Figure 1.--It became stylish for American boys in the 1980s to wear their baseball caps backwards. It was rare to see Cubs wearing their traditional caps backwards. The new uniform introduced in the 1980s replaced the tradituonal cap with a baseball cap.

The American Cub uniform for many years consisted of a peaked cap, scarfe, matching blue shirt and pants, and blue kneesocks. The uniform items were done in blue with yellow (gold) trim. The peaked cap was the same style made famous by British Cubs only done in different colors. The scarfe was at first standard and predominately yellow. Subsequently unit scarves became more common. There Cub uniform remained virtually unchanged for many years. Knickers were replaced with short and long pants in the 1940s, although most Cubs chose to wear long pants. The pants had destinctive fold over front pockets with yellow piping. Cubs wore long pants. Only minor changes were made during the 60s znd 70s. Many Cubs chose to wear jeans rather than the official Cub pants. An entirely new uniform was introduced in the 1980s. The basic uniform items were the same, but the styles were substantially changed. The Cubs, however, retained the same basic blue and yellow motiff for their uniform. Cubs began wearing the short pants uniform more commonly.

Caps

The peaked cap was the same style made famous by British Cubs only done in different colors. Cubs had blue caps with yellow piping rather than the green Cub caps many other countries adopted. A new baseball-style cap was introfuced in the 1980s..

Neckerchief

The scarfe was at first standard and predominately yellow with blue trim. Eventually a destinctive plaid Weblows scarfe was introduced. Subsequently unit scarves became more common. Some units had Cubs and Scouts wear the same scarves.

Shirt

Cubs from the beginning wore a blue shirt which matched their pants which were done both as knickers or short pants and eventually long pants. As far as I cn tell, the Cub shirt original shirt was long sleeves. I'm not sure when the short-sleeve shirt was first intoduced, probanly in the 1940s, but this needs to be confirmed. The shirts had collars, just like the Scout shirts. The collar as not, however, ideal to wear with the yellow Cub neckerchiefs. The collar kind of intefered and in any case was coberdcup by the neckerschief. Thus for both Scouts abnd Cubs, a new uniforn shirt was introduced without a collar. It was the same as the collared shirt, but rather than a neck button aznd collar it had a "V" neck opening. Boys wore their pack and den numbers on one shoulder and their council patch on the other. We alsi note boys wearing an American-flag patch above the Cub Scout patch on the right side of the shirt. I believe the flaf began to be worn in the 1970s. One the left side of the shirt, boys wore their rank (wolf, bear, and lion) and arrow badges.

Pants

The initial pants were blue knickers matching the shirt. Knickers were replaced with short and long pants in the 1940s, although most Cubs chose to wear long pants. Some Scouts wore shorts, but Cubs wore shorts much less than did the Scouts. I am not positive why this was. I think this was because Scouts attended summer camps which required shorts as the standard uniform. Cubs did not attnd these camps. The pants had destinctive fold over front pockets with yellow piping. Cubs wore long pants. Only minor changes were made during the 60s znd 70s. Many Cubs chose to wear jeans rather than the official Cub pants. An entirely new uniform was introduced in the 1980s. Cubs began wearing the short pants uniform more commonly.

Hosiery

The Cub hosiery for many years were blue knee socks with two gold bands. They were worn with knickers. You almost never see Cubs wearing the uniform without the regulations knee socks during the 1930s. The Cubs changed the official muniform to optionsl long or short pnts in 1943. The short seem to hsve been availble earlier, but we don't see many boys wearing them. Most Cubs opreferrefd the long pants uniform, even during the summer. Shorts seem go have been worn to some extent regionally, in the South and Clifornia. At least in the 40s, they were worn with the knee socks. . And knee socks became mich less popular for boys during the late 1930s. You even see boys wearing ankle sicks with knickets. There were regulation Cub abkle socks, but with long pants boys could wore wear rather much whatever socks they wanted to wear. It is difficult to tell just what socks they wore, but we suspect that it was rarely the regulation socks. We have found very few exampoles. The boys that wore shorts wore the same knee socks that they wore with knickers, but we rarely see Cubs wearing the short pnts uniform thriough the 1970s. Actually by the 1970s many boys did not wear the regulation long psnts either. When the uniform was changed in 1981, new athletic knee socks were intriduced. They were were blue socks with gold tops. We see more Cubs wearing the short pants unifirm at this time and the official knee socks were often worn, but boys commonly wore other socks as well. The knee socks became much less ppoulsr during the 90s.