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Knee pants gradually became increasingly common, but it was not until the 1890s that they became standard for American boys. And we no longer see only younger boys wearing them. By the 1890s older boys began wearing knee pants as well. In the early-90s we begin to see younger teens wearing knee pants and by the end of the decade even older teens. Most American children finished their education with primary school in the 8thb grade, meaning 13-14 years of age. But secondary education was expanding along with rising affluence and the expanding middle class.This was not the case in Europe where we do not see such old boys wearing knee pants. And we begin seeing high school boys wearing knee pants, especially by the end of the decade. The final shift to long pants usually occurred by about 15-16 years of age, but some even older teens continued wearing knee pants. It was for the most part all up to the discretion of their parents. This is notable in the increasing offerings of mail order and store catalogs in the 1890s. Sears joined Montgomery Wards in the mail order business (1892). So there is a very substantial record of clothing offerings including the sizes. This can also be followed in school photography which was by the 1980s a well-established tradition. School photography is especially important because we see large groups of ordinary boys and not just individual portraits. The length of knee pants also became shorter and by the 1890s were commonly worn at knee length. This would become fixed and when knickers began replacing knee pants in the 20th century, the cut at first was the same as knee pants. The Fauntleroy Craze continued into the 1890s, but had begun to peter out by the end of the decade. Also notable in the 1890s was decline of the centuries old tendency to dress younger boys in skirted garments before breeching. We are not sure what caused the decline of this convention, but it rapidly disappeared after the turn-of-the-20th century. We suspect that the advent of Muscular Christianity was a factor. The Fauntleroy Craze may have also been a factor. Thus we see see more younger boys wearing pants, mostly knee pants. Here there were important social-class differences. Younger working-class boys wore knee pants, but not older working-class boys. Apparently once the boys left school and began working, they wanted to wear long pants. We notice a few boys wearing knickers, but straight-leg knee pants were the standard and what the over whelming majority of American boys wore. They were usually worn with long stockings. There were colored stockings for children not picked up by the black and white photography of the day, but black long stockings were especially common. There continue to be differences between city and rural schools. We only see younger boys wearing knee pants in rural schools, but we still do not see boys wearing overalls in the rural schools. There was a continued tendency to dress up children for school even in rural areas.
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