Figure 1.--American Boy Scouts, like Scouts in many countries, often chose to wear non-uniform ankle socks, rather than the official kneesocks.

The original Scout unifrm designed by Baden Powell include turn-over-top socks or kneesocks. This was an important improvement over the longstockings that boys had worn up and tell that point. Kneesocks were much easier to wear and take care of than long stockings. Scouts and Cubs for decades continued to wear kneesocks. Some French Scouts after World War II wore ankle socks, but kneesocks continued to be worn by most Scout groups. They have declined in recent years as boys have shifted mostly to long pants. Also Scouts who wore shorts often began wearing non-official ankel socks, often white socks. Even American Scouts began wearing short socks with the summer short pants uniform in the late 1990s.

Types

Turn-over-top socks are most accociated with Boy Scouts. Boys in the late 20th century wear kneesocks less and less and thud by the mid-1990s it became increasingly less common for Scouts to wear kneesocks.

Turn-over-top socks

The original Scout unifrm designed by Baden Powell include turn-over-top socks or kneesocks. This was an important improvement over the longstockings that boys had worn up and tell that point. Kneesocks were much easier to wear and take care of than long stockings. Scouts and Cubs for decades continued to wear kneesocks. Some French Scouts after World War II wore ankle socks, but kneesocks continued to be worn by most Scout groups. They have declined in recent years as boys have shifted mostly to long pants.

Ankle socks

Scouts who wore shorts often began wearing non-official ankel socks, often white socks. During the 1970s, many American boys wore tune socks with their Scout uniforms. Even American Scouts began wearing short socks with the summer short pants uniform in the late 1990s. Some Scout associations have begun making uniform ankle socks as some boys just refuse to wear kneesocks.