What's happened so far, and what's next?
We’re now at the end of the design process, but the work’s not over yet! Here’s a look at what we’ve done so far, and what happens next.
The process so far
Meeting the design team
The team at HemingwayDesign came to one of our all member calls, so they could talk about the design process and answer questions from members. You can watch the recording on our YouTube channel.
Finding out what members want
We started designing the new uniform in March 2024, working with HemingwayDesign to launch new activities so that members and girls could tell us what they wanted. They were designed so that they could be done together as a unit, or at home individually – in the end we heard from over 55,000 members.
The opportunity to send us your responses to these activities has now closed, but they’re still available to look at.
The team have also been holding focus groups with members from under-represented backgrounds in guiding, as well as non-members and industry experts, to help us get detailed understanding of what was wanted from uniform.
We ran focus groups and design exploration sessions with:
- experts on fashion, sustainability, inclusion and healthcare (including our volunteer inclusion advisers) to help us design the uniform inclusively and sustainably
- non-members, including girls of all ages and parents, to help us understand how uniform can help us grow and appeal to new people
- religious units, to help us understand what girls of faith want from the uniform
- parents of girls in guiding
- current Rangers and young leaders
- staff volunteers
- the chief guide team.
Visiting countries and regions
It was important to us that our design team was able to get out and about and meet different units, and talk to them about uniform. Several of our countries and regions very kindly volunteered to host us at their events or unit meetings to run ‘Dream designs’ workshops. Featuring boxes full of clothes, fabric, accessories, ribbons, buttons and more, these workshops allowed girls to get hands on with the design process, and come up with their own creations.
Our goal was to help everyone who took part understand what you have to think about when designing clothes, and to inspire the next generation of designers. And of course, it was a joy for the team to chat to volunteers and girls directly about what they think of our uniform, and what they want from the new version.
What happens next
The team have been hard at work creating a uniform that meets our design principles, and delivers on what members want. Every decision, even down to the smallest stitch, has been carefully balanced and considered. We’re now at the point where most of the designing work is done, and we’re very grateful to our members and the team at HemingwayDesign for getting us get to this point.
2024 - getting everything ready
There are still things to sort out before the uniform goes into production next year, ready for a 2026 launch. This is the point in the process where we create ‘tech packs’ for each garment in the range. This acts as a blueprint that will be used by manufacturers to make the final product, and it helps us figure out important practical things like sizing and fit. We’re developing these packs for the rest of 2024 and it’s likely that during this process, some things in the designs will change.
We’re also mindful that the moment we announce our new uniform is a big opportunity to show the world who we are, and recruit more girls and volunteers. To make sure our big reveal gets as much press coverage and excitement as possible, and because of how long the production process takes, we’re keeping the designs confidential for a while longer. We won’t be sharing the designs for our sections until the uniform is launched in 2026. But there will still be lots to tell and show you!
And in the meantime you can get an idea of how the designs are taking shape by reading some of the pieces we’ve already published on this hub:
Now that the design process has ended, we won’t be adding more updates to the hub. But we’ll keep you informed with our regular email and website updates, and the hub will remain live for you to check back whenever you like.
2025- uniform goes into production
This is the year the uniform actually gets made, and we want to share as much as we can of that process. What we’ll be able to share depends on the production process, but the team behind our online shop will be hard at work verifying samples of the whole range, and putting everything into production.
From the beginning, we wanted to use this redesign as an opportunity to improve our manufacturing process to be more sustainable. We’re still exploring this, but you can expect to hear a lot more from us about what we’re doing next year.
2026 - launch year!
We’re getting the uniform ready to buy in June 2026, so we’ll be busy getting everything ready and delivering stock to our amazing network of volunteer shops all over the country. You’ll hear more from us about what launch could look like soon – we’re really keen to work together with our countries and regions , and involve as many areas of guiding as possible.
We know how much our uniform matters to our members and how important it is to get this right. Throughout our long history, our uniforms have changed as we've adapted as an organisation. We're very proud of that history, and our natural ability to embrace change as what's important to girls continues to evolve.
We hope you're excited to see what's next!
