[Times photo: Stefanie Boyar]
Hunter's Green Elementary fifth-graders Sonia Farooqi, left, Hilary Good and Tyler Ritter, model some of the clothes they like to wear after they get out of their school uniforms. Good and Ritter enjoy wearing baggy pants, Farooqi does not.

TAMPA -- Flop! You trip again. "Fourth time!" you mutter. You get back up and start walking again, picking your feet up high.

Has that ever happened to you? If you've ever worn baggy pants, it surely has, unless you always stand still! Does all this falling on our faces mean that the wide-legged wonders are going out of style this year?

Not a chance, at least according to a poll of fifth-graders at Hunter's Green Elementary. Nineteen out of 26 students said they love baggy pants, and they weren't all boys. Nine were girls.

If it always looks like boys are the only ones wearing baggy pants, it may be because girls have more to choose from. There are a lot more fashion trends geared toward girls.

But girls at Hunter's Green Elementary, at least after school when they can change out of their uniforms, like the ease of going baggy too.

"Baggy pants are really comfortable," says Hilary Good, 10.

The racks in many stores at Brandon TownCenter are bulging with baggies, pants wide and loose with a big comfort zone.

Comfort is not the only reason kids still go for baggy fashions. "I like them because they are stylish," says Tyler Ritter, 10.

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Style is evident on such brands as JNCO, which feature large pockets on the sides of the pants and small patch designs.

Baggy pants are indeed still "in" this year, but that certainly doesn't mean everybody likes them, or that they are the only pants worn by kids. Sonia Farooqi doesn't like the baggy look. "They look like they're going to fall off," she says.

Many kids like their pants big but only at the bottom. The girls section at Gap Kids features many flared long pants, outnumbering the baggies. Limited Too has neat racks full of flared pants, with a few pairs of baggy pants here and there.

So you can choose. If you like flared pants, wear flares. If you like your trousers narrow, you can even go slim. If you want to guarantee "in," you won't have to look hard to spy baggy pants.

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