Figure 1.--American children as in the late-19th century, continued wearing black long stockings in the early 20th century. This boy in the 1900s wears black stockings with his sailor suit.

American boys in the early 20th century mostly wore long stockings in the early 20th century. It was also common to go barefoot in the summer. After the turn of the 20th century, younger boys might wear white three-quarter socks during the summer. Dark stockings were the most common, but girls and younger boys also wore white long stockings. Baden Powell's Boy Scouts helped to popularize kneesocks in the 1910s. After World War I, black long stockings continued to be worn, but we begin to see the new beige shades. We see boys commonly wearing beige stockings and pattererned knee sicks in the 1930s. Ankle socks gradually replaced long stockings and knee socks during the 1940s. The American hosiery industry truly began to flourish in the 20th century. Cotton, wool, and combinations of these fabrics in vivid colors and patterns caught the fashionable man's fancy. It was also during this period that sports hose in knitted wool, mixtures of wool and silk, and wool and cotton gained in popularity. This interest in patterns continued until the 1950s, at which time synthetic yarn for hosiery was introduced, permitting the manufacture of stretch hosiery, one-size-fits-all. Retailers, pleased to be able to reduce their inventory, didn't care that the hose was producible only in solid colors. Combined with the newfound interest in patterned trousers, solid hose regained popularity and fancy hose faded from the fashion scene. The industry has yet to recover. While today more patterns and colors are available for sports hosiery. Boys by mid-century were commonly wearing white athletic socks. When sports-styled casual shorts became popular in the 1970s, tube socks were also widely worn.

The 1900s

Long stockings continued to be the major hosiery worn by American children during the 1900s. Noys mostly wore long stockings with knee pants, even during the summer. Dark black stockings were the most common hosiery, but dark brown was also worn. Light-colored long stockings were not common. Younger boys might wear white long stockings on dressy occasions, but black was more common. Younger boys might wear their knee pants with socks, usually three quater length socks, especially during the summer. Older boys, however, did not wear such socks with either knee pants or knickers. Knickers became increasingly popular by the end of the 1900s decade. The hosiery worn with them, however, did not change. Most American children, both boys and girls wore long stockings in the 1900s. Black stockings were especially common. Many children went barefoot in the summer. The majority of Americans still lived in rural areas. Even as knickers became basically stndard in the 1910s, boys mostly wore long stockings. Toward the end of the decade, however, some boys were wearing their knickers with knee socks, but long stockings were much more common. Styles with bare knees were much less common in America than Europe--especially during the colder winter months. One famous American even commented on this when he was in France. Many younger boys would go barefoot during the summer, especially in rural areas. This became less common in the teen years. After the turn of the 20th century, younger boys might wear white three-quarter socks during the summer. Socks were much more common in Europe. Long stockings might also be worn during the summer and were almost universally worn during the winter. School portraits are an excellent source on populr fashions. They show most of the children durin the 1900s ddcade wearing black long stockings. This was particularly the case for school age children. Dark stockings were the most common, but girls also wore white long stockings. This was fairly common for girls of all ages. Boys also wore them, but only younger boys, normally for forrmal occassions.

Figure 2.--These boys during the 1910s wear knicker suits with black long stockings. They are holding a bb-gun, what just about every boy wanted.

The 1910s

American boys continued wearing shortened-length pants in the 1910s a convention begun in the mid-19h century following European fashion trends. There was, however, a major departure from European trends, one is the eraliest such deopartures. American boys generally shifted from the knee pants worn in the 1900s to knickers in the 1910s. Both knickers and knee pants had been wirn in Europe, but they were not very common in America fir boys. This nrgn to chasnge in the late-1900s decade. This was about the same timwe that Baden Powell's Boy Scouts appeared. The British Scouts began to popularize short pantsd and knee socks in the 1910s, but this does not seem to have had a major impact on the hosiery that Americas boys weore. American boys contunued to wear mostly ling stockings. Knickers declined in Europe, although some older boys wore them, mostly with kbee sicks. We this do not see knickers nearly as commonly in Europe. This was the first major departure for fashions between American and Europe. At about the same time another major difference occurred, American boys in rural areas began to commonly wear overalls. This is very notable in chool photography. We are not sure what kind of hosiery these boys wore ass the overalls were a kind i=of ling pants. Going barefoot was common in rural areas as long as the weather stayed warm. but as they often had to walk sone distance, was not as common as one might think. Younger boys in urban areas might wear coveralls where we also could not see the hosiery. Many boys in rural areas came to school barefoot during the warmer months. Younger boys might wear three-quarter socks with knee pants outfits, especially during the summer. Most American boys, howevr, continued wearing long stockings. We see some boys wearing knee socks with above-the-knee knickers showing their knees, but this was not very common. Black long stockings were close to universal and widely worn by boys and girls. Girls and youngr boys might wear white long stockings when dressing up. Most boys , however, mostly wore black long stockings. Most school photographs show boys coming to school in knickers and long stockings. Knickers an long stocking were almost universal. l.

Figure 3.--American boys still commonly wore long stockings in the 1920s, but we begin to see some boys wearing knee socks as well.

