director in Hays, Kan.
About 800 council executives and mothers from across the nation got a look at the new outfits this weekend in Savannah, where Juliette Gordon Low founded the organization in 1912.
The uniforms get tweaked every six years or so, but officials say the latest changes are among the most dramatic since the 1940s, when dresses switched to green because of a World War II indigo shortage. The uniforms for the older girls had not been changed since 1989.
The new look targets girls 11 to 17, the crowd that gets its fashion sense from Britney Spears and "Dawson's Creek."