Garter tabs and shoulder loops

[Fat Old Guy]

BW said, "Through the 70s scouts wore knee socks that were held up by garter straps hidden by folding over the top of the sock. A tassle hung from the garter visbile below the cuff of the sock. A yellow tassle was worn by Cub Scouts, a green tassle by Boy Scouts, and a red tassle by Explorers."

 

Why didn't Oscar de la Hoya keep this simple color scheme when he invented the shoulder loops.

 

 

[VentureScoutNY]

 

That's a good question FOG. ALL I can think of is becuase he was going for a different color scheme, and a differnet style all together.

[NJCubScouter]

Ah, the garters with the tassles, I remember them well. I did not know that Cubs had yellow tassles, the only ones I ever saw were the green ones for Boy Scouts. At the time, the green for Boy Scouts (and the red for Explorers) fit in to what was then (I believe) a new overall color scheme. I have patches from the period in which there is a "BSA" logo with the B in blue (or at least I thought it was blue, maybe it is yellow, I can check tonight), the S in green and the A in red. I believe the S is "wearing" a red beret. Obviously the red was "traded" to Boy Scouting and the green to Exploring/Venturing sometime during my 25-year absence from the BSA.

 

I have described these knee socks with the garters and tassles to my son -- unfortunately they do not seem to have been saved along with my uniform shirt and my patch collection -- and he can't believe anyone would ever agree to wear such things. I personally remember thinking at the time that although most boys wouldn't be caught dead wearing them, I personally liked them at the time, I guess on the theory that if you are going to wear a uniform, it might as well have some "pizazz." (Or maybe the theory, at least subconsciously, was to look as much like B-P as possible -- in addition to the standard knee socks with the garters and tassles, when they re-introduced the "campaign hat" and introduced the red berets, my troop voted for the campaign hat. (Though, group photos indicate, within three years the troop had almost completely switched over to the baseball-cap style hat.))

[dsteele]

The socks had no elastic and wouldn't stay up without the garters. Camp staffers were often seen with one or both socks bunched around their ankles due to a lost garter.

[red feather]

Welcome to the campfire, pull a log up and have some questionable coffe.

 

As a scouter that remembers the garters, I was every day rubbing out the indentations that they made. The garters were not either not big enough or so stretched out they had to be real tight to stay up.

 

As an adult scouter I really like the over the calf sock that they have now. As having skin cancer I appreciate the extra cover when wearing the scout shorts. Besides I think ( in my old fashioned way) that they look better.

 

yis

[Fat Old Guy]

"As a scouter that remembers the garters, I was every day rubbing out the indentations that they made."

 

I like the look of the current knee socks but I have a problem with them making indentations in my legs. :-)

[NeilLup]

Interesting question about why the color scheme was changed. No idea.

 

However, that previous color scheme was, and I believe still is, the scheme used in the backing on service stars.

[OldGrayOwl]

Does anyone know if these are still avaliable?

[OldGrayOwl]

Does anyone know if these are still avaliable, the leg garters that is and if so, where can I get them?

 

Thanks

OGO

[Kahuna]

The garters and tabs show up on Ebay from time to time. Keep watching and sooner or later, you'll find 'em. Another alternative, depending on what you want them for, is to look for suppliers of Scottish highland dress. The socks worn with the kilt are also supported by garters which have tabs in various colors on them. They're not quite the same as the old BSA ones, but they are a heck of a lot more comfortable. I nearly lost my toes a couple times due to garter-induced lack of circulation.

 

Here's an example: http://www.dunedinscottish.com/cgi-bin/webstore2/store/commerce.cgi?product=Flashes&cart_id=

[Buffalo Skipper]

I wore the garters as a youth, and I still have my old pair of socks, garters and tabs. The elastic in the garters is now as flexible as upholstry thread and I can fit my entire foot through the hole in the toe. But I loved them! I felt it was a moral victory when they bought "back" the knee socks I now wear.

 

Unless I missed it, though, I am surprised no one talked more about the significance of the colors. Yellow, reflects Cub Scouts (in all things scouting, except shoulder loops); Green is Boy Scouts; and Red is Exploring/Venturing. This can also be seen in the backs on the Service Stars, which also includes Blue for adult service. I always thougth it was odd to be wearing Red loops for scouts and a Red back on the service star for Explorers, while I wore Green service star back for scouts and Green loops for Venturing. It was all backwards. These colors can also be seen on the WD Boyce New Unit Organizer Knot, where the field is divided into Yellow, Green and Red representing the 3 scouting divisions, Cub, Boy and Venturing.

http://www.dougfirdistrict.org/crew/images/wdboyce.jpg

 

 

[jr56]

I was lucky enough to get some garters and knee socks in a bag that somebody dropped off at the council office and didn't want anymore.

[John-in-KC]

I liked the socks back in 1970 or so, the garters were a RPINTA.

 

These days, the tenny-runner version is fine by me.

[Mr. Boyce]

I like the garters; served a purpose and added some pizazz. Dislike the pointless and useless epaulets.

[Mr. Boyce]

I've thought about this a bit more. Garter tabs and shoulder loops are in the same category: unnecessary frizzle. The tabs are no more; would be nice to see the Orkin Man-inspired shoulder loop epaulets go. These just look goofy.