Figure 1.--We notice various styles of casual clothes for boys including overalls and jeans. good example is Sears casual pants offered in the Spring and Summer catalog for 1948, showing three styles of boys' casual wear. Two of the styles are for boys from 6 to 16, while the third style is for boys from 8 to 18. We note both overalls and jeans. |
We notice various styles of casual clothes for boys including overalls and jeans. good example is Sears casual pants offered in the Spring and Summer
catalog for 1948, showing three styles of boys' casual wear. Two of the styles are for boys from 6 to 16, while the third style is for boys from 8 to 18. We note both overalls and jeans. By this time overalls had largely gone out of style for school age boys, but jeans had become a major item. Notice that they are shown here worn with cuffs.
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. Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) in 1895 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 various styles of casual clothes for boys including overalls and jeans. By this time overalls had largely gone out of style for school age boys, but jeans had become a major item. Notice that they are shown here worn with cuffs. The "T"-shirt was another popular item. The long-sleeve T-shirt here woyld have been worn more in Spring and Fall than durung the Summer. Primay-age boys did wear these shirts to school.
A good example is Sears casual pants offered in the Spring and Summer
catalog for 1948, showing three styles of boys' casual wear. Two of the styles are for boys from 6 to 16, while the third style is for boys from 8 to 18.
Bib-front overalls might b worn by younger boys, but had become unfasionable among school-age children. This was espcially true in urban areas, but overalls were going out of fashion even in rural areas, except s work pants. The Sears ad copy read, "-Sanforized 8-oz. blue denim
Full-cut Bib Overalls. $1.88
Full size bib compartment
Special full-cut, roomy sizes
4 pockets (2 front swing type)
Save your boy's dress-up clothes . . . let these super-tough bib overalls take
the hard knocks. Same heavy quality, same strong construction as men's.
Sunfast--Sanforized, fabric won't shrink over 1%. Bib compartment has watch
pocket, pencil slot and utility pocket. 2 front, 2 back pockets. Rustproof
riveted buttons. Double stitched. Bartacked. Sears full cut sizes allow
greater crotch-to-shoulder length. Wash separately.
State size 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16. See chart B. Shpg. wt. 1 lb, 10 oz.
50 L 9119 $1.88."
Some Americans may have called these pants dunagrees, but jeans was now the standard term. And after World War II they were on the way to becoming a major style for amerucan boys. Many service men returning from overseas had worn them and of course boys had seen their favorite cowboy stars wearing them in the movies.
The Sears ad copy read, "Copper riveted Jeans. $1.77
Copper riveted strain points
Double-needle orange stitching
5 handy pockets (2 swing type)
Our best sellers! Extra heavy for extra wear. Sunfast--Sanforized, fabric
won't shrink over 1%. All points of strain reinforced with tough copper
rivets or heavy thread bar-tacks. Western style front swing pockets; 2 back
patch pockets; watch pocket. Rustproof buttons riveted on. Comfortable yoke
back. Well turned double stitched seams--no raw edges. Wash separately.
Belt not included. Order 2 pairs--then you'll have a spare. State size 6, 8,
10, 12, 14, 16. See chart B. Shpg wt 1 lb. 6 oz. 50 L 9120 $1.77."
I'm not sure how common this outfit was for boys. I don't recall boys at the ime wearing it. Rather it looks more like adult wirk clothes to me. The Sear ad copy read, "
Gabardine Outfit
Shirt $1.98 Pants $2.69
Washfast--Sanforized for fit
Buy shirt and pants as outfit.
Army-type cotton gabardine twill in washfast tan color. Sanforized, fabric
won't shrink over 1%. Comfortable shirt in 6-oz cloth has dress collar. 2
handy pockets. Pants in heavier 8.2 oz. fabric; 5 pockets. Easy to alter
outlet seam in back. Double stitched; bar-tack reinforcements at strain
points. State size 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18. See size charts on opposite page.
Belt not included. 40 L 308M--Shirt. Shipping weight 14 ounces. $1.98. 40 L
507M--Pants Shipping weight 1 pound, 8 ounces $2.69."
Charts A and B at bottom of the ad give measuring instructions.
Notice the style of wearing overalls and jeans with the legs turned up several
inches. The gabardine trousers have prominent and deep cuffs. The informality
of these outfits apparently appealed to boys in the late 1940s.
Mothers apparently bought these outfits as a means of saving their boys' dress-up clothes for special occasions. Primary (elementary) boys may have wore these outfits to school, especially the jeans. The overalls would have nly been worn to school in rural areas and even here they were becoming rare by 1948. The gaberdine outfit I have never noted at school. I don't think any of these items would have been worn to school by secondary-age boys. In more urban areas, they were probably strictly for play and for casual activities on weekends. Knickers went out of style in the mid-1940s so that by 1948 (in the postwar period) most boys had begun to wear long trousers, even as young children, but short pants were also worn by younger boys.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing catalog/magazine pages:
[Return to the Main 1948 American mailorder catalog page]
[Return to the Main American mail order 1940s page]
[Main photo/publishing page]
[Store catalogs]
[Fashion magazines]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to Main World War II page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossary]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor hats]
[Short pants]
[Susprnder pants]
[Buster Brown suits][Sailor suits]
[Eton suits]
[Rompers]
[Tunics]
[Smocks]
[Kneesocks]
[Pinafores]
[Underwear]