Figure 1.--Several English prep schools had uniforms with cord shorts, usually grey shorts. The shade of grey often varied widely--primarily because of washing.

We norice corduroy shorts being worn to school in Europe. Cord shorts seem the most common in English schools where some schools adopted them as part of a school uniform. For some reason we seem them worn more in the private than the state schools, at least by the 1970s, we are not sure about earlier. While perhaps more common in English schools than elsewhere, we do note them being worn at schools in several other countries as well. They were worn in Belgium, France, the Nertherlands, Scotland, and other countries. HBC has not noted them in former British colonies like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa where Nritish styles were often adopted.

Belgium

We believe that some private Belgian schools had school uniforms with blue cord shorts. A belgian reader tells us, "Quite a few boys wore cord shorts when I was going to school. I wore them as well as a boy in the 1950s. My mother chose them in part because they were so durable. I recall that there were different colors. Mine were brown, but dark blue was also very common. They were also worn by some of the Scout groups."

England

Corduroy is a corruption of the French corde du roi, corde or material of the king. It was a material used as livery for the king's attendants on the hunt. It was in effect a kind of poor man's velvet. More details on corduroy in general are available on the corduroy short pants page. I am not precisely sure when the corduroy fabric became widely used in England and for boys' trousers. I do know it was worn by English and American soldiers during World War I because of its hardwearing characteristics. Perhaps it was, as a result, commonly used for boys knickers and shorts after the war, but I am not sure of this. Cord shorts were commonly worn by English boys through the 1950s. Afterwards they continued to be worn, but mostly as part of school uniforms--almost entirely prep schools.

France

Relatively few French schools had uniforms. Some private carholic colleges adopted cord shorts, often blue shorts. More commonly cord shorts in France were worn by Scouts. I am also not sure to what extent cord was used for boys shorts and trousers in France. I do know that cord shorts were commonly worn by French boy scouts in the 1950s, although I'm not positive just when the Scouts began wearing cord shorts.

Germany

German boys commonly wore cord pants, including cord short pants. And during the 1930s with the Hitler Youth movrement, virtually every boy in Germany 10-years old or over had aair of black cord shorts. A Dutch reader writes, "It it occured to me that the first time after World War II when we were allowed to visit our German relatives in British occupied Cologne (it must have been in 1947) my cousins and their friends were wearing black corduroy shorts, obviously remnants from their HJ-uniforms. The parents got rid of the shirts and caps, but the shorts was another matter. They were of good quality and could be worn without problem." We are unsure just how commonly cord shorts were worn to school, but believe it was very common.

Japan

As far as we know, corduroy was not used for Japanese school shorts.

(The) Netherlands

We do not yet know a great deal about Dutch fashions, but Dutch readers have provided some information. A Dutch reader tells us, "In Holland where children did not wear school uniforms, boy scouts wore corduroy shorts as part of their uniform, as they did in Belgium and France. They were made of good coton quality and practically indestructible." Another Durch reader tells us, "I would like to mention again that when I grew up there were no schools that dictated a uniform or even a dress code. Many boys wore corduroy shorts in school. There was a strong association with youth groups. Rhis was especially the case with Boy Scouts who not only would wear cord shorts during their club activities but also in daily life, including gto school. This was because of the durability and quality of the material. At the time we boys did not have the large wardrobes of modern children. There were some other groups besides the Boy Scouts that favored corduroy for their members. I remember De Jonge Wacht, a semi-scout organisation, (catholic and Fascist) and boys in reformatories who wore brown cord jackets as part of their uniform as well. Then we had the 'trekkers', boys who would sleep in youth hostels during their bike trips. They could be compared with the German Wandervogels.

New Zealand

HBC was not aware that cord shorts were worn in New Zealand. A New Zealand contributor, however, informs me that cord shorts were worn in the 1950s. I'm not sure when they first appeared. He wore cord shorts to school. It was a school in the poorer part of town and money was in short supply as well as clothing. The school had a uniform code. The girls wore white shirt or gray, blue gym slips or blue pinafores, blue bloomers, gray socks and brown shoes. The boys wore gray shirt, brown or blue corduroy or tweed or gray shorts. (All of these shorts were lined with white cotton or old cotton flower bags) gray soxs and brown shoes. He wore brown corduroy shorts and they were lined with old flower bags. He also had several pairs of corduroy's as he got older, but these weren't school wear.

Scotland

HBC has little information on Scotland. As far as we know, only a few Scottish schools adopted cord. They were worn at both prep schools and the junior section of public schools. They may have been worn to state schools as well, but we do not know of any state schools which required them as school uniform. Both blue and grey shorts were worn, we do not know of any others colors worn in Scotland. They were the same style as English cord shorts.

Uninted States

We do not notice American boys commonly wearing corduroy shorts to school. Younger boys might wear shorts to school in the 1920s-early 40s, but cord shorts were not common. This was proibabky because corduroy was seen as a cold wear fabric. What was very common were cord knickers. They were worn by very large numbers of boys.

Created: October 15, 2000
Last updated: 2:05 AM 10/7/2011