Figure 1.--Sears in its 1936-37 Fall and Winter catalog offered different styles of kneesocks for boys. Notice how the knickers are tucked into the kneesocks. |
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Sears in its Fall-Winter 1936-37 catalog offered three different types of kneesocks--all patterned styles. The Sears page for kneesocks was headed with, "Boys! Keen styles ... "Great Snappy Patterns ... Knit in Garters". Knee-length, patterned stockings were designed to be worn with knickers that most boys graduated into at about 8 or 9 years of age in the mid-1930s. The larger sizes would be for boys 13-14 years old.
The Sears, Roebuck and Co., huge merchandising firm centered in Chicago was founded by Richard W. Sears (1863-1914) and A.C. Roebuck (1864-1948).
Sears had begun a career in mail-order business in Minnesota 1886. In Chicago he and Roebuck joined resources and formed a corporation in 1893 as a mail-order business under title Sears, Roebuck and Company. The catalog by the 1890s included just about any imaginable item. You could even purchase a complete house--all you had to do was assembkle it. In 1895 Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) bought Roebuck's interest the in firm and became president on Sears's retirement 1908. A retail-store system was added 1925. The first foreign store added in Havana, Cuba during 1945 and becane the first expropriated store in 1960. The Sears-Roebuck catalog brought the production of industry to the fartherest corner of rural America, opening the cornucopia of the consumer age to rural America. All
the new things that were changing American life danced across their pages. Through it, a huge Chicago warehouse offers to modernize the farms and small towns of the Midwest.
The hosiery seen here was offered in the Sears Fall and Winter Catalog, p. 178.
Knee-length, patterned stockings were designed to be worn
with knickers that most boys graduated into at about 8 or 9 years of age
in the mid-1930s. Boys preferred them usually to long stockings worn with
short pants because they perceived the latter as a style shared with girls
whereas knickers and knee socks was a distinctly masculine style. Note
that there is a great deal of emphasis on the "knit-in garters"--a way of
dealing with the notorious tendency of boys' knee socks to fall down.
Some boys wore separate elastics around their legs to keep the socks
up but these tended to break or get lost. Even with the knit-in garters,
however, socks continued to collapse around a boy's ankles because
the knit-in elastic tended to deteriorate in the hot water that boys'
clothes were usually laundered in. The boyish slang of the advertising
language is clearly meant to appeal to rough-and-tumble boys and is
entirely missing from the accompanying advertisement for long stockings on
the ajoining pages. The long stockings were worn by both boys and girls
whereas only boys wore knickers with patterned knee socks. Note, also,
that the sizes of the knee socks go slightly higher on the age scale. The
long stockings were made in sizes up to 10, whereas the knee socks were
sold in sizes as high as 11. Long stockings would fit a boy as old as 13
but the knee socks and knickers were often worn up to age 16. Both long
stockings worn with short pants and knee socks worn with knickers were
ways of making sure that boys' knees were covered in winter. This
American emhasis on covering a boy's knees contrasts markedly with the
style of boy's dress in Great Britain where boys wore their knee socks
with shorts even in the coldest weather, thus exposing their knees.
American boys tended to regard shorts as sissy clothing after about age 8
or 9--except perhaps in the hot summer months and not even then except for
the most informal aactivities such as camping or hiking.
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The Sears page for kneesocks was headed with, "Boys! Keen styles ... "Great Snappy Patterns ... Knit in Garters".
The ad copy read, "14 c. a pair. There's just one word in a boy's language that describes these stockings--"SWELL"! They've got patterns with loads of zip and snap. They've got warm-looking fall and winter colors. Stockings that are made to take all the punishment a red-blooded, hard-playing fellow can give them. He'll like the knit-in garters that keep them up--and never get lost. Dad and Mother both will like their low price--as well as the long, dependable wear. Good quality cotton: reinforced heels and toes. Seamless feet. 86 D 2896 Colors: Blue, Brown, Gray in assorted patterns similar to illustration. Sizes 7, 7 1/2, 8, 8 1/2, 9, 9 1/2, 10, 10 1/2. State size and color. Shipping weight, pair, 4 ounces. 3 pairs, 7 ounces. Pair 14 c; 3 pairs 40c."
The ad copy read, "New! Sports Style With Jacquard Tops and Knit-in Garters. 25 c. a Pair.
Boy! What a break! The new Jaquard tops and knit-in Lastex garters in sturdy hosiery at this price! Your boy will be the envy of the neighborhood when he wears these. They're made of sturdy, long wearing heather cotton yarns knit over 2-play mercerized cotton with reinforced heels and toes. And the new patterns are plenty good looking, too! 86 D 2886--Blue, Brown or Oxford Gray in assorted patterns similar to illustration. Sizes 7, 7 1/2, 8, 8 1/2, 9, 9 1/2, 10, 10 1/2, 11. See size scale, p. 177 [given on anklets and long stocking page]. State size and color. Shipping weight, pair, 4 ounces.
The ad copy read, "Newly Designed. Straight Cuffs with Lastex. Jubilee Special, Sears
1886-1936. 18 c. a Pair. Boys--you'll go for these knee lengths in a big way! They have new comfortable straight cuffs that stay up and never bind ... because rows of
Lastex threads (not just one narrow band) are knit into the entire length of the cuff. They come in some of the snappiest patterns you ever saw, and there's plenty of wear in them--they're medium weight cotton with reinforced heels and toes. 86 D 2888--Assorted colors in patterns similar to illustration. Sizes 7, 7 1/2, 8. 8 1/2, 9, 9 1/2, 10, 10 1/2, 11. See size scale, Page 177 [on long stocking page] State size. Shipping weight,
pair, 4 ounces."
For Small Children: Size of shoe 6-7; Size of Hose 6; Size of shoe 7 1/2-9; Size of hose 6 1/2; Size of shoe 9 1/2-10; Size of hose 7; Size of shoe 10 1/2-11 1/2; Size of Hose 7 1/2; Size of shoe 12-13; size of hose 8. For Larger Children: Size of shoe 1-2 1/2; Size of Hose 8 1/2; Size of shoe 3-4 1/2; Size of Hose 9; Size of shoe 5-6; Size of Hose 9 1/2; Size
of shoe shoe 6 1/2-7; Size of hose 10. [HBC note: Many readers have wondered about how boys' stockings were sized in relation to age. Some have speculated that the sizes indicate
ages, but here we see that the sizing is according to the size of shoe worn and not strictly age, although there is an obvious correlation between shoe size and age. This is why a size 10 long stocking could be worn by a boy as old as 12 or 13.]
Sears on the previous page offered ankle socks and long stockings. The fact that kneesocks had a separate page. The hosiery seen here was offered in the Sears Fall and Winter Catalog, p. 177. This advertisement for long stockings and anklets shows that children (even in the winter months) had begun to wear anklets with short pants and skirts instead of long stockings. But the long stockings still dominated the market in 1936 and are offered in a variety of weights and colors. Presumably white stockings would be worn only by girls and very young boys. But the tan , brown, and black stockings were worn by both genders. Sears offered both anklets and long stockings here, but not kneesocks.
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