The trend for ethically-sourced clothing has got down to the bare necessities – pants.

Students from Barking and Dagenham College are in Old Spitalfields Market today (Wednesday) competing in the final of a competition where they must sell as many pairs of pants as they can.

Called the Pantrepreneurship challenge, it is organised by sustainable underwear brand Pants to Poverty to give young people real-life experience of business.

The college’s team, who are training to be teachers, first competed in an internal competition where they produced a business plan covering everything from financing to marketing.

They then had a number of weeks to sell their pants which they did through fundraising events and raffles.

Today all their hard work culminates with the final challenge of selling at one of London’s busiest markets.

Team member Melanie Hinds said: “We plan to use the entrepreneurial skills that we have learnt to raise money and send educational resources to poverty-stricken areas.”