Figure 1.--These prep school boys touring London are swearing bright vlue sweatshirts with the school shield. Notice the sweatshirts are worn with opencollars without ties.

We notice schools beginning to add sweatshirts to the school uniform in the 1990s. Very few schools in the 1980s had sweatshirts. Schools began replacing sweaters with sweatshirts in the late 1980s, but sweaters were sill still more common. I don't think many schools hd both sweaters and sweatshirts. I'm not sure why this change was made. There seem to be several reasons. Sweatshirts are cheaper. They are easier to stylize with the school shiels or other logo. They are more informal garments and are generally worn without ties. Sweatshirt always come with crew necks. They are not made with V-necks. Sweatshirts are done in colors. Unlike American sweatshirts, British sweatshirts were not done in grey. The most common color is blue, but they are done in sevveral other colors as well. The sweatshirts were worn by both boys and girls, just like sweaters. They are quite common at primary schools and even used at many preparatory schools. I am not sure if they were called sweatshirts in England as they are called in America. They may also been called jumpers. Here our Britishj readers will hopefully provide some insights.

Created: May 22, 2004
Last updated: 1:37 AM 4/14/2006