What is GSUSA’s policy on uniforms for girls and adults, and how is it interpreted in practice? Here are some tips for what you need to know for National Conventions or whenever you need to look your best!
In August 2006, the National Board of Directors adopted a new uniform policy which still governs what is considered “uniform” for Girl Scouts. This policy, which took effect on October 1, 2008, established a “unifying look” or official dress code. This dress code is flexible in approach allowing Girl Scouts to choose personal clothing items to complete the unifying look. Here’s the text of the National Board minutes. The adopted policy reads as follows:
Girl Scouts at each level will have one official uniform item (e.g. tunic, vest, sash) for the display of official pins and awards. This uniform item will be required when girls participate in ceremonies or officially represent the Girl Scout Movement.
The official dress code will unite girls as Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts will wear solid white shirts and khaki pants or skirts with their official uniform item, which will be required when they participate in ceremonies or officially represent the Girl Scout Movement.
The adult uniforms will be a scarf worn with the membership pins for women and a tie for men. The scarf/tie and membership pins will be worn with navy blue business attire.
The following elements are available:
Girl Scouts at the Daisy and Brownie levels will continue to have a full uniform ensemble available. Girl Scouts in high school will also have a scarf, uniting them in the WAGGGS tradition. Girl Scouts of the USA will continue to develop and offer a range of appealing casual wear for girls and adults.
After the adoption of this policy, some minor adjustments have been made in wording, but the intent has remained the same: the concept of a unifying look or dress code which includes required components (tunic, vest, or sash for girls and membership pins and official scarf or tie for adults) combined with either personal clothing in specified colors (khaki and white for girls and navy for adults), official uniform pieces purchased through GSUSA, or some combination of the two. Today, you will find different wordings of the official dress code depending where you look but regardless, the above board-approved policy is still in effect today. The statement on the GSUSA website which best matches both the policy adopted by the National Board and current practice can be found on the GSUSA website. Here is the statement:
Girl Scouts from each grade level have one official uniform item (a sash, vest, or tunic) to display badges, pins, awards, and other insignia. This item is required when you participate in ceremonies or officially represent Girl Scouts. You can wear your sash, vest, or tunic over official Girl Scout gear or over a white shirt and khaki pants or skirt. Depending on grade level, official uniform items may be blue, brown, green, or khaki.
The adult member uniform includes an official Girl Scout scarf, tie, or vest worn with official membership pins along with navy blue business attire (when participating in ceremonies or officially representing Girl Scouts). For casual events, such as troop meetings, adults can wear the vest paired with casual attire.
So, what does all of this mean in practice? Since 2008, GSUSA has offered a number of official uniform pieces for girls and adults. As indicated by the board-approved policy, full uniform options for Girl Scout Daisies and Brownies remain available, although these options have changed over the past 11 years. Tunics, vests, and sashes remain available for girls, and girls at the Junior level and above are expected to pair their choice of the official item with solid white tops and khaki skirts, slacks, or shorts. Neckerchief-style scarves are now available for all girl levels and not just for girls in high school. Official adult uniform pieces available through GSUSA have included polo shirts in white and navy, tops in a color compatible with navy blue (the current option is a bright green, but we’ve seen cream and yellow as well), dressy sweaters and tops, dresses, and an ever-changing variety of official scarves, neckerchiefs, and ties. Most recently, GSUSA added a button-down navy shirt, an official adult navy vest, and a bright green official adult pin lanyard. Some councils also carry navy leader vests and other navy clothing that are acceptable as uniform options. Based on what GSUSA offers as official uniform pieces, it’s clear that the adult uniform dress code includes both business professional and business casual clothing.
The biggest “official” Girl Scout event is the Girl Scout National Convention and National Council Session, which occurs every three years. What we observe at the GSUSA convention is that this “unifying look” or dress code for both girls and adults works very well even with the wide variety of options available. We see the following: adults wearing professional business attire such as navy suits and dresses; adults wearing a wide variety of official uniform blouses, shirts, and sweaters on top paired with skirts or slacks in colors that look nice with navy (such as grey or khaki, for instance); and adults wearing more casual approaches such as navy slacks and white blouses/polos or khaki slacks and navy blouses/polos —all paired with membership pins and official scarves. All of these adult looks, whether casual, very dressy, or somewhere in between, work very well! We see older girls wearing khaki and white with official uniform sash or vest – sometimes with their level’s neckerchief and sometimes not. And, “once a uniform, always a uniform!” Part of the fun of attending a convention is to see vintage girl and adult uniforms worn proudly!
