Figure 1.--Here we see an American boy and his kitty in the 1970s. He is wearing the shorter cut short pants and tube socks that were populat at the time. Noyoce how mother has caredully selected the short and socks to catch some of the color of the burgandy shorts. Also notice the collared rugby-type shirt that was also popular.

Tube socks were primarily an American style, in part because of their origins. Basketball in the 1970s was still primariy an American sport. Tube socks do not appear to have been commonly worn in Europe. They were worn in Latin Americin to some extent, especially in Mexico and other countries where the American influence is strongest. Perhaps the major other country in which tube socks became popular was Japan. A Japanese contributor, in fact, notes that they were very popular in Japan. Indeed, you still see them in the early 2000s, albeit with long short pants. Some Japnese readers believe they look rather silly. Tube socks were the first major American fashion to catch on among Japanese boys (excepting jeans which, of course, were worn first by young men). Tube socks came in at the same time that American boys began wearing the short jogging/soccer type short-shorts which also caught on in Japan. But Japanese boys wore tube socks with traditional Japanese short-shorts as well as the American style sport shorts. (There is a picture of a boy in tube socks and short shorts standing beside his bicycle in the HBC Japanese pages.) Tube socks lasted longer in Japan (as noted, you still see them occasionally), went through several style changes (the rings got very elaborate in the late 80s) and were worn with all kinds of shorts--including dress shorts and shortpants suits.

Created: 12:07 AM 2/2/2017
Last updated: 12:07 AM 2/2/2017