The situation in England was quite different from America. Uniforms were required at most schools, school boys wore grey shorts and knee socks to school. Some boys might even wear shorts for the first few years of their secondary school. Some schools even required it along with a blazer and tie. School caps were also still common.
British boys were less likely to have play shorts. They might wear an old pair of grey school shorts. Some wore cord shorts. The length was still fairly long, just above knee level. Mothers still resisted buying jeans.

The shoe situation in Britain was much different than in America. British schoolboys were less likely to wear sneakers and instead wore closed toe sandals with a "t" strap to school and for play after school.

This boy wears sandals his friend wears tennis shoes.

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Many families couldn't afford basic needs, which left little time or money for fashionable boys' clothes. I also have read that in some cases around World War 2 when boys were called up into the forces, that because a young man would soon be called up and given a uniform, he continued to wear short trousers after leaving school until he joined up.
Eventually fashions started to change in the middle of the 1950s - people saw films and copied their heroes.
Little boys copied cowboys like Davy Crocket and jeans and long trousers were allowed by some families for play.

The popular "t" shirt introduced by GIs in the 1940s gained fashionability when Marlon Brando wore them in the 1951 film Streetcar Named Desire. "T" shirts moved rapidly from underwear to sportswear And bigger boys copied James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, which opened on Oct. 26, 1955.

Ladybird tried to sell T shirts in 1948 in England but no-one would buy them. They had to sell them in Canada as the British thought they looked like vests. Only in 1950 did they start to sell in the UK.

The Teddyboys started in the 1950s as Britain began to become more wealthy after the war.They were the first British youth culture. The consumer boom of the 1950s America did not reach Britain until the 1960s but still  teenagers could for the first time afford good clothes, a bicycle or motorcycle and entertainment.

The clothing that the Teddyboys wore was designed to shock their parents. It consisted of an Edwardian style drape jacket, suede shoes with thick crepe soles, narrow 'drainpipe' trousers, a smart shirt and a loud tie - usually bootlace type.

Boys wore their hair in a  quiff with a DA (ducks arse) at the back.
Like Elvis Presley

Scouts
After the war  the look of the scout uniform was retained, with shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

This eventually led to complaints from Scouts who thought that the old-fashioned uniform, especially the shorts, stopped boys from joining.

By the 1960s many British schoolboys stopped wearing short trousers at the age of 11 or 12, instead of 14 as in the past. They felt awkward having to wear shorts as scouts. There were also complaints about the unsuitability of the uniform for a British winter. In 1967, it was decided to change in the traditional scout uniform.

America in the 50s
Boys clothes especially at the start of the 50s varied a lot between America and Europe.
American Boys instead of having a Sunday suit and a few changes of clothes now had  several different outfits. Families in Britain and some European countries, however, were much worse off.
New synthetic fibres were developed. Acrylics were introduced in 1950 and polyester in 1953.
Some of these fabrics caused tragedies when they caught fire.
Fully automatic washers and dryers made washing easy.
By 1953-54 it was very rare to see a boy of any age in shorts and knee socks or even play shorts.
The average American boy during the 1950s would play in a "t" shirt, often with broad coloured horizontal stripes, blue jeans, and sneakers. Most boys saw shorts as little boys and girls clothes. Interestingly some boys would play in jeans, but have to dress up in a shorts suit.
The opposite of the modern boy who more commonly wears play shorts , but has a long trousers suit for best.

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