Figure 1.--s.

Edward, the 1960s-70s

The HBC information about cloths in the Wards catalog brought back some memories. I myself wore those jeans with the suspenders, all the way to age 11 or 12. They did come in those sizes in the 1960s and 70s. What I recall is the suspenders were not the clip on type as worn today. The pants I wore had 4 snaps on them 2 in front and 2 in the back. The jeans also had belt loops if you wanted to wear a belt. The suspenders were made of the same material as the jeans denim i think. Some of the boys that I grew up with also wore them with the suspenders while others wore a belt. Some did not wear either a belt or the suspenders. As long as the pants were not to big you could wear them that way but most of the boys did wear the suspenders. Moms tended to buy them just a little bigger so that you could grow into them and you would not grow out of them to soon. I know that my mom purchased a lot of our clothes from the Wards or Sears catalogs. The reason that your article struck me is because I was watching a rerun of an early episode of the "Andy Griffith Show" last week. Young Ronnie Howard (Oppie) was wearing the same type of jeans. He must have been about 7 or 8 years old in the episode that I was warching. I noted 4 suspender snaps on the waist of the jeans. -- Edward

Jeff (Ohio), the 1970s

I was reading the story from the kid during the 1970s who went to school in Kentucky. I was problem one of the poorest guys growing up in southern Ohio. Mom made us wear jeans we had outgrown that were too short and we would wear those blue foam like boots that you would buy at Farm Fleet when it was in business. Sometimes in class my jeans would be half way to my knees so I'd try and sit in the rear of the room in junior school. There were other poor kids but me and my brother just had a few of those "V"-neck undershirts for school and mom even sewed material on to Andy's jeans so they would be longer. -- Jeff

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Created: June 1, 2002
Last updated: October 9, 2002