Figure 1.--This is a front view of the long john (waist union) suit.

Here we have a pair of boys vintage old store stock underwear. The garment here is commonly called "long johns"--a term applied to the more common long-leg types. The pair here is the same only with short legs for boys wearing hort pants. The proper term, however, is a "waist union suit". They were found at an estate auction, I believe in Texas. They had tags on them but they fell apart. The tag on the underwear says Acorn brand sz 12 - 13. They un button in the back to go to the bathroom. This vintage waist union suit for a boy aged about 10-12 years old is an excellent illustration close up of the construction of boys' standard underwear in the 1920s and 1930s. It has an opening in the seat, a three-button drop seat.

Garment

Here we have a pair of boys vintage old store stock underwear. The garment here is commonly called "long johns"--a term applied to the more common long-leg types. The pair here is the same only with short legs for boys wearing hort pants. The proper term, however, is a "waist union suit".

Manufacturer

They had tags on them but they fell apart. The tag on the underwear says Acorn brand sz 12 - 13. I'm not sure who the manufacturer of this brand was.

Construction

The vintage waist union suit here un-buttons in the back so the child can go to the bathroom. It is an excellent illustration of the construction of standard American boys' underwear during the 1920s and 1930s. The opening in the seat is a three-button drop seat. (The one-button flap opening in the back was introduced into men's union suits as early as the 1920s, but the three-button drop seat persisted in boys' underwear--at least in the case of underwear for boys up through age 13--up through most of the 1930s.) We do begin to see the flap opening in boys' waist union suits and regular union suits by about 1939-40. The suit is equipped with waist buttons around the waistline for the attachment of button-on short trousers (or possibly knickers). Notice the metal pin tubes on either side provided so that hose supporters for long stockings can be fastened on by means of safety pins at the tops of the garters then commonly worn. The design of this underwear makes it unnecessary for mother to purchase an additional underwaist for her son because this union suit is already equipped with all the features of an underwaist. The reinforcement straps over the shoulders are clearly visible. Waist union suits in the 1920s and 1930s were almost always equipped with straps of "self material" over the shoulders and often under the armpits as well. This was to strengthen the union suit at points of strain so that the weight of outer clothing (such as button-on short trousers) would not tear the garment. There was also reinforcing at the point where the pin tubes for supporters were sewn on so that "garter pull" would not damage the garment.

Figure 2.--This is the rear view of the long john (waist union) suit.

Waist Union Suits

In the early 1920s the waist union suit was developed and remained popular until the 1940s. This garment (for both boys and girls up until about the age of 13) combined the basic one-piece union suit, the standard form of children's underwear, with the underwaist (with reinforcement straps, waist buttons, and garter tabs) so that a single garment could do duty for two. Wearing one layer rather than two made getting dressed easier, and mothers saved money by not having to buy both a union suit and an underwaist or garter waist. These suits were sometimes referred to as "combination suits." Waist union suits came in both summer and winter styles. The summer style was usually made of nainsook and was like a junior version of adult BVDs. It had short legs and was usually sleeveless so as to be cool. Usually the girl's summer style was a bit different from the boy's summer style, the latter having front buttons from the neck to the crotch. The winter style was knitted like ordinary union suits and could be had with short sleeves and knee-length legs or with long sleeves and ankle-length legs. All these garments, whether winter or summer, or whether for boys or girls, were equipped with waist buttons for outer clothing and tabs for hose supporters. Waist union suits normally had all the features of an underwaist plus the usual features of a summer or winter union suit. These went out of style in the mid-1940s when long stockings ceased to be widely worn and when garter tabs on underwear were no longer necessary.

Practicality

These suits became popular with mothers because boys wore increasingly wearing shorter trousers and didn't want the legs of the underwear to show. For the same reason, the available long stockings tended to be knitted much longer so that the clasps of the supporters wouldn't show under the shorter shorts. Wards offered Playhard long stockings in 1933, "knit longer" than previously made stockings. As the ad copy stated, "Mothers know that these sturdy stockings do away with unsightly garters peeping out from under the popular short skirts or pants."

Chronology

The brief-cut legs, which became popular in the early 1930s, help to date this underwear as probably early to mid-1930s. See the so-called French style waist suits advertised for boys and girls by the Minnesota Knitting Co.. Most of the waist union suits from the preceding decade (the 1920s) tended to have longer legs because the shorts and knee trousers were longer. See the ad for a boy's waist union suit advertised by Nazareth in 1929.

Age

Rhe dealer thought the suit here would fit a boy about 8 or 10 year old old. A HBC reader writes, "The seller says that the underwear would fit a boy 8 to 10 years old. But I think this is a misinterpretation of the evidence. The sizing of waist union suits was almost always by age, so if the sales tag read "12-13", this would mean that the waist union suit was for boys of 12 or 13 years old. This becomes quite clear from the ads for waist union suits that appear in the Wards and Sears catalogs. The upper age limit for waist union suits was age 13, although some such suits were made for boys as old as 14 or 15 and could be had by special order. Most boys in America didn't wear button-on clothing after the age of 10 or, at the latest, 12. And most boys abandoned long stockings by the age of 13 in the 1930s and therefore wouldn't require the pin tubes for supporters. Older boys continued, however, to wear ordinary union suits without the features of a waist. Charles

Origin

They were found at an estate auction, I believe in Texas which pobably in part explains the short leg style. Texas can be very hot during the summer.

EBay

A seller reports that Ebay removed the auction for this item. Apparently because they thought they were used. These are not used, just vintage.