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Much of the complication in assessing children's underwear is the many different types of underwear garments designed to support other garments. Here the principal purpose was to support pants and hosiery. Some garments combined these two functions. Men normally wore suspenders and belts to hold up theifr triusers. This was less common forf children so garments were devised spedcuifically for children to hold up their pants or skirts. There was also garments to hold up the long stockings which were commonly worn through the 1930s. We also have archived some actual vintage garments.
Much of the complication in assessing children's underwear is the many different types of underwear garments designed to support other garments. Here the principal purpose was to support pants and hosiery. Some garments combined these two functions. Men normally wore suspenders and belts to hold up theifr triusers. This was less common forf children so garments were devised spedcuifically for children to hold up their pants or skirts. There was also garments to hold up the long stockings which were commonly worn through the 1930s. Here are details on the various types of garments. The term garter waists applies to a broad variety of devices for holding up long stockings. Pin-on garters are a type of stocking supporters. The boys and girls wearing long stockings in the second half of the 19th Century held them up with various styles of stocking supporters. Suspender waists were a support garment to hold up other garments. Underwaists were another type of support garment. Waist suits are another type of support garment.
The term garter waists applies to a broad variety of devices for holding up long stockings. Theoretically it would apply to any garment worn on the upper body used for this purpose (including underwaists, pantywaists, and suspender waists). But HBC uses the term to apply specifically to waists with hose supporters already attached, even though in some cases these supporters are detachable. Most of these garments are designed to have the strain of the garters carried by the child’s shoulders. Some have waistbands and some do not, but all are worn under the outer clothing and therefore as a species of children’s underwear. One of the first such garments we notice was in the Sears 1902 catalog Sears refers to a "combination belt and supporter, but the garment was essentially a garter waist. The use of different terms somewhat complicates the assessment if the garments. Interestingly, even when the wearing of long stockings was supposedly declining in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a proliferation of styles of garter waist became very prominent in the Sears and Wards catalogs of this period. We have more different styles for this period than for any other on HBC. A good example is the Sears 1939 garter waists.
Pin-on garters are a type of stocking supporters. From the end of the 19th century until the middle 1940s, hose supporters were sold individually for the support of boys’ and girls stockings. At the very beginning the elastic garters, almost always with two pendants in a Y-shape, were attached to underwaists or other underwear by means of buttons. Then the safefy-pin model was introduced which allowed the garters to be attached to garter tabs on waist suits or underwaists by pinning. The pin-on style was used almost exclusively throughout the first half of the 20th century. Pin-garters were made in various sizes—not only for children up to their teenage years but also for adult women. Women’s and children’s hose supporters were always sold together, size being the only difference. They usually were available in black or white. Black was popular in the early years of the century. By the 1930s and 1940s white was the more popular color.
The boys and girls wearing long stockings in the second half of the 19th Century held them up with various styles of stocking supporters. I believe that boys did not wear these supporters commonly in the first half of the 19th Century because kneepants were not nearly as common. Boys wearing long trousers did not commonly wear stocking supporters. It was not until the 1870s when kneepants became more commonly worn that stocking supporters became widely worn. Both boys and girls wore them. They were several different styles, including over the shoulder and waist styles. They were not very comfortable especially for boys involved in strenous outdoor activities. Notably Lord Baden Powell when he designed the first Boy Scout uniform chose kneesocks so cumbersome stocking supporters would not be necessary.
Suspender waists were a support garment to hold up other garments. So-called “suspender waists” were invented at the turn of the 20th century and were popular mainly with boys who wore knee pants and needed a way of supporting their long stockings—almost always black. Although some models of the suspender waist (such as Kazoo) were manufactured in styles that could be worn also by girls, the main wearers of these waists were boys. They were called “suspender waists” because they combined trousers suspenders with hose supporters and had leather suspender attachments for holding up knee pants in addition to hose supporters for long stockings. The style did not last very long and was most popular during the 1910s. N.B. Suspender waists are not to be confused with the older style of garter waists (such as the Dr. Parker waist) which also had suspender-like straps over the shoulders, a waist belt (sometimes with waist buttons for outer clothing), and hose supporters. With true suspender waists only the garter part of the waist can be classified as underwear because the shoulder straps would be visible (like ordinary modern suspenders) on top of a shirt.
Underwaists were another type of support garment. Underwaists (sometimes called panty-waists) were worn by younger boys and girls to support additional underwear (such as bloomers or panties) or outer clothing (such as trousers or skirts). These bodices tended to be worn by boys only until about age 10, although some models came in ages for boys as old as 12. Some models were specifically for girls and others for boys, but the great majority of styles could be worn by both boys and girls. They tended to be made of elastic knitted fabric (and therefore rather form-fitting) or of cambric material and a bit looser. They nearly always were equipped with reinforcement straps, waist buttons, and garter tabs for attaching hose supporters. The popularity of underwaists declined in the later 1930s and early 1940s although they were still available, usually in the preferred knitted style, up until about 1945. When long stockings stopped being worn by school children, the main function of the underwaist ceased to exist.
Waist suits are another type of support garment. As late as the early and mid 1940s, Sears was still advertising a wide variety of children's waist suits, worn by both boys and girls (sometims in different models for the two genders but not always). These suits were mostly union suits with both long and short legs (some also having short sleeves) that were designed not only as winter underwear but also with buttons for attaching outer clothing such as short pants and skirts and with garter tabs for attaching hose supporters so that long stockings could be worn without the use of a separate garter waist. (This is why they were called waist suits.) Most of these suits were meant for children between the ages of 2 and 12, but one model of waist union suit was advertised for boys and girls as old as 16, which shows that at least in a few cases boys as old as 16 still wore long stockings. We note waist suits being offered in the Sears catalog during 1941
We have found more support garments than underwear. There were several different types of support garments. These garments became very common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were used to both hold up long stockings and pants. They were also advertised as having value for posture. They garments were especially common in America. We note what looks like an underwaist dating from the early 20th century. One readers has sent us an image of a nainsook suit which was worn by American children in the 1930s. We also note a German World War I paper-fabric Leibchen which was a kind of stocking supporter. We note a cloth Leibchen a few decades later in the 1940s or early 50s.
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