Figure 1.--Here is the 1939 Wards ad for "2-in-1 stockings. Despite the clain to the contrary, they did not prove very popular. Sears has a similar product. |
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Here's a rather curious ad for "Wards Famous 2-in-1 Stockings"
featured in the Wards 1939 Fall and Winter catalog, page 240. This offering seems to have been in competition with an item offered by Sears the same year and referred to on the HBC 1939 hosiery page as "combination stockings." This advertisement is especially interesting because the product seems to reflect a cultural difference between generations--between boys and girls who wanted to
wear sporty below-the-knee socks with striped cuffs with their shorts or skirts and more conservative parents who wanted to protect the knees of their boys and girls by insisting that they wear full-length stockings with hose supporters. Wards 1939-40 Fall and Winter
catalog for the 2-in-1 stockings.
Here's another curious ad for "Wards Famous 2-in-1 Stockings"
featured in the Wards 1939 Fall and Winter catalog. Long stockings and kneesocks are hosiery types sold over many years. These combination stockings do not seem to have proven very popular. Perhaps the declining popularity of long stockings was a major factor. This offering seems to have been in competition with an item offered by Sears the same year and referred to on the HBC 1939 hosiery page as "long stocking combinations".
This advertisement is especially interesting because the product seems to reflect a cultural difference between generations--between boys and girls who wanted to wear sporty below-the-knee socks with striped cuffs with their shorts or skirts and more conservative parents who wanted to protect the knees of their boys and girls by insisting that they wear full-length stockings with hose supporters.
The stocking on offer here attempts to please both the parents
and the children by being a long stocking that nevertheless has the look of a below-the-knee sock. The above the knee part of these combination stockings are beige or flesh color, but below the knee the stocking has a distinctive color with a stripe around the
cuff.
Despite the advertising hype, this attempt at compromise seems to have been a failure, because this type of combination stocking never appeared in later Wards or Sears catalogs. Its brief appearance was only in 1939, a year that for some reason saw a prominent emphasis in the mail order catalogs on the wearing of long stockings and on the garter waists or hose supporters that
were a necessary accompaniment to them. Note that the tops of these stockings come up quite high so that garter wouldn't show under short shorts or skirts. My guess is that boys and girls would have resisted wearing such a stocking because of the obvious attempt at deception and that mothers either gave in to their children's desire to dress for school with bare knees or continued to insist on the conventional tan or brown long stockings that had been common
for many years. Whoever won this contest of stocking preferences--the children or the adults--the clear loser seems to have been retailers such as Wards and Sears.
These "Wards Famous 2-in-1 Stockings"
featured in the Wards 1939 Fall and Winter catalog, page 240. The Ward's ad copy read, "A Big Success! Wards Famous `2-in-1 Stockings--Short Length Appearance, Full Length Protection 24 cents pr. 3 Pairs 69 cents. A new double-purpose Stocking that is becoming increasingly popular the land over. There's the attractive below-the-knee appearance that's liked so well by the youngsters and there's the assurance of full length protection that is
desired by mothers. Wards 2-in-1 Stockings are richly colored up to the contrasting striped and ribbed cuffs, flesh colored from cuffs to the top. Tightly knit of fine lisle reinforced at the heels and toes, they'll take months of hard wear. Colors: Light Tan, Medium Tan, Navy Blue Sizes: 6, 6 1/2, 7, 7 1/2, 8, 8 1/2, 9, 9 1/2. State size and color. See how to measure on opposite page [i.e. taking the length of the foot in inches as the size of the stocking]. Shpg wt. 4 oz., 3 pairs 9 oz.30 C 314 Pair 24 c., 3 Pairs, 69 c."
HBC has compiled size charts. This provides an insight on the age of the children wearing these stockings. Based on these charts, these stockings were made for children ages 3-16 years old.
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