Figure 1.--The advertisement from Willy Schoeneis & Co. is quite revealing. It helps to establish the time line for when tights were fitst introduced to the German market and the conventions involved. It is an appeal to mothers to switch from dressing their boys and girls in long stockings to dressing them in the more convenient and better-fitting tights. |
The advertisement from Willy Schoeneis & Co. in Gottingen is quite revealing. It is an appeal to mothers to switch from dressing their boys and girls in long stockings to dressing them in the more convenient and better-fitting tights. Note that the ad juxtaposes two images showing the old-fashioned long stockings, worn by the boy, with the innovation of tights, worn by the girl.
The boy has one of his stockings down because the clasp on one of his hose supporters has apparently come undone, whereas this problem doesn't exist with the new invention of tights for children.
We have no information ob the Willy Schoeneis & Co., other than they are located in Gottingen.
The advertisement from Willy Schoeneis & Co. is quite revealing. It helps to establish the time line for when tights were fitst introduced to the German market and the conventions involved. It is an appeal to mothers to switch from dressing their boys and girls in long stockings to dressing them in the more convenient and better-fitting tights. Note that the ad juxtaposes two images showing the old-fashioned long stockings, worn by the boy, with the innovation of tights, worn by the girl. The boy has one of his stockings down because the clasp on one of his hose supporters has apparently come undone, whereas this problem doesn't exist with the new invention of tights for children.
The text for the ad in German can be translated as follows: "Do you already know about our new sales item--tights? You can dress your child in one or the other. The advantage is obvious: long stockings, hose supporters, bodice [i.e., "Leibchen"], and underpants are all replaced by the new garment, tights, which are far more comfortable to wear and also look
better becfause tights fit well."
According to the German Hosiery Musuem website, the advertisement dates from 1952. The date is interesting because it indicates that tights were a new item by then in Germany.
The Museum website also points out that although tights were available for boys and girls in the early 1950s, they were slow to catch on, especially in the rural areas. Tights were more expensive than long stockings because of their more complex knitting, and if a hole developed, you had to discard the entire garment whereas it was easier to darn a stocking or simply replace it without discarding the pair. Conservative mothers on tught budgets therefore continued to dress boys and girls in long stockings even after tights had been invented and placed on the market.
Tights were apparently worn first by the more adventurous families--mainly in the big cities--and also by children from more affluent families.
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