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Jeans began in the 1970s to be seen as fashionable dress. School dress codes began to change in the 1970s. Invreasingly boys were being allowed to wear jeans to high school. Camp shorts were a very popular style os short pants in 1973. Sears was one of the retailers offering them. The cut was still relatively long. The Sears summer catalog offered several styles of shorts. Besides camp shorts, there were also cut-offs, walking shorts, bush-styles and other styles. There were special styles for younger boys like boxer shorts. There were also long pants, many with very wide bell bottoms.
We note several types of short pants which were in part age-dependant.
Camp shorts were a very popular style of short pants in 1973. Sears was one of the retailers offering them. The cut was still relatively long. Sears was one of the retailers offering them. The cut was still relatively long. Sears in 1973 offered two cuts if Perma-Prest® Camp Shorts They were available in regular sizes 6-14, but in
larger husky sizes. The larger husky sizes do not reflect chronological age.
The Sears Summer catalog offered several types of short pants. On this page are the walk shorts and camp shorts offered (figure 1). They came in roughly identical sizes in slim, regular, and husky fits. The regular sizes were 6, 6, 10, and 12. The camp shorts were also offered in 14. Husky sizes went up to 16 for the walk shorts and 20 for the camp shorts. The walk shorts were also availble in student sizes, waist sizes 27-32). Sears by student sizes meant boys sizes 14 and young adults. This roughly meant high school and college.
Facing pages offered tank tops and the shorts seen here (figure 1). The top of the page read "Summertume at Sears. Casual wear for boys and students ... PERMA-PREST® Tank Tops and Shorts get together for outdoor action" Here we see the cut-offs and bush style shorts. These were both jean shorts. Unlike Europe, regukar denim shorts were not very popular in America, rather curious given how popular jeans were. As we remember at the time, the cut-offs were much more popular than the bush style. Sears called the cut-offs, "Patch-pocket Shorts with the 'cut-off" look. The ad copy read, "Jean-style" shorts in a PERMA-PREST® fabric of 50% polyester and 50% cotton. Fringed bottom gives the popular 'cut-off' look. A great beach-mate for tank tops (see facing page). Shorts have two front patch pockets, wide belt loops, zip fly. Machine wash in warm water and tumble dry. No ironing needed." This is rather amusing. The "cut-off" look was the ultimate in casual clothes. They were made to look like sgorts mother made (cut-off) from an old pair of long pants and worn for play or outdoor work. The idea that someone would iron them proably never occurred to the mothers who made "cut-offs". Many American boys in the 1960s and 70s were still self-conscious about wearing short pants. Somehow the idea of wearing cut-offs was more acceptable to some boys. The Sears cut-offs were offered in berry, brown, green, navy, and white. Ublike the others horts, a fancy name was not used for green with cut-offs. They came in boys' even sizes 6-12 (regular and slim) and student sizes (27-32 inch waist). The other style seen here is bush-style shorts which "feature 6 handy pockets". The ad copy read, "Newsest look in our shorts collection ... modeled after the popular bush-style jean. PERMA-PREST® brushed denim of 62% cotton, 38% polyester gives a soft touch to a sturdy pair of shorts. 2 front scoop pockets, topped by 2 front patch pockets with snap flaps. 2 patch pockets in back. Contrast stitching, bar-tacked at stress points. Mach. wash, tumble dry. No iron. Hong Kong." They came in blue, navy, rose, and white. They were available in boys' even sizes 8-12 (regular and slim) and student sizes (27-32 inch waist). They were shown to be wirn with tank tops, both solid colors and wide colorful horizontal stripes.
Most of the short pants offered by Sears, except those for little (pre-school) boys were realtively long styles, cut to be worn a 1-2 inches above the knee. The one style of short cut shorts we notice are bike shorts. Sears Summer catalog offered a wide biker shirts and shorts as well as accessories in bright colors. The page for these garments was captioned with, "For biking ... vivid-colored PERMA-PREST® Shirts and Shorts". In addition to shirts (T-shirts and tank tops) and shorts, there were also brightly colored socks and a belt.
Sears did little boy (sizes 2-6x) shorts in the bush, frayed (cut-off) and camp styles. The colors included burgandy, green, khaki, navy, and white. The camp shorts were done in the traditional green, khaki, and navy. Curiously the little boy camp shorts had the utility (knife) loop attachment.
Sears offered blue and yellow shorts sets for boys and girls in infant and toddler sizes as well as other infant/toddler outfits.
We notice a variety of long pants offered in 1973. Jeans and bell bottom pants were popular. The pants were all solid colors, exceot for little boy styles which were also done in verical stripes.
Sears offered sets of Chambray Wester-style horts, jeans, and jackets. Sears seems to stress the long pants jeans rather than the shorts as both models waer the long pants style. These jackets were quite popular, but almost always boys wore long pants jeans with them. The shorts were made in the cut-off style. These were demim garments. I'm not sure just what Chambray meant. They were done in boy' (even 6-12) and student (waist 25-32 inch) sizes. The shorts were done in slim and regular. The long pants jeans were done in regular, slim, and huskey.
Sears offered collared knit shirts in elaborate designs to be be worn with baggy jeans anf wide belts. The caption read, "Baggy-style Jeans of polyester and cotton with easy care Knit Shirts. They were done in both boys (even 6-12) and student sizes. The colors were berry, camel tan, navy, and white.
Sears in its 1973 Summer catalog offered "Rugged PERMA-PREST® chambray Jeans .. smartly styled 'baggy look'" They were dine in sizes 3-6x in slim and regular. Colors included blue, burgandy, and peach. They were shown being worn by both boys and girls.
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