Figure 1.--This is an unusually informative ad for boys' waist union suits (summer model) that appeared in the Kansas City Star (June 3, 1919), p. 9, and sold by a local department store (Jones' on Walnut Street in Kansas City. The manufacturer is not specified. Waist union suits were like adult union suits but had, in addition, the features of an under waist--taped on buttons for trousers or skirts at waist level and built-in shoulder straps to which garter tabs for long stockings were fixed. This ad appeared in June when mothers would be buying summer underwear for their children, which was much cooler than the knitted union suits they had worn during the winter months.

This is an unusually informative ad for boys' waist union suits (summer model) that appeared in the Kansas City Star (June 3, 1919), p. 9, and sold by a local department store (Jones' on Walnut Street in Kansas City. The manufacturer is not specified. Waist union suits were like adult union suits but had, in addition, the features of an under waist--taped on buttons for trousers or skirts at waist level and built-in shoulder straps to which garter tabs for long stockings were fixed. This ad appeared in June when mothers would be buying summer underwear for their children, which was much cooler than the knitted union suits they had worn during the winter months. Waist union suits were usually made for children up to twelve, and sometimes even fourteen. The boy in the illustration seems to be about eleven. Notice that he is putting on long black stockings (to be worn with above-the-knee knickers or short trousers) even during the warmer months. This ad mentions "bone underwear buttons" (i.e., waist buttons for fastening to trousers) and "metal hose supporter attachment[s]" (i.e., pin tubes for fastening on pin-on supporters).

The curious thing about the illustration is that we see the long stockings but no hose supporters to which they are obviously being attached. Some waist union suits of the period featured garter tabs that allowed the supporters to be worn either on top of the underwear or else inside it and therefore remain concealed. This latter situation is apparently the case in the current illustration. The black stocking on the boy's left leg has already been attached to the garter (underneath the underwear shorts), and the stocking on the right leg, once fully pulled up, will be similarly attached to the concealed garter under the union suit leg on the right side. Otherwise we would see the supporters plainly on the upper legs.

We do not know the nanufacturer here, bit some of the features are similar to Sexton Union suits. Our page on the Sexton suits explains the special garter tab that allows supporters to be worn either inside or outside the underwear.

The ad copy reads: "Boys' Taped Union Suits 69 cents. Cool, comfortable Union Suits made of a good quality nainsook, finished with bone underwear buttons and metal hose supporter attachment; drop seat style: sizes 2 to 12 years, garment 69 cents. Jones' Walnut St. Basement." Sexton Union summer waist suits for boys (already archived on HBC in the early 1920s) already shows garter tabs that allow the supporters to be worn inside or outside the underwear. The Kansas City ad shows a boy wearing his garters inside rather than, as more common, outside."

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Created: 10:18 PM 10/26/2013
Last updated: 10:18 PM 10/26/2013