Figure 1.--Several New Zealand secondary schools have uniforms with blue short panrs and kneesocks rather than traditional Ennglish grey shorts.

Background

New Zealand school boys from the turn of the century have commonly worn short pants. In the warmer New Zealand climate, boys in the late 19th Century usually went barefoot rather than wearing long stockings with knee pants. I'm not sure when school uniforms were introduced in New Zealand, but it probably reflected the same pattern as the United Kingdom. Early educational officials were in fact British colonial officers.

Boys in the early 19th Century would have worn short pants. I'm not sure to what extent the schools required shorts. Images from the period after World War I show boys wearing school uniforms. Regulations detailing short pants existed at that time. I'm not sure just how much earlier they were required.

Shorts pants were required wear in New Zealand secondary schools. Through the 1950s this included full English chool kit, such as caps and blazers. Gradually the caps and other formal wear was dropped, but most schools continued to require short pants through the 1980s. Most New Zealand secondary schools continue to require school uniforms, including short pants. Some schools no longer require uniforms and many schools now let the older boys wear long pants or their own clothes instead of the school uniform.

Style

Fit

Shorts at first were worn at knne length, rather like knee pants, but without the three buttons at the hem. Gradually the commonly accepted length was shortened to just above the knee. This continued until the 1960s when shorter, better tailored shorts, showing a continental influence became more common. New Zealand schoolboys in the 1970s and 1980s often wore quite short shorts.

Many New Zealand short pants, like English school shorts, for some reason did not have back pockets. I guess schoolboys were not intended to carry wallets. This is quite different fom America whereboys' pants, except for play shorts, commonly had back pockets.

Figure 2.--Most New Zealand schools have a winter uniform of grey Terylene short pants.

Proper school shorts made for private school uniforms almost always were lined. The linings were either white or light blue. Less expensive shorts available through the mass-retailers were less commonly lined. Nor were the cotton summer shorts.

Color

Most New Zealand school shorts were grey. One influential New Zealand educator worked briefly at Loretto School in Edinburgh, Scotland wear boys wore blue short pants. Thus several New Zealand schools have uniforms with blue shirts. The grey shorts are worn with grey kneesocks with colored bands in the school colors. The blue shorts are mostly worn with dark blue kneesocks. A few schools have light blue kneesocks. The older boys at many schools are allowed to wear walk shorts with light blue kneesocks.

I'm not sure why grey was so universally adopted as the color for school shorts. In New Zealand it was just a reflection of English styles. Grey is a neutral color and thus went with whatever blazer color a boy might wear, but its not entirely clear to me why grey was selected. Probably because flannel trousers worn with blazers were usually grey.

Materials

Materials varied, but flannel shorts were initially most common. A few schools adopted corduroy shorts in the 1930s. After World War II, synthetic fabric, especially Terylene were intoduced. Most New Zealand schools have a winter uniform with grey Teylene shorts and a summer uniform of light-weight cotton shirts and shirts.

Kneesocks

School shorts in New Zealand are during the winter are commonly worn with kneesocks. Most all the kneesocks are grey with bands at the top in the school colors. The schools wih blue shorts wear dark blue kneesocks, also commonly with colored bands. Aew schools have light blue kneesocks. Some schools let the older boys wear adult walk shorts with light blue kneesocks.

Figure 3.--Most New Zealand schools have a summer uniform of light-weight grey cotton short pants.

Many schools let the boys wear sandals without socks during the summer term.

Regulations

There seems to have been little in the way of school regulatins about the length of the shorts, only the fashions of the day dictating what was available. Some of the low-priced treylene shorts available through the main-line retailers were particularly affected by the continental style of short shorts. These were the unlined shorts commonly purchased by mothers for boys at state primary schools. Boys at private schools tended to wear slightly longer, better made shorts sold through local retailers. Actually some of the shorter shorts worn at the private schools were the older boys. Many mothers knowing that their sons were about to graduate to long trousers, put off buying a new pair of shorts that they knew would only be worn for a few months.

Schools had a variety of policies and regulations about the school uniform and wearing shorts. Beginning in the 1960s older English boys stopped wearing short pants as commonly as they once did, even for casual dress. Slowly New Zealand schools began to lower the age at which boys had to wear shorts, but even in the 1990s some schools still require all boys to wear shorts.

Schools regulations on shorts varied over time. Shorts were widespread in many most intermediate and secondary schools, both private and state schools. By the 1990s most secondary schools had revised their regulations, only requiring junior boys to wear shorts.
The 1920s: Short pants became commonly worn at all New Zealand schools, following English uniform styles. The flannel shorts commonly worn were long and baggy.
The 1930s-40s: I know of no basic changes in the school shorts worn in New Zealand.

