Figure 1.-- Cubs socks changed as time progressed. I have an image from the early 1980s of a cub pack getting ready to go off on parade. It illustrates quite a range of fashion trends. The Cubs here are still wearing the traditional paked caps. These went out of style in the 1990s. All the Cubs wear short trousers. Clearly the pack leaders insisted on this. Only one boy wears non uniform shorts. Of particular interest, I think, is the boy in the middle who is not wearing grey shorts. I would suspect that he has been allowed long trousers for school so does not possess the proper shorts. The Cub uniform was still worn with long socks in the 1980s. Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the pack.

Cubs socks changed as time progressed. I have an image from the early 1980s of a cub pack getting ready to go off on parade. It illustrates quite a range of fashion trends. The Cubs here are still wearing the traditional paked caps. These went out of style in the 1990s. All the Cubs wear short trousers. Clearly the pack leaders insisted on this. Only one boy wears non uniform shorts. Of particular interest, I think, is the boy in the middle who is not wearing grey shorts. I would suspect that he has been allowed long trousers for school so does not possess the proper shorts. The Cub uniform was still worn with long socks in the 1980s. This mean turn-over-top socks. Some boys here have the proper socks with turnover tops and the garters and some don't. Some boys have the inexpensive pull up kneesocks without the turnover tops. Some boys started wearing these to school as well. Even the boys wearing the turnover top socks do not have coloured hoops on the tops like we had. Although I suspect cub socks were meant to be plain grey anyway. Cubs earlier had long socks with colored loops, but by the 1970s, plin grey socks had become more common. One thing about the 80s (and maybe starting in the 70s) was that fashionable clothes like flares were being manufactured for younger and younger boys.

Caps

The Cubs here are still wearing the traditional paked caps. These went out of style in the 1990s.

Short Trousers

Kneesocks

The Cub uniform was still worn with long socks in the 1980s. This mean turn-over-top socks. Some boys here have the proper socks with turnover tops and the garters and some don't. Some boys have the inexpensive pull up kneesocks without the turnover tops. Some boys started wearing these to school as well. Even the boys wearing the turnover top socks do not have coloured hoops on the tops like we had. Although I suspect cub socks were meant to be plain grey anyway. Cubs earlier had long socks with colored loops, but by the 1970s, plin grey socks had become more common.

Shoes

You will also see that some boys are wearing brown shoes which was not the case earlier because school shoes were black and they were our "best" shoes. Posher boys might have a pair of brown shoes oo to go with a particular suit or whatever but I'd say that it was rare.

Hair Styles

You can also see the longer hairstyles some of the boys have (particularly the one carrying the banner). That was another thing that I found amusing when I went to my secondary school because the prep school boys still wore caps and they looked funny perched on their long hair. That was the early 70s though and it was more the posher boys who had longer hair at first - Mum always kept mine short and so did most Mums (and /or Dads in this case). Mum always took us to the barber but my mate Michael's Dad cut his and his brothers hair in the garden. I'll tell you sometime about our haircuts and the trips to the barbers because it was quite an event!

Boy in Background

Anyway one more point of interest in the photo is the boy in the background wearing fashionable flared trousers, what looks like a mini "crombie" coat and boots. He obviously is not interested in the cubs and that could have been me many years earlier - except at that age I would have been in cord shorts, sandals and a jumper with a plastic mac in my pocket if Mum had made me take it out.

Fashionable Styles for Younger Boys

One thing about the 80s (and maybe starting in the 70s) was that fashionable clothes like flares were being manufactured for younger and younger boys. Some parents allowed their children to wear these and some didn't. It was to do with cost and whether there were younger boys to pass the trousers down to when the boys grew out of them. Eventually the manufacturers came up with a compromise whereby they made short trousers in the fashionable material and patterns. Ironically enough a lot of these fashionable patterns were checked so I would have beeen in fashion a decade or so earlier. Some primary school age boys wore long trousers most of the time out of school but shorts for school as were still the rules and that was the sort of boy who would not wish to go to cubs which did,on the whole, still insist on shorts. As I said some boys didn't mind wearing "fashionable" shorts like the boy in the photo here.

Bill