Figure 1.--We still see many Swiss boys wearing suspenders in the 1950s. Here we see an unidentified boy in a village located in one of the German cantons. |
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There were several sollutions to the problem of trouser suspension. Suspenders were the primarily method of suspension in the 19th century for both men and boys. This continued in the 20th century until after World War I. We see many Swiss boys wearing suspenders in the early 20th century. Suspender pants and H-bar pants became very common for younger boys. We are not sure how common button-on clothes were in Switzerland. This was a popular style in America, but it seems that suspenders were much more common in Switzerland. This seems to be the case of several European countries. Older boys by the 1930s were increasingly wearing belts. We notice that even after belts had become popular, we see younger boys wearing suspenders with belts on the previous page.
A HBC reader, Tom, tells us about the suspenders he wore with a belt during the 1940s, "Notice my suspenders here. The suspenders were made out of leather. The two front-straps joined into one in the back. Where the belt is, there were loops at each end of the suspesnders through which the belt could be slided. As I was a very skinny kid and had no hips, my pants were always falling down. So, my parents made me wear this contraption. I did not want to wear the traditional suspenders made out of rubber. These suspenders also allowed me to wear my scout-belt. I was proud of my Scout built belt and wanted to wear it even when not wearing my Scout uniform."
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