In my growing up years, I often had to wear hand me down things. I didn’t have older siblings but that didn’t mean my frugal mother didn’t have other sources.
From a deceased Great Uncle Ed, I got two pairs of high top shoes made of kangaroo leather. They were super soft and great for his arthritic feet. My young feet didn’t know to appreciate them and I didn’t want to wear “old man’s shoes.”
They were costly then but today I doubt they can even be bought. Last January an international campaign was launched proclaiming, “Kangaroos Are NOT Shoes.” Several shoe companies including Nike, Puma and New Balance have pledged to stop using kangaroo leather in their products.
When I was in high school, it was thought I should wear suits my uncle had worn while in high school. His mother (my grandmother) had saved his clothes hoping to have a grandson wear them and I was the first-born grandson and probably got first pick. However, I didn’t want any of them for they were at least 20 years old.
My most hated hand-me-down was bell bottom jeans my uncle had worn while serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Those jeans not only had his name stenciled on in bright yellow paint, they had bell-bottoms. At the time, fashion dictated I wear a slim leg jean that could be easily tucked inside my boots. Bell-bottoms became fashionable later.
I had worn and liked some of my father’s clothing from his WWII Air Corps service, but I wanted nothing to do with bell-bottom Navy jeans. Today I think my decision may have been wrong.
Recently I learned the story behind sailors and their bell-bottom pants.
The Navy first authorized wearing bell-bottom denim dungarees in 1901 as an alternative to heavier wool pants I willingly wore on cold winter mornings while riding my pony to school. I wore the wood pants over long underwear and regular jeans. The roomy legs made it easier to get them on and off and they would go over my rubber overboots and keep snow from filtering down to my feet.
Sailors started wearing bell-bottoms in the early 19th century when the Navy lacked a standardized uniform for enlisted personnel.
Bell-bottoms were not only a style but a practical choice for sailors.
In 1817, the secretary of the U.S. Navy issued regulations stating sailors washing decks of ships should be barefooted and have their pants rolled up. The flared legs of bell-bottom trousers made rolling them up easier when compared to pants with narrow legs.
I understand the importance of easy roll up. Once when I hurt my leg and went to the doctor’s office for treatment, he cut off the right leg off of the pants I was wearing.
It may be the wide-legged pants were popular for potential use as a life preserver. If you have ever fallen into a lake or river while fully dressed, you know how quickly wet jeans can become a burden.
For a sailor swept overboard, heavy clothing wasn’t just an inconvenience, it was a dangerous liability. The extra fabric on bell-bottom pants made it easier to catch hold of a sailor who went overboard. And once overboard, it was easier for a sailor to take off their pants without removing their shoes. It was important they keep their shoes on for if they made it to shore they would need shoes to keep from cutting up their feet. It was also possible to inflate the removed bell-bottoms and use them for flotation devices.
After reading the History Facts article about the reasons for bell-bottoms, I now think I should have been more willing to wear them when playing at the river, along the Courtland Canal and near the ponds in the nearby pastures. I don’t remember any close calls, but I did sometimes return home with wet jeans.
Sometimes I took on my excursions an extra pair of dry jeans so I wouldn’t have to return home wearing wet jeans.
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