Figure 1.--Here we see a boy ready for his first day of 3rd Grade in 2003. He would be 8 years old and is wearing what looks like sport sandals.

Sandals were introduced in the early-20th century. Catalog stores like Sears and Wards offered Barefoot Sandals for men and boys as a summer leisure shoe. We see some boys wearing them in the 1910s, but not very many. And we rarely see boys wearing them to school. This was in part a seasonal matter. There is a complication here in that sandls are related to strap shoes which are sometimes called closed-toe sandals. This was a major style for girls, but not for boys. School portraits show girls commonly wearing strap shoes to school. but we see very few boys. We see a few youngr boys in private schools wearing British-style school sandals, John F. Kenndy Jr. who wore strap shoes as a todler did so. His mother liked European styles. We do not think that his was very common. Strap shoes were a school standard for girls in America, but not for boys. American boys did not commonly wear sandals to school. When Iwas in school during the 1950s, boys who would wear sandals would have been called sissies. We begin to see open-toe sandals in the 1990s. They may have appeared earlier in California. We believe the pattern was highly seasonal and more common in California because of the warm weather and laid-back life style. We are less sure about the Siutheast. Various factors were involved here. Boys' preferences as well as parental views were a factor. Boys and mothers had various opinions about sandals. Some boys thought that sandals were for girls. One boy writes, "We saw sandals as lame." Other boys did not like wearing them as they were not as good for active play as sneakers. The schools also were a factor. Schools had a variety of rules. Some schools had safety and other concerns. We nore comments like, "Our middle school had a rule against sandals because we had P.E., but did not change into gym clothes. If you wear sandals, you are basically useless for many activities. In highschool we were allowed to wear them." Some schools permitted sandals while others did not. One reader reports, "Sandals were not allowed when I was in school, but I see many boys wearing them now." Sandals are now more common in warm weather. Shoe companies have introduced sport sandals. The earlier image of sandals as a girl's style seem to no longer be an issue.

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Created: 12:50 PM 6/4/2013
Last updated: 12:50 PM 6/4/2013