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Growing up with campshorts, I fondly recall wearing campshorts as a boy/ I grew up in the 1960s and late 70s. I got my first two pair when I was 11 years old. My mom got them for me out of a Sears catalog. I really did not want to wear them at first, as they were somthing new to me--you know all the pockes and zippers. They seemed really short. I thought for sure the other kids would poke fun at me. They sat on my dresser for 2 weeks until one warm summer night I got brave and put on a pair. This all occurred several years ago. So I checked with my mother to be sure I had the details acurate.
I grew up during the 1960s and late 70s in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
I grew up with campshorts. I now fondly recall wearing campshorts as a boy. Even before I got my first pair of camp shorts, I commonly wore short pants. I normally wore the heavy wrangler 100 percent cotton blluejean type of shorts. I got my first two pair when I was 11 years old. My mom who at the time purchased all mu clothes ordered them for me out of a Sears catalog. I really did not like them at first and did not want to wear them. You know how boys are. There is an instintive averrsion to wear anything new or different. They seemed so different to me, you know all the pockes and zippers. And they were really short--over half way above my knee. I thought for sure that the other kids would poke fun at me. They sat on my dresser for 2
weeks. Finally one warm summer afternoon, I got brave and put on one of the pair. I was amazed how comfortable they felt. So I took the chance and went out to play with some of my friends. No one made fun at me and several kids asked me were did you get those cool looking shorts. After that i wore them all the time, until I was in my mid-20s in fact.
I started wearing my camp shorts usually in the late spring. As you might know pennsylvania has a very temperant climate. I usually was able to wear them mid way through sept.
As for the colors and sizes mine came from Sears and they came in only 2 colors--forrest green and biege. I eventually found camp shorts in navy blue, charcoal grey, biege, grass green, sky blue, and ecro white. I ended up with a pair in every color
The camp shorts were perma press. Even so, my mom ironed them. She always ironed them wether they were cotton or perma press.
The Sears size range was 8 to 22. I wore mu first two mpairs of camp shorts for 2 years.
When I was 13, a friend and I went to a big department store in Pittsburgh. They carried campshorts in sizes 8 to 24 and student sizes 28 to 34 waist. Other stores in Pittsburg cairred them. The biggest was Joseph Hornes the other was Kauffmans. Horns carried
the biggest varity. Although most of my camp shorts came
from Hornes Department Store, some also came from Kauffmans. Here is the difference Hornes brand and the ones at Kauffmans. The Hornes camp shorts had a big zipper pocket on the front right side and a small zipper pocket above it. On the left side was a big snap closer bellows pocket. Above it on a belt loop was a metal key clip. There were two patch pockets on the back with button closers. The Kauffman's style had a zipper pocket on the front right, one left side bellows pocket, one utilty clip on the front belt loop, and one one back patch pocket on the right side. Both styles were of a cotton poloyester.
My sears camp shorts did not have a elastic waist. My next pair had the half elastic waistband and more pockets with zipper closers than the Sears style shorts.
Camp shorts were good to wear for almost every activity. I wore the campshorts for
both play and casual wear. I even wore them to go swimming. With the elastic back you did not need a belt and those zipper
pockets saved me from losing a lot of penneys and nickles. I even saw a lad
wear them to church with a white shirt and dress leather shoes and socks. I really see why they were multi porpose shorts. Sporty and good looking for a real nice clean cut look. I hope mu account provides a little insight to my childhood and the way it was when campshorts were a really nice thing to wear.
I did not wear camp shorts or any other kind of short pants to school. My school district for some reason did not permit any type of short pants to be worn to school--even the younger boys in elementary school.
I normally wore a logo type of "T" shirt with them like a baseball or football name on it. I wore tennis shoes and white tube socks with them. I wore my T-shirts both left out and ticked in. For casual wear I usually left them out. I usually tucked my shirt in when wearing a collared shirt. My parents always insisted on neatness when it came to any type of clothes. I did usually try to match my camp shorts with the tube sock top colors or the shirt I was wearing. That was also my mom's doing. She always tried to
make sure our clothes matched no matter if they were shorts or dress clothes.
When I dressed up, I usually wore a dark blue suit. My mother chose a conservative dark blue which I wore with a white shirt and tie almost the same type of suite worn for my first communion.
I remember that when I was wearing camp shorts as a boy that a lot of my friends' mothers would say that I looked reallly cute in short pants. I especially recall one commenting that I looked sweet to my mother. They would say those kind of things
right out in public. For some reason moms really liked their boys and girls
in short pants. I really don't know why.
edward.
I was a boy scot but only for a year. The uniform was a olive type of green and the pants dit did not have any utilty pockets on it. The Scouts only adopted the style with the utility pockets like camp shorts in the mid-1980s I belive.
By the way, my mom told me more than onnce that I looked really cute as a little boy in camp shorts--espacially when I first started
wearing them. Pf course she didn't tell me thast at the time. I might not have worn them if she had. I guess all moms would say that about their children.
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