KEY POINTS:
Supersize uniforms are being made to fit ever-larger children, and an Auckland school outfitter says it is now making school shorts with a 140cm waist and size 15 shoes.
School uniform manufacturer Underwoods says the national average had jumped by about six sizes over 50 years as boys and girls get taller and fatter.
General manager of the store's The Uniform Shoppe, Danielle Butler, said shorts with waist measurements of up to 140cm were already for sale on Underwood's Auckland shelves.
The company regularly supplied adult extra-large sizes to primary school children.
Underwood's had been supplying uniforms since 1956, and she said the differences in size seen since then were dramatic.
Fifty years ago, the average female high school shirt was size 10 to 12.
Now, she said it was size 16 to 18. The increased girth was being observed in both boys and girls.
Children were also growing taller.
Ms Butler said in the late 1970s the shop stocked sizes 9 to 16 girls' blouses for high school.
The range has now upsized to 32 for women.
Boys have similarly grown.
"We have in stock shorts that are 140cm - that's 55in - but it's not just the boys. It's skirts, blouses ... Everything is getting bigger across the board.
"It's certainly become a lot more noticeable, particularly over the last decade. Whether it's inactivity or diet, kids are just getting a lot bigger," said Ms Butler.
"There are some kids these days wearing size 15 shoes."
Ministry of Health figures classify around a third of New Zealand children as overweight or obese.
"For primary schools we used to stock tiny sizes, but these days we have to stock from a size four all the way up to an adult extra large size," said Ms Butler.
"For a 12-year-old boy, you are probably looking at shorts that are between 92 to 96cm - that just seems to be the standard for intermediate kids."
Ms Butler said the growing trends here reflected those abroad, with child obesity rates in both the United States and Britain on the increase.
A report from Britain said the country's largest schoolwear retailer had expanded its range of outsized uniforms.
The British company had supplied trousers with a 120cm waist for a 13-year-old girl, and a 120cm blazer for an 11-year-old boy.
One child in three in Britain is overweight or clinically obese, and the figure is projected to rise to one in two by 2020 if changes are not made to children's diets and activity levels.
The figures are similar to those from the 2002 Children's Nutrition Survey which showed that about one third of New Zealand children between 5-14 years were overweight or obese.
Dr Simon Rowley, a neonatal paediatrician at National Women's Hospital said: "The main thing is that kids are getting taller but they're definitely getting fatter, much more so.
"Growing bigger may be basically healthy because it means that kids are reaching their genetic potential, but they're also getting exposed to all the wrong foods at the same time.
"Obesity is a real crisis and it's worldwide."
A GROWING REALITY
Statistics from The Uniform Shoppe:
High school boys
Shorts average size:
1980 size 16 (28-29)
1990 size 80cm (31)
2006 size 92cm (36)
High school girls
Blouses average size:
1980 size 11 girls'
1990 Size 14 girls'
2006 size 16 womens'
- with NZPA
