Figure 1.--Various materials were used in England for school trousers, including flannel, rayon-nylon, corduroy, and terylene worsted. Flannel was especially common during the early 20th century. Flannel became a material commonly associated with schoolwear. Some schools adopted cotton corduory, usually in grey but sometimes blue or brown. This school had rust colored cord shorts.

Various materials were used in England for school trousers, including flannel, rayon-nylon, corduroy, and terylene worsted. Flannel was especially common during the early 20th century. Flannel became a material commonly associated with schoolwear. Some schools adopted cotton corduory, usually in grey but sometimes blue or brown. A few schools even adopted cord jackets to wear with the cord shorts, I believe beginning in the 1920s. Cord shorts, however, were generally considered a less dressy style. Some schools had cord shorts during an ordinary school day and fllannel short or long trousers for special occasions. Terrelyn worsted became common in the 1970s. Terrelyn was popular because it held the creases without ironing.

Corduroy

Some schools adopted cotton corduory, usually in grey but sometimes blue or brown. A few schools even adopted cord jackets to wear with the cord shorts, I believe beginning in the 1920s. Cord shorts, however, were generally considered a less dressy style. Some schools had cord shorts during an ordinary school day and flannel short or long trousers for special occasions. As far as we can tell. the schools adopting corduroy trousers were prep schools. Most prep schools had flannel or later Terrlyn, but a number chose corduroy. Corduroy was associated with modest income families and was popular because it was long wearing. The long-wearing characteristic is probably why some prep schools adopted cord trousers. We re not entirely sure when this happened, perhaps in the 1950s. A HBC reader at primary school in the 1960s finds it amusing that his little Anglican primary had more strict uniform regulations than private prep schools. Corduroy was commonly used for short trousers, but some schools also had long trousrs done in corduroy. Another reader writes, "I have a further comment relating to cord shorts. I too liked wearing them as a boy and found them very comfortable to wear. They were indeed very hard wearing, yet at the same time due to the nature of the fabric they were nearly as soft as velvet. The one drawback with corduroy is that the material is very prone to shrinkage and when my shorts had been washed a few times, their legs would become quite short. Also with continual washing the dye in the fabric became very much faded."

Cotton Twill

We noticed boys at a few prep schools wore cotton twill khaki shorts. This was the same material worn by British Scouts for many years. This was not very common at prep schols, but was a material used at a few prep scgools and one public school.

Flannel

Flannel was especially common during the early 20th century. Flannel became a material commonly associated with schoolwear. Flannel was still commonly worn in the early 1960s, but during the 60s many mothers and schools began buying Terrlyn worsted trousers insead of flannel. A few schools still had flannel trousers into the 1980s, but there were not very many. Flannel did contibue to be used for cricket whites.

Terrelyn

Terrelyn worsted appeared in the 1960s and became common in the 1970s. Terrlyn is a blended fabric with synthetic fiber and wool. Terrelyn was popular because it held the creases without ironing. This of course mean that the tousers looked much smarter, even after being worn. They also held the crease after washing. Flannek required much more care to look smart. It was widely adopted at state and private schools throughout England, basically replacing flannel.

Created: 4:34 AM 10/24/2005
Last updated: 12:55 AM 8/13/2009