Uniforms Garments: Short Trousers--Color
Figure 1.--Usually British boys wore grey shorts of varying shades. Stangely while both grey and black long trousers were very common in Britain, we did not notice schools with uniforms of black short trousers. We are not sure why this was. Grey was by far the dominant color for school shorts. A few schools had a uniform of blue shorts or some other color. This was, however not very common. The great mjority of British school shorts, both at prep schools and other school were done in grey.
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Usually British boys wore grey shorts of varying shades. While boys commonly wore both grey and black long trousers in Britain, we did not notice schools with uniforms of black short trousers. This appears to be because black long trousers did not begin to be commonly worn at British schools until the late 1960s. This was at the time that many schools began dropping reuirement for short trousers. Thus for somee reason the manufacturers did not see the need to make black shorts, nor was there a demand. Many grey short trousers were qyite dark anyway. So even at schools where grey and black triuers were worn, it did not cause a great difference in the uniform look. Grey thus continued to be by far the dominant color for school shorts. A few schools had a uniform of blue shorts or some other color. This was, however not very common. The great mjority of British school shorts, both at prep schools and other school were done in grey. Grey had the advantage that it did not show dirt like some other colors. It is rather a drab color, but worked well with brightly colored blazers that for many years were commonly worn at prep schools. Presumably grey kneesocks became common because they matched the grey shorts. Grey shorts were so commonly worn for school that Wolf Cubs adopted them so boys would not have to buy a special pair of trousers for Cubbing.
