Figure 1.-- These New Zealand boys wear navy blue short pants as part of their school uniform. Grey was much more common in NewcZealand, but a number of schools had these blue shorts.

School shorts have been made in a variety of colors. The most common color is grey, but this varies from country to country, English school shorts were from the start grey with relatively few exceptions. Boys might wear khaki shorts, showing the Army influence, during the summer for play, but for school it was usually grey shorts. HBC is not sure how the convention of grey shorts developed, but it was firmly established by the 1920s. Even the Cub Scouts adopted grey shorts as part of their uniform so boys would not have to buy a special pair of shorts for Cubs. A few schools adopted blue shorts. A visting New Zealand educator worked at one of these schools (Loretto) and introduced this style when he retuned. This is why a numbervof New Zealand schools have blue rather than grey shorts for their school uniform. Blue shorts were also adopted by a few French Catholic schools for their uniform. Unlike the British bous who wore grey kneesocks, these French schools adopted white kneesocks with the blue shorts. American schools began adopting uniforms in the late-20th century. Khaki shorts seemed popular in America, but we also see many schools adopting blue shorts. Grey seems less common in America. Blue shorts seem popular in Japan after World War II, but grey shirts were also worn.

Created: 5:33 AM 7/29/2010
Last updated: 5:33 AM 7/29/2010