The 1950s: School uniforms began to change in the 1950s as the country was increasingly influenced by the United States. Some of the more formal English school uniform styles began to become less common, especially the school caps. Bots continued, however, to wear short pants to school. Flannel shorts were largely replaced by Terylene ones.
The 1960s: Most New Zealand schools in the 1960s continued to insist on school uniforms worn to a very high standard. At the same time in England, schools began relaxing uniform requirements. Many English dropped the requirement that the younger secondary schoolboys wear shorts. English elementary schools, however, generally continued to require them.
The 1970s: New Zealand schools continued to require short pants, often even for olderboys in secondary schools. More casual uniform styles began to become more common. The continental style of shorter more trim fitting shorts was commionly adopted.
The 1980s: Boys commonly wore short, trim fitting short pants for school uniforms. Most schools required shorts as part of the school uniform in both the warm and cooler months.
The 1990s: School shorts became less common in the 1990s, even at private schools. Many schools have begun requiring them only during the warmer months. The cut of shorts in the mid-1990s began to be longer and baggy.

Figure 3.--New Zealand boys by the late 1990s were wearing long baggy shorts at many secondary.

The 2000s:

Schools had different regulations involving short pants. Common practices differed widely from school to school. Many elementry and prep schools were all shorts until the 1970s when older boys were allowed to wear longs and various regulations were instituted to govern this.
Age: Some schools set an age limits for wearing short pants. A common regulation at prep sschools in the 1980s, for example, was to allow boys to wear longs when they reached 11 or 12 years of age, depending on the school.
Form: Another common requirement was to base the wearing of shorts on the form (grade) the boy was in. The age has generally been lowered in the 1980s and 90s.
Height: Less common, but used at some schools, wearing shorts was determined by height. This was less popular than other practices because it meant that if a boy was short, he might have to wear shorts, even as a senior boy. It was mostly used at a few public (private secondary schools). This system was used at some English schools, I'm not sure about New Zealand.
Optional: Some schools made shorts optional. In such instances at most schools the boys, except for the very youngest would usually wear long pants.

Elementary schools

Younger New Zealand boys wear long pants to school. State elementary schools do not require uniforms. The Catholic and private schools do require uniforms, including grey short pants. Most have a winter uniform of grey Terylene shorts and a summer uniform of grey cotton shorts. The private schools are heabily influenced by British schools and many still requie a formal uniform with blazers and ties. Caps have, however, with few exceptions disappeared.

Intermediate schools

All intermediate schools are state schools or Catholic schools integrated into the state syytem. Almost all intermediate schools require the boys to wear grey Terylene shorts during the winter and cotton shorts in the summer. A few intermediate schools have blue shorts, but the great majority of schools have grey shorts.

Secondary schools

Until the 1980s virtually all statecsecondary schools requuired boys to wear shorts pants. This changed somewhat and there is now much more varied regulations as well as an increasingly casual approach to school uniforms. Many schools, however, still require the boys, usually the younger boys to wear shorts. In most cases it is Terylene shorts in the winter and cotton shorts in the summer. Several schools have often for navy blue shorts. These schools do not switch to cotton shorts, but they do switch to sandals during the summer.

Many private schools are more traditional than the state schools. Thus shorts are even more common there. Almost all private schools require grey shorts, they are often worn with ties, blazers or tweed jackets, and kneesocks. Like the state schools, they often switch to cotton shorts and sandals during the summer.

Material

Materials varied, but flannel shorts were initially most common. Some schools adopted corduroy shorts in the 1930s. After World War II, synthetic fabric, especially terylene worsted.
Cotton: Most schools have grey, light-weight cotton shorts for the summer. Usually they are worn with sandals without kneesocks.
Corduroy: Corduroy is a corruption of the French corde du roi, corde or material of the king. It was a material used as livery for the king's attendants on the hunt. Corduroy shorts were commonly worn by Britishb boys since the 1930s. I do not, think, however, that they were commonly worn in New Zealand.
Flannel: Flannel was the most common material for boys trousers and short pants during the 1920-40s.
Terylene: Synthetic fibers became increasingly common in the 1950s. By the 1960s, terylene worsted fabrics became increasingly common and was the primary material used for short pants by the 1970s. The term Terylene will be unfamiliar to Americans. It is a trade mark for polyester in the United Kingdom and coomonly sold in Empire countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It proced very poular because of the easy if care and the way in which the material held a crease.

Color

Boys ' Attitudes

Created: December 4, 1998
Last updated: October 30, 1999