No matter what uniform a girl or adult wears, it’s important to wear insignia and awards properly. Here’s GSUSA’s official guidance. There are some diagrams and videos to show the basics. In general, remember this: no matter what age level from a Girl Scout Daisy to a Girl Scout adult, your insignia tab should include no more than (1) the World Trefoil Pin, (2) your membership pin (either contemporary or traditional) and, (3) if desired, a numeral guard showing years in Girl Scouting. For adults, the insignia tab may also include one or two adult position pins. Nothing else goes on the insignia tab, and it’s worn on your left side over your heart. Adults may choose to wear a volunteer pin right above the insignia tab. See the link above for more details on pin placements of different types of awards and recognitions for both girls and adults. For adults, items such as the American flag, council identification sets, troop numbers, etc. are optional and frequently are not worn with anything other than the official navy shirt or vest.
Where does the Juliette Gordon Low Society pin go on the adult uniform?
I don’t think there’s been any official guidance from GSUSA on the placement of the JGL society pin. (For those who don’t know, people who make planned gifts to their council or to GSUSA become members of the Juliette Gordon Low Society.) I have a contact in the fund development department at GSUSA, so I will inquire to see if there’s any official guidance she might find for us and report back here if I get a response. At the last convention, when these pins were given out to new members, people were pinning them just about everywhere! All that said: as a long term Girl Scout volunteer, I can affirm that past practice for “miscellaneous” pins not covered in the GSUSA uniform guide of the moment for uniforms has been to wear such “miscellaneous” pins under the nametag on the right, and wear only a few at a time, not everyone you might own! For instance, that’s where I was told I could wear my Macy pin, my trainers pin, and my council adult awards pins. So at present, if I want to wear my JGL Society pin when I’m in uniform, that’s where I put mine. If I’m in a dressier uniform with navy blazer on, I might possibly wear it on a lapel in addition to other stuff on the nametag side. Still another option to consider, given that the pin is rather large and pretty, is to use that pin in some fashion as an “anchor” to hold your official scarf arrangement in place. Most of the people in my council have no idea what the JGL Society pin means, so often I don’t choose to wear it here at home — but I will be wearing it at the GSUSA convention!
With new emphasis on First Class/Gold Award, there is no listing for wearing this pin on the official uniform? I would assume if it is to be worn, with the 100 anniversary pin?
We used this particular diagram because it is still the best “generic” diagram we could find; the current ones on the GSUSA website show the official vest or the navy blue shirt with things like the flag patch and volunteer patch which are not common on some other uniform options. Also, on the leader vest, there are council identifiers and troop numbers that take up a LOT of space. This is great for troop leaders but not for volunteers and staff in non-troop roles. As you picked up, our diagram shows the 100th anniversary pin from 2012 (so it’s now a bit dated dated although you can still wear it if you wish).
So, where can you place your Gold Award pin? Based on GSUSA’s current official diagrams (linked in the article above), there are two possible placements for the Gold Award pin, depending on what type of uniform you are wearing. If you are wearing the leader vest (which has a LOT of stuff on the right side), the leader vest diagram shows the Gold Award pin placed on the left, at the side of the pin tab. If you are wearing something that doesn’t have the council identifiers and troop numbers, the current diagram of the navy blue shirt shows that you wear the Gold Award pin under the nametag on the right–and that’s consistent with many official diagrams which came out before the navy blue shirt.
Here’s where Marty is talking about and where I place my Gold Award when I’m wearing the “business” uniform. This is a picture of me from the 2017 convention. But apparently I had my VoE award in the wrong place, because it should have been above my LM pin!
Apparently HTML is not allowed and I couldn’t attach my picture. Here’s the link if that comes through: http://girlscoutwithacause.dawgtoons.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/pin-placement.jpg
We’ve gotten a response from GSUSA regarding placement of the Juliette Gordon Low Society Pin. It appears you can wear it in lieu of your lifetime membership pin, above the nametag on the right side. Thanks to GSUSA’s fund development department for such a quick response! Anyone wanting a copy of the diagram they sent me can request one by using the “contact us” feature of this GSG website.
Any information concerning the official lanyard? I’ve found it doesn’t work well with a scarf. Any official information on pin placement?
I don’t think there’s a pin placement for the lanyard. I’ve always seen it as a way to display pins when you’re wearing something casual like a polo or to a more casual event like a SU meeting because like you said, it doesn’t work well with a scarf and gets covered up.
At the last convention we saw many girls displaying options to extend their vests to show more fun patches. We saw a longer vest in the back option, girls who had added ribbons of patches and many sashes sewn on the back. And many more.
I’d read that the GSUSA position on this is that girls may do these extensions in the back but it needs to be removable for official events. Is this correct??
Susan, where did you see GSUSA’s position? Unless it’s in writing, I think the best practice would be to keep the vest as is to be “official” about it.
