Figure 1.-- The unidentified boy here was from Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was a post-card back portrait mailed December 1907. He wears a checked double-breasted knee pants suit. Note the similar, but not matching flat cap. Most boys in 1907 still wore knee pants like this. Shortly afterward there was a suden and widespread shift to knicker suits.

We see very little difference from year to year in the knee pants suits American boys wore in the 1900s. This trend is difficult to follow becaue only a fraction of the available images are dated. Unless the portrait or snapshot is dated you can not tell the year by the styles of the suits. Cabinet mount and postcard backs can help with the date. But as far s we can tell with the dated images and catalogs we have found, nothing much concerning suit pants occurred during the decade until the very end of the decade. Interestingly, at about the sane time, koveralls began appearing in rural schools. As far as we know this was an unrelated development. But only with the suddenly increased popularity of knickers can we see any difference in the years. This only began to change at the end of the decade, especially 1909.

Created: 8:51 AM 4/24/2012
Last updated: 8:51 AM 4/24/2012