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I am not positive just who first designed and marketed these sandals. I believe they were first marketed as a comfortable summer cassual shoe and only later adopted for school wear. I have noted double bar sandals in the 1900s, worn by affluent children during the summer. I have not noted school sandals diring the 1900s or 1910s, but can not yet confirm that they did not appear before World War I (1914-18). The first that I have noted closed-toe sandals with the single strap and narrow center piece was the 1920s after World War I. At the time, however, they were called sand shoes and not normally worn at school. I think they became known as school sandals because many British families of modest means did not have the money to provide several different pairs of shoes. Thus they simply started wearing their sandals to shoe. Originally sand shoes were appealing because they were less expensive than ordinary shoes. The basic style with narrow straps were commonly worn through the 1950s. The style of strap shoes began to change in the 1960s with the center strap becoming wider for boys. Girls continued to wear the style with the narrow strap. The school sandal is still widely worn by boys in England, but mostlty the style with the wide center strap.
I am not positive just who first designed and marketed these sandals. I believe they were first marketed as a comfortable summer cassual shoe and only later adopted for school wear. I have noted double bar sandals in the 1900s, worn by affluent children during the summer. I have not noted school sandals diring the 1900s or 1910s, but can not yet confirm that they did not appear before World War I (1914-18).
The first that I have noted closed-toe sandals with the single strap and narrow center piece was the 1920s after World War I. At the time, however, they were called sand shoes and not normally worn at school. I think they became known as school sandals because many British families of modest means did not have the money to provide several different pairs of shoes. Thus they simply started wearing their sandals to shoe. Originally sand shoes were appealing because they were less expensive than ordinary shoes.
The basic style with narrow straps were commonly worn through the 1950s.
The style of strap shoes began to change in the 1960s with the center strap becoming wider for boys. Girls continued to wear the style with the narrow strap. The school sandal is still widely worn by boys in England, but mostlty the style with the wide center strap. They also began tobe a style that was more common in private than state schools, suggesting social-class differences. A British reader writes about his primary school experiences in the 1960s, "I'm not sure if class came into it from what I can remember. As I told you nearly all boys wore sandals at my primary school in the Summer. Some liked them some didn't. I liked mine as I have told you. At secondary school. The area that I lived in up until age 11 was pretty socially mixed but there were no really posh schools where sandals may have been worn at a later age from what I read on the site. Come to think of it - I don't recall any of the prep school boys at my secondary school ever wearing sandals (you can see that on the photo which would be taken in Summer) so they had probably gone out of fashion in London then even among fairly posh boys (although this wasn't a boarding school like a "proper" prep school). Or maybe they weren't allowed and the "German" boy just was allowed to get away with it. I wore mine both for school and for play (and on holiday as Germany showed!) but some boys
only wore them for school when their Mums made them and wore plimsoles for play. My older brother didn't like them and wore his school shoes to cubs even in the Summer. He told our Mum that was the rule - but she made him take along his plimsoles to change into for their games after "inspection"). I know that my primary school allowed sandals in Summer - but for school trips and so on we had to wear proper shoes. My Mum was the same - if we were visiting she liked us in our school shoes and not our sandals even though we wore them polished up for school. But sandals were alright for shopping trips with her - whereas plimpsoles were not. So as far as I know - up until 1970 anyway - sandals, like macs and grey shorts and so on
were standard across all classes for primary school boys.Private schools may have had more expensive versions of these items - as I said our sandals were always Clarke's the same as most boys I mixed with. But our school,as well as most Mums did not see them as "best" wear so that may be a reflection of class. I don't know if "real" prep schools (boarding) who wore sandals in school wore proper shoes on school trips - I would imagine they did"
Our British reader began secondary school in the 1970s. He writes, From 1970 on - nobody wore them except for the "German" boy I told you about and my little brother never wore them at his new primary school where they didn't have uniform and an early form of trainers were coming in. As a result, the style began to be seen as an upper class style. I did want to wear my sandals on my first day at secondary school but my Mum wouldn't allow it as she wanted me to look extra smart.I am glad as I would have stood out - and as I say it was probably against the rules. I only wore them after that on holidays - never around the streets in London - but then we'd moved to a tougher area. I also told you that Didier, my little brother's French exchange student, did wear sandals and got stick here in London, but that was about 1974. I do know that I noticed German boys wearing sandals at an older age when I was there - but they were of a different type to ours. I'm not sure of this - but I don't think many boys at day schools in England wore sandals after the age of 11 or so when I was growing up - and by the 70s hardly anyone older than 8 or 9 wore them out of school either - trainers coming in.
We note fewer boys wearing school sandals and those that do are generally younger than was common earlier. Soe of the younger boys at primary schools wore sandals, but it was becoming less common. Many boys wanted to wear trainers (sneakers) when permitted. Many of the boys who did wear sandals did so because it was required by the schools. Many private prep schools required sandals for everday wear at school.
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