American Mail Order Catalogs with Boys Clothings: 1930s


Figure 1.--McCalls was and continues to be an important pattern company. Here is a page from the McCll Fashion Bimonthly". We do not have the precise date. It looks like the early 1930s to us.

American mail order catalogs offer a very useful time line on changing fashion trends. There were no major new fashions introduced in the 1930s, but several long-running trends were observeable. They were well documented in the catalogs. Knickers were still worn, but by younger boys and were declining in popularity. Long pants were becoming increasingly common. Younger boys still wore short pants, especially in the summer. Kneesocks were commonly worn, usually with Argyle or other patterns. Ankle socks were less common, but increasing in popularity. Some boys wore long tockings, but increasingly younger boys. We have acquired a variety of items that cannot be dated by year, but we can date to the 1930s. Some are from unidentified or date magazines and catalogs. Others are sewing patterns. Home sewing was still common and these patterns usually are not dated by year. We have found toddler items. We note little boys' fancy outfits. Sailor suits were still wrong. Suits were not as widely worn as in the 1920s, but they were still were common. We note both single and double breasted jackers and short, knicker, and long pants. We have an advertisement from the Minnesota Knitting Works. It looks like a magazine advertisement, probably from Parents Magazine, probably about 1930. The ad shows many of the underwear item's in the company line.

Toddler Clothes

We note a variety of ancy and utilitarian outfits for todlers in the 1930s. We note McCalls patterns for todlers and boys' outfits and suits. It is undated, but we think was probanly published in the early-1930s.

Shirts

Some shirts for boys 10 years of age and under are made in the button-on style.

Coats

We have limited infoirmation on coats at this time. Sears offered a range of rather dressy looking double breasted overcoats for younger boys.

Suits

We noticed quite a range of suits for boys in the 1939s, including short pants, knicketrs, and long p[ants suits. The Butlers Brothers wholesale company in its 1930-31 catalog offered a range of boys' suits, both knickers and long pants suits. There were no short pants suits shown. I'm not sure if this was beacuse it was winter or because they were less popular. Sears catalogs also offered many knickers both as individual pants and as suits. The suits were sized by age--from 7 to 17 years. Some boys wore long trousers earlier than 17, but by 18 nearly all boys had switched to longies. There were also short pants suits for younger boys. We note McCalls patterns for todlers and boys' outfits and suits. The McCalls boys suit patterns were for both short pants and knickers suits. It is undated, but we think was probanly published in the early-1930s.

Pants

We see a variety of pants on offer in the 1930s, short pants, knickers, and long pants. Knickers were still commonly worn at the beginning of the decade. We see as the decade prgresses knickers being worn by younger boys. They were were declining in popularity, especially by the end of the decade. Many of the ones we do see had knit closures rather than the clapt closures common in the 1920s. Long pants were becoming increasingly common and we see even younger boys wearing them. Many younger boys still wore short pants, especially durng the summer. Long pants were often cuffed. Some had very wide bottomnleg hems like bell-bottoms. There wre also jodpurs, but they were not very common. Pants are sold with both jackets and suits and separately. Sears calls some of its short pants 'English shorts', we are not entirely sure what this meant. Shorts were mostly for boys 10 years of age and younger although some older boys wore them, especially during the summer. Here there was a social-class aspect. Boys from affluent fmilirs were more likely to wear shorts and boys from working-clas families more likeky to wear long pants. There was also a regionl aspect with short pants more common in the South than North. Many of the pants for younger boys (all three main types) were done in button on styling.

Shorts Sets

We notice that shorts sets were very popular for younger boys. These were a variety of outfits in whivch the shirt and shorts matched or were coordinated with each other. I'm not sure when these first appear. I believe in the mid-1920s. This reflects the trend for boys below the age of 10 to wear casual clothing rather than the more formal suits as was much more common before World War I.

Hosiery

We notice stores offering both long stockings and kneesocks. We note entire catalog pages devoted to both long stockings and kneesocks. The prominance of the ads suggest that both were widely worn. Kneesocks were commonly worn, often with Argyle or other patterns. Boys might wear suits with solid colored socks, but even suits were sometimes worn with patterened kneesocks. Some boys wore solid color hosiery which often is difficult to discern if they are wearing kneesocks or long stockings. Ankle socks seem to have been much less common. Some boys in the summer would wear knickers with ankle socks, but this does not seem to have been very common in 1930. We also note continued advertising for stocking supporters.

Underwear

We also note new styles of underwearin keeping with the new juvenile styles like short pants and shorter-length skirts. Underwear came in a wide range of styles and lengths. The undergarments to be worn with short pants were called French styles. The length of short pants was highly variable and e notice underwear in several lengths. Also not all underwear came with the buttons and tapes common with waists.We have an advertisement from the Minnesota Knitting Works. It looks like a magazine advertisement, probably from Parents Magazine, probably about 1930. The ad shows many of the underwear item's in the company line.

Fabrics

We note in the inter-war era the appearance of several new fabrics. Some were fabrics made of well known natural fibers. These fabrics included synthetic fisbers and blends of syntheticcand natural fibers. Some of the fabrics are well known to us today and still used. Others appeared only briefly.

The Depression

The overiding event in 1930 was the beginning of the Depression. The Depression is normally dated from the stock market crash in late 1929. Very rapidly the ecomomy began spiraling down. Thus 1930 was the first full year of the Depression. It was not yet clear just how severe the economic decline was going to be or that it would last most of the decade. Most Americans began to feel the impact of the Depression in 1930. We are not yet sure just how the Depression affected clothing. Certainly in the years to come children would wear threir clothes longer than before and hand-me-downs became very important.







HBC






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Created: 2:31 AM 12/5/2006
Last updated: 3:38 PM 3/18/2018