Figure 1.--While grey shirts are not as common as they once were in England, they are still worn at many preparatory schools. These boys wear Viyella wool-blend shirts.

British school boys in the 1950s generally wore Viyella or similar wool blend shirts. The material was mainly of a wool and cotton blend, making for a warm, rather heavy shirt. These heavier wool blend shirts must have felt good because until recently few British homes had central heating and the schools were notriously drafty places. Large numbers of the British school boys photographed in the 1950s, probably earlier as well, are probably wearing Vieyella shirts when they have grey shirts on. While Vyella was the most common brand, a similar shirt was made and marketed as Clydella.

Chronology

HBC is not sure when these wool blend shirts first appeared. HBC has confirmed that they were widely worn in England by the 1950s, so they presumably appeared earlier. Photographs show British boys commonly wearing grey shirts in the 1930s, these may well have been wool blend shirts. They were widely worn through the 1960s, but declined in pooularity in the 1970s. They are still worn at some traditional preparatory and a few public schools.

Style

Wool blend shirts were almost always made in the long-sleeve style. The shirts HBC has seen were usually fully buttoming at the front. HBC contributors indicate, howeverm that the shirts were also available in the Rugby style.

Colors

HBC is unsure about the colors, but believes they were always a light grey color. HBC knows of no Viyella shirts made in other colors, other than cream which was used more in the summer especially for cricket. The two major brands, Viyella and Clydella were almost identical shades of light grey. The grey shirt was very commonly worn in English schools until the 1960s and still is worn in some private schools, as well as former British colonies like New Zealand.

Conventions

These shirts were most common at private schools and until the 1970s widely worn at state schools as well. They were worn primarily at schools requiring uniforms, both elementary and secondary level schools. They were a a boys' shirt styles and not worn by girls. They were commonly worn with ties, but a few schools did not require the ties be worn during the summer.

Countries

These shirts were widely worn in England, Scotland, Wales, Ulster, and Ireland (Eire}. I'm not sure if they were also sold in the British colonies like Australia and New Zealand or in foreign countries.

Popularity

Wool blend shirts were apparently popular through the 1950s and 60s when few British homes, not to mention the schools had central heating. Private schools in particular were notoriously poorly heated. Few private schools were purpose-built schools. Usually they were country estates converted for school use. The schools which were often run at first by individuals would often try to economize on heat. The boys thus had to dress warmly. The popularity of these schirts began to decline in the 1960s and especially the 1970s. Better heated homes and schools were one factor. Another was these shirts required ironing while many of the new synthetic blends did not. In addition the shirts became very expensive compared to some of the cotton or synthetic blend alternatives.

Figure 2.--This is an example of a Viyella wool-blend shirt. It was 60 percent wool and 40 percent cotton. Itvwas one of the most popular shirts worn by English schoolboys.

Brands

There were two major brands of these wool blend shirts, Viyella and Clydella. Although now little known, they were once the two principal types of shirts worn at English schools where uniforms were required. HBC at this time has relatively little information in these two brands. They appear to be styled almost identically and be the same color.

The Company

The company is now Coats Viyella Plc, headquartered in the U.K. It is an international organisation operating in textiles with an annual turnover of about £2 billion. Coats Viyella is comprised of four Divisions. It is the largest manufacturer of sewing thread in the world and has a unique global spread. The company has a particularly extensive operation in India. Coats is renowned in the business to business sector for sewability, service and colour matching, and in the consumer sector for embroidery favourites like Anchor and craft brands such as Red Heart. Coats is committed to research into and development of manufacturing processes. An example of this is the innovations in the understanding and application of colour physics which have led the way to developing exact electronic colour communications systems. These systems, developed in house, are more advanced than those available anywhere else. One division, Madura Textiles still makes shirting material.

Viyella shirts

Viyella shirts were a brand sold by Cassidy, a London retailer. Viyella shirts were made in Scotland and marketed as "The most natuaral fabric in the world." The material was a blend of 55 percent wool and 35 percent cotton. I'm not sure when they first appeared, probably the 1930s, but theu were the most widely worn schoolboy shiort in England by the 1950s. Many HBC contributors from Britain recall wearing the Viyella shirts as part of their school uniform on ordinary school days. Whilst the Viyella shirts are still available, at about L30 per shirt, they cost much more than the more common L5 cotton shirts most boys now wear.

Figure 3.--This is an example of a Clydella wool-blend shirt. Notice the absence of the vertical front tab to reinforce the button holes.

Clydella shirts

While Viyella was the most common brand, a similar shirt was made and marketed as Clydella. They may have been made by the same company judging by the name. The company may have been Viyella House. They were made in Britain, perhaps Scotland like the Viyella shirts. I'm not sure what the precise blend was. The stiching and design of the two types looks remarkably similar. The Clydella shirt, however, may have been a less expensive version of the Viyella shirt. The Clydella shirt did not have a vertical tab running down the front of the shirt to reinforce the button holes. The Clydella shirt also had a lower wool content, but I'm not sure what the exact mixture was.

Created: November 18, 1999
Last updated: November 18, 1999