Figure 1.--This illustration from a booklet commemorating the 50th anniversary of American Scouting, shows a Cub and Scout in the 1950s. The Cub Scout wears long pants, while the Boy Scout wears short pants and knee socks. Both the Cub Scout and Boy Scout have a square knot in the tips of their neckerchiefs. Interstingly, the Boy Scout is shown without tabs for the garters holding up his knee socks.

The initial Cub 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 and 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.

Chronology

The initial Cub pants were blue knickers matching the shirt. We mostly see Cubs wearing knickers in the 30s. A reader writes, "In the the section on USA Cub Scouts describing the uniform you (this site) says the long pants and shorts were not used by Cubs until after 1940. This is incorrect. In the 1936 Cubbook on the inside of the back cover has photos of how the Cub uniform should look. The photos include knickers, shorts and long pants as well as long and short sleeve shirts and a pull over sweater option." [McGarrah] This is interesting, but the photographic record shows little indicatiin that Cubs wore anything but knickers in the 1930s. his is the case fof both individual and pack snap shots. 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 and 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.

Pants Type

We see American Cubs wearing a range of uniform pants, including short pants, knockers, and long pants. This varied substantially over time. We also see the same range of non uniform pants worn with offical Cub shirts.

Knickers

The initial Cub uniform pants in the 1930s wore blue knickers matching the blue shirt. This went along with the Scout uniform at the time. The knickers were worn with blue kneesocks with gold bands. These knickers were worn throughout the 1930s and into the early 40s. Scouts at the time wore knicker-like breeches. Knickers in the earky 30s were still widely worn by American boys, but by the late 1930s were rapidly going out of style. We still see them in the early 40s, but knickers very rapidly disappeared during World War II. I am not entirely sure why. I think Government efforts to reduce unecessary fabric usage during World War II was a factor in the demise of knickers, but they were already going out of fashion. The BSA following fashion trends discontinued knickers as prt of the Cub uniform in 1943. Thriugh this time the only unifirm pants avail for Cubs were knickers.

Short Pants

Knickers were replaced with short and long pants in the 1940s. I think the initial change was to shorts, but this was not popular with the boys. Thus shorts and longs were made optional. 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 attend these camps. We see some Cubs wearing the short pants uniform in the 1940s and early 50s, but we then rarely see them. Many American boys at the time did not wear short pants and thus did not want to wear shorts for Cub Scouts. We notice Cubs wearing shorts more commonly in the 1990s.

Long Pants

Most Cubs wore long pants. The Cub pants pants had destinctive fold over front pockets with yellow piping. Scouts had the same arrangement done with red piping. I'm not sure when this stylistic chnge was introduced. Only minor changes were made during the 60s and 70s. Many Cubs chose to wear jeans or other pnts rather than the official Cub pants. I think the cost was the main factor here. An entirely new uniform was introduced in the 1980s, but the blue and gold color scheme was retained. . Cubs began wearing the short pants uniform more commonly.

Sources

McGarrah, Larry. E-mail message (August 17, 2014.