Figure 1.--This little German boy seems to be wearing tights. Notice the ribbing. The snapshot is undated, but looks to be from the early 1960s. A reader writes, "I feel the boy here is wearing longjohns with long stockings over them with high top rubber bands . Usually, ribbed tights are ribbed to the waist." Our reader may have a point here. I thought at first the boy was wearing shorts with tights. Looking at the image more carefully, they do look rather like long stockings pulled up and cuffed at the top and short pants tucked under them. I haven't notice anything like this before. Click on the image for a more detailed discussion.

HBC at this time has dificulty in assessing the chronology of tights, because of the very limited information available on tights. Because tights were not commonly worn by American boys--HBC is generally unfamiliar with the style and was at first confused with long stockings. Our German readers have hrelped us piece together some basic information. Except for theatrical tights, they seemned to have appeared in children's versions in the late-1950s. Suddently in 1959 most of all manufactureres of hosiery added tights to their production. HBC is not sure why production began at this time. Tights were being produced for girls in America with new synthetiv fisbers. These new fibers may have been the key factor in Germany. Our German source reports that was in part a matter of the elastic material needed for producing them by machine. The key development was a fabric called 'helanca', which was introduced around 1955 and which was used first to make elastic stockings, later tights. Tights became popular right away in West Germany, but took longer to replace long stockings in East Germany. The popularity has varied over time. Theyy are currently worn by both boys and girls in cold weather. There are also adult versions of tights.

The 16th-18th Centuries

Tights in general where used since long times in men´s and boys wear. They were worn in the 16th and early 17th centuries before the development of knee breeches. By the mid 17th centurybhas knee breechesbecamevmore common, tights were worn underneath. Tights were not boys' garments, but rather a fashion for men of all ages--including boys after breching. A HBC contrinutor reports thta the first reference he has noted specifically to boys' tights dates to about 1795.

The 19th Century

One HBC contributor reports that with the begining of 19th century tights had disappeared in Germany. He is not sure why. HBC speculates that it may be due to the general adoption of sleleton suits and long pants fashions for boys by the turn of the 19th century. German mothers may have felt that tights were nomlonger needed. The HBC contributor reports that tights in Germany reappeared around 1890 for general boys' wear, but disappeared around 1900 again. Specialized tights were worn by boys and men for ballet as well as by the late 19th century for althletics.

Early-20th Century (1900-18)

German boys commonly wore long stockings in the winter, even after the 1910s when they generally went out of style in many other European countries. HBC assumes that German boys in the early 20th century wore long stockings and not tights, but this is based primarily on HBC's familiarity with American and English clothing.

Inter-War and War Years (1919-45)

HBC believes that tights appeared during the inter-war years, but stresses that this is just a preliminary assessment at this time. A Swiss contributor has informed HBC that tights were commonly worn in the 1940s. Presumably this was true in Germany as well as Switzerland--although HBC does not yet confirmatiin iof this. Younger German boys in the inter-war years would wear them or long stockings with short pants as many boys did not begin wearing long pants until they were 13 or 14 years old. A German HBC contributor, however, has not noted German boys wearing tights during the inter-war and war years.

Post-War Years (1945-69)

After World War II some boys appeared to have begun wearing tights rather than long stockings, which were no longer worn. HBC has, however, little information on this. A HBC contributor notes that he has found no proof that tights were in general use during the immediate post-war years. He reports that the first tights that he has had noted were produced in Germany during 1949. Production was, however, limited to that year. There was still little demand for tights in Germany. Significant production did not begin for another 10 years. The time apparently wasn´t yet right for introducing this „new“ article to the market. Suddently in 1959 most of all manufactureres of hosiery added tights to their production. HBC is not sure why production began at this time. Tights were being produced for girls in America with new synthetiv fisbers. These new fibers may have been the key factor in Germany. Our German source reports that was in part a matter of the elastic material needed for producing them by machine. The key development was a fabric called "helanca", which was introduced around 1955 and which was used first to make elastic stockings, later tights. The first tights were children's tights. The same style and colors were worn by both and girls. It was end of uncomfortable long stockings, which had been worn up to this time generally worn by girls and boys. Boys even wore long stockings under short pants which were still widely worn by German boys during the 1950s and 60s. These had been fixed on special shirts worn over underwear. Around 1965 first boy´s tights appeared - which had a fly in front, in general use they came from around 1968/69. They goes pretty well with the fashion of wearing knee-length leather trousers in Germany. At that time they had the advantage that they could not slip down like knee- or over the knee long stockings. A HBC contributor reports that, "It was the time I was growing up and I wore these tights myself. A lot of boys wore them at this time. Often they were very colourful to go with the knickers and patterned right over the knees or had been cable knitted. The material was wool with elastic fabrics. Also you could find boystights with zipper in front, but tights with a fly were more common and more comfortable. Younger boys were often dressed in tights with short pants or lederhosen. This was a continuation of earlier practices of having boys wear long stockings with short pants during the winter.

Late 20th Century (1970-99)

After jeans had come up into fashion from 1972 on and same way leathertrousers disappeared from general wear the boy´s tights became only one-colored and flat knitted during the 1970s and 80s. By the time it was getting a bit more unusual for boys in age over 10 to 12 to wear short pants, especially with tights. Sometimes boys who wore them got teased at school in the locker room when undressing for sport. Even so some mothers insisted on them to make sure their sons were warmly dressed. Boys also wore them with long pants. Their school mates would insist, "tights are little boys and girl´s stuff". Some boys wore long-johns which were an alternative garment to wear during cold winter weather. German companies began to produce men's tights in 1964. They wereoffered as a cold weather garment. They proved popular and were widely available by 1968/69. They are still commonly worn today. They were styled quite similarly to boys' tights. Special boys' tights have become rare in Germany. Only a few manufacturers produce them now. Initially in the 1950s more boys than girls wore tights, but this is no longer true. Boys in Germany still wear tights--at least untill about age of 6. A HBC contributor reports that most boys at thatvage wear tights, but that by age 10/12 this declibes to about 40 percent. Tights are still commonly worn for sports--especially in soccer. Some teams have adopted them for the official winter uniform to wear under sport-shorts. We note East German children in a pre-school wearing brightly-colored tights in 1989. We are not sure to what vextent they were worn in primary schools.

The 21st Century

We do not yet know much about tights in Germany during the 21st century. We believe that children wore them at home during the winter rather like pajamas. We are not sure just how common this was or much about the ageconventions, although apparently both children and adults sear them. We also know very little about gender conventions, other than color preferences varied. Tights are a difficult topic for HBC to cover because we rely heavily on the photographic record. This is because German boys now commonly wear long pants, especially during the winter when the weather is cold. Thus it is impossible to see just what kind of hosiery they are wearing. A German HBC contributor reports that in 2000 tights were increasing in popularity. Men's tights are reportedly selling better than in the 1990s. It is unclear how this will affect the popularity of boys' tights.

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Cloth and textiles] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Topics]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 6:05 AM 3/3/2008
Last updated: 1:14 AM 7/16/2011