The new Skipper bowling shirt of 1940 offered a sports-friendly fit and boasted that it was “pre-tested by actual bowlers.” Readers today would be surprised by , in which a model wears the shirt with a necktie and appears to be buttoning the cuffs of his long sleeves. At the time, this decorous attire was standard at bowling alleys, where women often wore dresses or skirts.
But over the next decade, sprawling suburban developments and innovative automatic pin-setting machines inspired a boom in family-friendly bowling centers: Between 1945 and 1957, at least 20,000 new lanes cropped up across the country, some in new establishments sporting flashy chrome, bright upholstery, swanky lounges and other hallmarks of midcentury design. By 1958, the American Planning Association declared that the bowling alley was fast becoming an important hub for recreation; in some suburbs, it was called “the poor man’s country club.” The massive uptick in popularity—membership in the American Bowling Congress tripled between 1940 and 1958—and the dominance of league tournaments (some lanes even offered child care so women could compete during the day) led to a demand for shirts that were both comfortable as athletic wear and distinctive as uniforms.
During this boom, clothing makers offered roomier shirts with shorter sleeves, longer tails to stay tucked in and softer collars meant to be worn without a tie. They were often made of soft rayon or gabardine, with bright colors for eas.
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