I am a Girl Scout Historian. We have an official pin that I had to “earn” by either attending a historian’s conference at a national convention, or have my council request one for me. I proudly wear it on any uniform I’m in (except for vintage uniforms). But it took me about half a year and numerous e-mails to get an answer out of National where to wear it! When they finally did answer me, they told me to check the above diagram, and I had to e-mail them back to tell them IT’S NOT ON THE DIAGRAM! That was the FIRST thing I had checked! So THEN they told me to wear it “above the name tag”. They never said where above the tag, but I had almost nothing to wear back then, so I just centered it above. Now I have a Lifetime Membership pin which is worn above, so I put them side by side. And I have my 20 year volunteer pin and my First Class pin side by side below, and my pin tab. But that’s only on my Dress uniform. For my Casual Uniform it’s the Historian pin, name tag, and First Class pin, and the pin tab on the white polo. And on the “work uniform” I wear when I’m working in the archives in the basement of the Scout office, it’s khaki or black chinos and a green GS t-shirt in the summer or a plain green sweatshirt in the winter with the Historian pin and my name tag, and that’s all. I’ll just use my best judgement; I’ve given up on trying to get answers out of National.
We have a mom in our troop who owns an embroidery business. She would like to embroider quite a few things on the vests vs using pins/patches, I.e. American flag, bridging arc, etc. Is there any guidance or rule about this? We greatly appreciate her offer; the leaders prefer the pins and patches, and we’d like to find official guidelines to address this. Thank you!
I don’t know that you will find official guidelines on that. Personally I would just use the official insignia since it will keep a uniform look across the board.
My daughter just joined as a Brownie, and we are confused about the 2 shirt options. There is the white polo and the blue button up shirt (what I would call a dress shirt). There is also a scarf for the Brownies. Is the blue shirt considered dressier? Is it acceptable to wear it to casual events? How do the Brownies wear the scarf? She is so excited to wear her uniform, and we want to do it correctly. Thank you!
Hi Meredith! Glad your Brownie is excited about her uniform. Looking at the 2020 Essentials Catalog, https://www.girlscoutshop.com/catalogs, Brownies could wear either the blue short-sleeve shirt, the white Henley – or any plain white shirt or blouse – with the official Brownie skirt and either the vest or sash. The little criss-cross tie can be worn with the blue blouse; the neckerchief-style scarf can be worn with any top. The tie and scarf are both optional. GSUSA doesn’t consider any official uniform more or less casual, and a girl’s own white top and khaki pants or skirt worn with the sash or vest is just as official as the blue shirt and Brownie skirt! Each girl and her family can choose whichever uniform components they prefer (and can afford!); it’s not the leader’s job to decide what “the troop” will wear. And the uniform police will not send a girl home to change shirts!
Where do the GSUSA national board development committee, GSUSA National Board 2020-2023 and 55th National Council Session patches go on the Ambassador vest? Thanks
They would go on the back.
My Question is what is considered as girl scout full dress uniform? From head to toe? What are girls allowed to wear as for there footwear?
For an example if they are being told to wear girl scout uniform at a cookie booth does that include flip-flops?
So are flip flops part of any uniform in girl scouts at all?
Thank you
There’s not anything specific regarding footwear, so it would stand to reason that you’d wear footwear appropriate for the occasion.
Can girls wear vintage uniforms? Please say yes as I just went down a nostalgia eBay rabbit hole and would love my brownie twins to wear what I wore in the early 80s 🙂
If a group is participating in an event such as a ceremony that involves wearing a formal uniform, it is more appropriate to wear the current one (white & khaki) so that there’s not a random mix of old and new between girls. Usually retired uniforms are worn for more specific purposes or occasions such as an event that is highlighting historical eras of Girl Scouting.
Could a girl wear 2 sashes and still be in uniform dress code? My daughters sash is full front and back and prefers the sash over a vest. She is a junior and has done a vest for previous years and just doesn’t like the way they sit on her shoulders.
She should only wear one sash for official uniform dress.
What are the correct oin positions on adult pin lanyard?
There is not an established order of pins on the lanyard.
Late to the party and not sure if anyone is still checking but I wear an Adult Navy Vest, purchased from Council and have too many “role” patches, now that I’ve volunteered for the Service Uniform. Do I have to rip one of my other patches off, or can I affix it to the right side of the vest, opposite the others?
Sorry, autocorrect: now that I’ve volunteered for the Service Unit, not the Service Uniform
Hi. I’m a new troop leader who’s never been a girl scout. I cannot find an answer to this anywhere…
I’ll call them “add-ons”: the council ID set, troop number, insignia, membership pin, flag, and world trefoil pin. As I’m informing parents what their girls need for the new year, such as the vest/sash, which of these add-ons is required??
The council ID set, troop number, insignia, and flag are parts of the vest/sash and would look incomplete without them. The membership and World Trefoil pins go on the membership tab which is also part of the uniform.
This went into effect in 2008; have their been any changes since then?
There hasn’t been a statement from the National Board about uniforms since 2008. However, the statement has been tweaked (and it’s noted in the article).