Figure 1.--This German school boy wears pants cut below the knee, but without the ornamental buttons commonly associated with knee pants. The question becomes, is he wearing longish cut short pants or knee pants. Click on the image for a discussion of the image.

The terminology for 'knee pants' is somewhat difficult to develop. This is because there was no consistent definition used for the term. We have seen these long cut short pants described as both kneepants and short pants. The use of knickers was also not consistent. Indeed knee pants and knickers at thecturn of the 20th century coulkd be used interchanhably. Knee pants were also called 'stove-pipe' pants in America. I'm not sure when this term was first used. We also see references to 'straight-leg' knee pants, usually differentuating them from knickers. There were also differences between American and British usages. We have no information at this time over foreign language terms. Although contemporary usage was not consistent, we have attempted to refer to the knee-length short pants wotn in the 19th and early 20th century as knee pants. Generally speaking they differet from short pants primarily from length, although short pants in the 1920s tebnded to be quite long, except for younger boys. Another major differences is that knee pants commonly had ornamental buttons at the leg hem. This appeared in the mid-19th century and were designed to simulate knee breeches.

Various Terms

The terminology for "knee pants" is somewhat difficult to develop. This is because there was no consistent definition used for the term. We have seen these long cut short pants described as both kneepants and short pants. The use of knickers was also not consistent. Indeed knee pants and knickers at thecturn of the 20th century coulkd be used interchanhably. Knee pants were also called "stove-pipe" pants in America. We also see references to 'straight-leg' knee pants, usually differentuating them from knickers.

Chronology

I'm not sure when this term was first used. I do not know what these pants were called in the mid-19th century. We do see "knee pants" being used in advertisements by the late-19th century.

Country Trends

There were also differences between American and British usages. Here thge British tended to call short pants short trousers. But terns like "knickers" were variously used. I'm not sure just how they referred to "knee pants". The terminology was also confused in British colonies (Australia, Vanada, New Zealand, and South Africa). We have little information at this time over foreign language terms. We know the term Kniehose (literally translation: knee pants) and Kurze Hose (literally translation: short pants), but I don't know if they were used differently or interchangably.

HBC Usage

As with several garments discussed on HBC, we have decided to create some consistency so that we can coherently discuss this and other garments. As explained above, this consistenc was not present in contemporary sources. Although contemporary usage was not consistent, we have attempted to refer to the knee-length short pants wotn in the 19th and early 20th century as kneepants. Generally speaking they differet from short pants in two basic features. First, a primary destinguishing factor was length. Knee pants tended to be longer than short pants. The first knee pants were very long, often cut at calf level. The knee-length knee pants did not become comon until the 1890s. The problem here is that early short pants in the 1910s and 30s could also be quite long and indeed in the 1990s, long-length short pants for boys became common again. At first only younger boys wore the shorter-length short pants. Second, another major differences is that knee pants commonly had ornamental buttons at the leg hem. The purpose was to emulate 18th century knee breeches. I have no idea just why this convention developed. These buttons appeared in the mid-19th century and continued to be seen into the 1930s. Generally there were three small buttons. Someknee pants had two buttons and some four. We hae never seen them with just one button. Third, Chronology is a third fasctor. We see knee pants in the mid-19th century. We asre not sure when the term "Short" pants/troysers was first used, but suspect it may have been in the 1910s. This needs to be further investigated. Four, kneepants were normally cut narrowly and not baggy like kinickers and some short pants. This is why they were sometimes called "stove-pipe" pants.

Ambiguity

The HBC definition is to an extent anbiguous. This is because some short pants were as long as knee pants and while most knee pants had the decorative buttons, not all had them.