Figure 1.--This German boys wears long pants in a portrait probably taken in the early 1950s. From the material they look to be for winter wear. Although it is difficult to see, the satchell he has on tells us that he is on his way to school--but he needs his shoe laces tied. We have no idea what all those buttons are for. Image courtesy of Album1900.

Long pants were adopted by laborers and peaseants before gentelmen began wearing them in in the 1820s. Boys generally wore long pants until after mid-centuary when kneeapnts began increasing in popularity. While many German boys wore kneepants, short pants, and knickers many German boys also wore long pants. Several factors were involved bere, such as seasonality and social class. Some German boys in the first half of the 20th century wore short pants all yearlong, even during the winter. Mothers in cold weather might have boys wear long stockings with shorts--especially younger boys. Even when short pants were commonly worn by German boys, some mothers preferred long pants during the cold winter months. Even the Hitler Youth had a long pants winter uniform. There were no longpants Sout uniforms for winter at the time. Social class was a factor because working class boys often inherited worn clothes of their father or older brother. Thus they were more likely to dress in juvenile styled clothes because their parents could not afford to buy new children's clothes. After World War II (1939-45) especially in the 1950s, long pants began to be increasingly worn, esoecially in cold weather. German boys by the 1960s were increasing wearing long pants even during the summer. This included even the younger boys.

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Created: May 3, 2003
Last updated: May 3, 2003