A proposal to ban saggy pants in Dallas gained steam Wednesday as City Council members discussed how to deal with the popular clothing trend.

Several council members voiced support and asked the city attorney's office to research whether such a rule is enforceable.

Dallas school trustee Ron Price recommended the ban at Wednesday's council meeting, following through on a plan he announced Tuesday. Mr. Price wants the city to create an ordinance to allow police to cite people who wear their pants too low.

"Too low," he said, allows too much underwear to show.

Most of the nine council members who addressed Mr. Price at the meeting said the idea merits discussion. Some said an ordinance was needed, while others felt a public campaign involving the city, schools, parents and the community would be the way to go. Some of the council members present said nothing.

Two who spoke – Angela Hunt and Gary Griffith – opposed using police to enforce a ban.

"I'm not going to be in favor of using police officers to track people whose pants are low," Mr. Griffith said.

Mr. Price said the effort is aimed not only at children, but also grown men who walk around with their underwear exposed.

"We have a problem in our city," Mr. Price said. He ran a slogan by the council that he's given to the initiative: "Pull it up, or pay up."

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill said retailers who market to young people are taking advantage of the fad.

"This just isn't the appropriate way to dress in public," Mr. Hill said. "It's an issue that needs to be addressed, discussed."

But not all council members agreed.

"I agree with Ron Price that it's disconcerting," Ed Oakley said after the meeting. "But how do you legislate that? How do you have a dress code on a public street? I don't know if you can without crossing the line on freedom of expression."

Mr. Griffith said that community groups could help get the word out. For example, he said, restaurants could add to their list of rules "that if you have baggy pants, you don't get served."

Kimi King, associate professor of political science at the University of North Texas, said Dallas would have greater justification for creating such an ordinance if it could tie it to a problem of public lewdness or criminal activity.

Dr. King said the city would have to show that it's not targeting only young males, the group most likely to wear sagging pants. And if challenged on whether such a measure would prevent public lewdness, she said, the city would have to explain why other clothing items weren't also prohibited.

"A judge would say, 'Why not enforce halter tops or shorts that are too short?' " she said. "You're picking on one group and singling them out."

Staff writer Dave Levinthal contributed to this report.

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