The 1920s

We see American boys wearing primarily knickers after World war I in the 1920s. hey ere no longer nearly universalm=, but still vrry common, somewhat less common than in the 1910s -- especially the end of the decade. Long and short pants were also worn with long pants growing in popularity. This depended primarily on age, but shorts were increasingly worn during the summer. After World War I, we see some boys wearing knee socks, but long stockings continued to be the principal hosiery worn by boys through much of the 1920s until the end of the decade. We see mostly black stockings although the black and white photography of the day makes it imposible to be sdure about color. We also begin to see the new beige shades as well, primarily for younger children. In contrast the new knee socks boys were also wearing by the end of the decade were commonly patterned socks done in multiple color combinations. here were many different patterns and color combintions. We often think of srgyles, but they were not ll tht common. Knee socks were much more common in Europe, but and mostly solid colors. We are not entirely sure why these differences developed between American and Eurooean hosiery. It may be related to the difference in pants that also developed. European boys were mostly wore short pants rather than knickers. We don't fully understand why this difference occurred or how it may have affected hosiery trends. American boys seem less willing to wear the short pants that European boys began to wear. Mothers seemed more concerned with dressing boys warmly in the cold weather. We are not just not sure. And American mothers seemed concerned about boys wearing shorts in the winter, although girls commomly wore skirts leaving their knees bare. This same concerned seems to have also affected attitudes toward hosiery. It does get colder in America than many European countries, but we expect that more was involved than climate. American boy's seemed to think that shorts pants were both girlish and just for younger boys. We rarely see ankle socks during the 20s. Knickers in psrticulasr were almost always worn with long stockings or knee socks. You never seen noys wearing knockers with ankle socks which became fairly common un the late-1930s. Younger boys often wore three-quarrter socks, at least during the summer.

Figure 4.--Here we see three unidentified brothers, probbly in the early-30s. We can see their home in the backgrond after a light snow. The two older boys wear knickers and patterned knee socks. Their little brother wears short pants with light-colord long stockings, probably tan color.

The 1930s

The American hosiery industry truly began to flourish in the 20th century. Cotton, wool, and combinations of these fabrics in vivid colors and patterns caught the fashionable man's fancy. It was also during this period that sports hose in knitted wool, mixtures of wool and silk, and wool and cotton gained in popularity. We note boys mostly wearing knee socks with knickers. We also see short socks. Long stockings were also worn during the winter. Younger boys might wear long stockings with short pants like the boy here (figure 4), but this was becoming much less common by the end of th decade. Long stockings were declining in populrity, but quite a number of younger boys wore them. Tan colors had largely replaced black stockings, except for formal occassions. And older children might wear long stockings for formal occassions. We seen many boys wearing knee socks with knickers. Durng the summer and for school we note boys beginning to wear ankle socks with knickers. This is something we rarely see in the 1920s. A factor here may have been long pants. Knickers were widely worn in the 1930s, but as the decade pogressed we see more and more boys wearing long pants. We are not sure what kind of hosiery ws worn with long pants, but suspect it ws mostly ankle socks. Some boys wore short pants, but not nearly as commonly as in Europe. We note various types of hosiery woen with shorts, here seasonality, age, and usage were all factors. We mostly notice oys wearing shorts with ankle socks. Younger boys might wear long stockings with shorts. Older boys might wear knee socks with shorts, but often when dressing up. By the end of the decade, both knee socks and long stockings were cleaarly became much less common for Amrican boys. A reader writes, "I wore knickers when a child and in New Orleans there were no white shoes (including sneakers) and socks. When it got hot in the summer we wore shorts, but again not with white socks." Boys still went barefoot in the south and rural areas it wwas still fairly common. The 1930s, howevr, was the last decade in which there were major differncs between urban and rural areas. This was in part because of the New Deal efforts to improve rural conditions and in part the rising posperity of the 1940s.

Figure 5.--Both knee socks and long stockings rapidly declined in popularity among Amrican boys in the 1940s. Here in 1943 both boys wear ankle socks, even the older boy wearing knickers. Notice the little boy wearing white socks.

The 1940s

When knickers went out of fashion in the late-1930s and early-40s, so did knee socks, at least for boys. We still se boys wearingbknickers in the early-40s. Some boys wore knee socks, but ankle socks were very common. Mostly we see boys wearing short pants, comonly with ankle socks or long pnts also with nkl sicks. We see some boys wearing knee socks--mostly younger boys when dressing up.. Even boys wearing short pants suits mostly wore ankle socks. We see a few younger boys wearing long stockings in the early-40s, but by mid-dcde long stockings had geb=nerally disappeared. They persisted a little longer in the northerntier od sttes near Cnada where thy continud ti be worn into th early-50. And you almost never see boys wearing knee socks for school or casual wear. They wre worn by Cubs and Scouts. Girls continued to wear knee socks. This may have been a factor in the declining popularity. Many boys began seeing knee socks as girl's garments. We still see some boys wearing them, but the great majority of boys swore ankle socks. We see a variety of ankle socks. Stripes and argyles were very popular. We don't see many boys wearing white ankle socks in the 40s.

The 1950s

Boys continued to wear patterned ankle socks into the 1950s, especially the early 50s. After World War II, synthetic yarn for hosiery was introduced, permitting the manufacture of stretch hosiery, one-size-fits-all. Retailers were able to reduce their inventory. Boys began wearing white atlhletic socks. Proper atlrtic socks were aool blend, but mothers commonly purchased cotton socks for boys.

The 1960s

The synthetic-blend yarns which became popular after World War II had a major disadvantage. They were s producible only in solid colors. As a result, we seem more boys wearing solid color socks by the 1960s. Combined with the newfound interest in patterned trousers, solid hose regained popularity and fancy hose faded from the fashion scene. The industry has yet to recover. While today more patterns and colors are available for sports hosiery, a man looking for stylish dress hosiery has his work cut out for him.

The 1970s

Short pants for casual wear began to become increasingly popular in the late-60s and the height of fashion in the 70s. Many were sports styles, done to look the very short-cut basketball and soccer shorts. Boys commonly wore these shorts with knee-length tube socks. These were white ay=tletic socks with colored bands at the top, The styles were commonly worn by athletic teams which helped to make them popular with boys.

The 1980s

Created: 1:23 AM 9/29/2007
Last updated: 6:29 AM 12/1/2017