Figure 1.--This advertisement for long stockings appeared in the Sears Spring-Summer 1943 catalog. It was repeated from a slightly different form in the Fall-Winter 1942-43 catalog (p. 132). The early 40s was the last time long stockings were widely advertised in America although they were still included in the catalogs through the late 1940s. |
Sears in this advertisement for long sockings showed a boy in play clothes. It is a little incongrous as the short sleeve "T" shirt and short pants suggest warm weather and the long stockings cold weather. This advertisement for long stockings appeared in the Sears Spring and Summer 1943 catalog. It was used earlier in a slightly different format in the Fall-Winter 1942-43 catalog. The early 40s was the last time long stockings were widely advertised in America although they were still included in the catalogs through the late 1940s. Both garments were rapidly going out of fashion in 1943. Selection of a boy model shows that Sears was still pitching long stockings for boys. The only long stockings we notice to any extent by 1945 were those worn by small boys and to a greater extent girls. We believe that they were worn in thelate 1940s by children in the northern states as part f winterwear. We know girls wore them, we are less sure about boys as they were mostly wearing long pants.
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. In 1895 Julius Rosenwald
(1862-1932) bought Roebuck's interest 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 te first expropriated store in 1960. The Sears-Roebuck 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.
We notice ads in Sears for long stockings throught the 1940s. The image here of the boy playing with the airplane and wearing long stockings with
shorts and a striped tee shirt appeared first in the Fall and Winter Sears
catalog of 1942-43, p. 282C wearing short pants with socks and stockings of all lengths even for the chilly season. We are not sure how this reflects what boys were actually wearing. The image here was then reprinted in the Spring and Summer 1943 catalog, p. 132.
We are not sure to what extent that long stockings were worn by boys in the early 1940s. Sears in this advertisement for long sockings showed a boy in play clothes. It is a little incongrous as the short sleeve "T" shirt and short pants suggest warm weather and the long stockings cold weather. This advertisement for long stockings appeared in the Sears Fall and Winter 1942-43 catalog and was reprinted in a slightly different version in the the 1943 Spring-Summer catalog seen here (figure 1). The early 40s was the last time long stockings were widely advertised in America although they were still included in the catalogs through the late 1940s. Both garments were rapidly going out of fashion in 1943. Selection of a boy model shows that Sears was still pitching long stockings for boys. The Sears catalog ads for long stockings in the
1942-43 offer long stockings for boys and girls in no fewer than six different grades with varying prices. (We are not yet sure what was iffered in the Spring-Summer 1943 catalog.) The extent of the choices on offer would seem to be good evidence for the popularity of long stockings during this period. But tastes changed very quickly. By 1946-47 almost no choice was available. The only long stockings we notice to any extent in the photographic redord by 1943 were those worn by small boys and to a greater extent girls. We believe that they were worn in the late 1940s by children in the northern states as part of winterwear. We know girls wore them, we are less sure about boys as they were mostly wearing long pants. Sears commonly shows boys wearing long stockings with short pants, as with the image here (figure 1). I do not think that this is a good reflection of boys clothing conventions. Rather it was the only way that Sears could use boy models. If the boys wore long pants you could not see the stockings.
Pilgrim was Sear's store brand of hosiery. These were their highest quality long stockings.
We do not yet know what selection of long tockings were offered in the Sears Spring-Summer catalog. We know that the illustration here was used, but we do not yet have the ad copy on the page with the illustration shown here. We do have the ad copy used in the Fall-Winter 1942-43 catalog. It may be quite similar.
Figure 1.--Many catalogs had sizing charts. This one was included in the Sears Fall-Winter 1942-43 catalog. |
We were at first confused about the sizing in the catalog pages for long stockings and other hosiery. We at first thought the sizes referred to the child's age. We now know that this was not the case. The sizes of the stockings are correlated to the sizes of the childrens' shoes. On a different stocking page. Some catalogs had tables keying the stocking sizes to shoe sizes. And the
sizing is further complicated because the size range for younger childrens' shoes is a different scale from that used for older childrens' shoes. According to this chart the larger size stockings (9, 9 1/2, and 10) would probably fit children from about 11 or 12 years to about 14 or even 15 years. A rerader writes, "Size 10, usually the largest size available, would generally fit a boy of about 14 years."
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