St. Hubert Catholic High School goes for a more modern uniform. Alumnae and parents say ‘bring back the sack.’

There are three things to know about the all-girls St. Hubert Catholic High School in Northeast Philadelphia: The school has produced some of the most influential women in the city since it opened its doors in 1941, students are called Bambies, and said Bambies feel very strongly about their uniforms.

That passion has resurfaced in recent weeks after the school announced a new uniform, its fourth change in the school’s history.

The February announcement said the school would be swapping out what students colloquially call the “sack” — a dark brown dress that really does resemble a practical vehicle for carrying potatoes or chicken feed — for a more modern plaid skirt. The school said the change was made with input from more than 400 community members who voted to keep the current cardigan sweater and brown shoes. The crisp yellow dress shirts are staying, too, but the sacks are being replaced with plaid brown and yellow skirts.

“While they are very new looks, the only brand new pieces to purchase are the skirts and the summer polos,” the school said in its Facebook announcement. In an email to The Inquirer, school administrators said they had taken steps to control cost for families “to the greatest degree possible.”

Still, the school was flooded with feedback on its initial Facebook post. “Absolutely horrific,” said one user.

“I don’t like these at all,” said another. “The polo doesn’t look like it matches and the patch on the polo looks ridiculous.”

When St. Hubert took the announcement to Instagram, it closed the comments section.

The public response from students, alumnae, and parents has been mixed. Chelsea Criollo, Class of 2022, “thought it would never happen” and is happy the girls get to wear something new because attempts to change the uniform during her time at St. Hubert were unsuccessful.

Others have called the new skirt “too elementary school” online. Many critics pointed to tradition. Others argued that with the cost of Catholic school, the change should be applied to incoming freshmen while current students finish their time with the brown jumper.

There’s now a Change.org petition to “BRING BACK THE SACK” with more than 2,300 signatures.

School administrators told The Inquirer the change aims to modernize the school’s look and “is reflective of uniform trends across the Archdiocese as well as Catholic schools nationwide.”

“We recognize that changes often come with challenge and are grateful for the nostalgia so many Bambies have for the uniform they wore with great pride,” said an emailed statement.

What’s more, administrators said St. Hubert is keeping the iconic school colors and patches on uniforms, which help distinguish grades — green for freshmen, blue for sophomores, pink for juniors, and gold for seniors. Seniors will have the option to keep the current uniforms or make the switch.

Parents and alumnae have been the most vocal in the pushback to date, but students have also expressed their reservations, which alums say is par for the course and speaks to the empowered teens the school is nurturing.

“I do love that they’re using their voices,” said Shannon Wink, Class of 2005, a former journalist and current communications strategist. “That’s something that I certainly learned as a Bambie and had that opportunity to feel so comfortable in an environment surrounded by girls and women, where you have this voice and no one’s shutting you down.”

It would appear St. Hubert has not been able to swap a uniform without striking outrage since at least the late ’80s, when it ditched its iconic blue jumper, which many alums say was the most popular in the school’s history, albeit hot in the summertime. When the school replaced the uniform with a plaid brown skirt and yellow shirt combination, the St. Hubert community revolted to no avail.

Class of ’92 alumnae like Kathryn Ott Lovell, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp. and former leader of the city parks and recreation department, can’t help but chuckle at the current uproar. She remembers how controversial it was for the school to lose the plaid skirts in favor of the brown sacks in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

Ott Lovell was working in development and admissions at the school by then and recalls a disastrous fashion show the school put on to get students onboard. The uniforms and the whole fashion show got a frosty reception.

“I was literally nervous from an admission standpoint that no one was going to want to come to school and have to wear that uniform,” said Ott Lovell, who remains agnostic on the current change. “It was that ugly. I mean, a brown uniform with a yellow blouse, and brown stockings, and brown shoes? It was hideous.”

Yet somehow, the once-hideous uniforms became widely accepted, celebrated even.

Wink remembers how students in sewing class would attach their locker key to lanyard-like strips they would stitch to their jumpers from the armpit, which would lead to their jumper pocket. The lanyard color would coordinate with their school patches.

City Commissioner Lisa Deeley, Class of ’84, is a blue jumper supporter but understands alumnae and students who feel strongly about the uniform she said never lived up to the one she wore in her youth.

“Whether you’re on the bus or you’re in the store or you’re in a restaurant, if you have that uniform on, it’s part of your identity,” she said. “And you know how we are in Philadelphia about our identity, with our neighborhoods and certainly with our schools and our educational institutions.”

That connection stays with you, said Deeley, who keeps a paperweight replica of the school on her desk and a St. Hubert’s sweatshirt in her office at all times.

Anne Konicki Lyle, Class of 2006, imagines the new uniforms will be cooler in the warmer months. She thinks the changes look “quite nice,” as she never found the brown jumpers to be the most attractive of garments. Yet like so many others, she suspects the uproar over the uniform change will come and go like the last three times.

“You know, it doesn’t matter what the uniform is, the girls there are going to have an amazing experience, an amazing sisterhood, and I don’t think the uniform is going to matter that much in the long run,” Konicki Lyle said.