We are Girls in Sport Pop-Up Shop

We are Girls in Sport Pop-Up Shop on Little Big Sports – One Shop for Girls’ Sportswear

We are Girls in Sport wants to help girls to be active. There are many ways that we can support girls in their sports journey and one way concerns what girls wear while they’re being active.

Part of We are Girls in Sport vision is a shop that stocks all the sportswear girls and young women need, in one place. We want girls to find all the kit and equipment to perform at their best quickly, easily and with confidence in what they’re purchasing … and all while supporting many female-led brands.

Little Big Sports are the perfect partner to help in this endeavour and we’re proud to announce our shop’s opening! Check it out here.

All about Little Big Sports

Sixteen years ago, founder Katie Malkinson’s young son couldn’t lift the cricket bat he’d just been gifted. It was too heavy and unwieldy for him. This set Katie on a mission to find a cricket bat for a child – not just a small adult bat but a bat specifically designed for children.

It really did turn into a mission and so Katie decided to make it easier for other parents, setting up Little Big Sports in 2010. Since then, the brand has grown and grown, and prides itself on its customer service.

As a mother of a daughter as well as a son, Katie has enjoyed watching the global rise and rise of women’s and girls’ sports. She has been instrumental in helping girls’ cricket in her local area, setting up the girls’ section of her local cricket club (now expanding to women too). She’s also working to qualify as a coach. Her daughter has been involved too, going from player to scorer – pretty tricky in cricket.

So, as you can tell, We are Girls in Sport and Little Big Sports are on the same page when it comes to girls being active. As we said, the perfect partner.

And talking of perfect partners, great sportswear and fulfilling sporting potential are a classic combo. Not that everyone appreciates that.

Women’s sportswear making the headlines

Norwegian beach volleyball bikini bottoms

Do you remember the story of the Norwegian women’s beach volleyball team? They chose to wear shorts instead of bikini bottoms during a competition in 2021 and were fined. Cue a furore amongst campaigners about the skimpy bikini bottoms which made the team uncomfortable versus the shorts which the women preferred. Needless to say, the team won this competition with the fine reversed and choice permitted in future events.

British hockey skorts vs shorts

And then there’s British hockey player Tess Howard who had a similar idea. Players trained in shorts but had to play in less comfortable skorts. Why couldn’t there be a choice? What did it matter? Howard’s campaigning led to the International Hockey Federation changing the rules and allowing players to play in shorts, skirts or skorts.

As a result of this campaign and the support it received, Howard set up Inclusive Sportswear. They recently had success changing government policy when it comes to school PE kit - you guessed it, girls now have greater choice when it comes to what they wear for school PE lessons.

The changing colour of sports shorts

Who knew that the colour of shorts and kit in general would become a (red) hot topic? Well, many of us did as periods and sports kit go hand in hand.

Girls want to feel comfortable all the time in order to perform at their best but especially when they have their period. White shorts – or any white kit – do not make a menstruator feel confident when they have their period and given that teenagers’ periods can arrive at any time, white shorts are a no all the time.

The Lionesses led the way in changing the colour of their kit shorts from white to blue and then rugby’s Red Roses followed suit. We’ve now seen many more examples including Man City women and West Ham women in football as well as grassroots clubs across the UK.

Skorts vs shorts yet again

More recently, many of us were horrified at the Camogie incident. There were public spats, matches called off and the governing body became involved, once again over skorts or shorts. Offering choice was the winner, of course, but only after headlines were made and women’s sport being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The future of women’s and girls’ sportswear

These headline-hitting events made us all realise that girls and women in sport deserve choice. Girls and women don’t necessarily want to wear what the boys and men wear and they certainly don’t want to wear hand-me-downs or smaller versions of male kit. ‘Pink it and shrink it’ doesn’t work.

Girls and women want to wear sports kit designed for them, specifically them, and luckily, there are many brands doing just that. They’re creating period pants and sports bras, sport-specific kit for girls and women as well as protective wear to keep girls safe and able to be sporty at their best.

And We are Girls in Sport and Little Big Sports want to make these brands as accessible as possible and in one place. One shop for all girls’ sports kit – that’s the goal.

Visit the shop, here. Subscribe to the We are Girls in Sport newsletter here to learn about new brands as they’re added.

And tell us which brands you’d like to see! Comment or drop us an email at hello@Wearegirlsinsport.com