Better late than never right. I spent quite a few hours in bandwidth hell waiting for enough power to write this. I'm just a minnow at the mercy of my blockchain masters!
To review the 1976 Sears Catalog, an impressionable shopper would come away with the notion every kid needed to wear Toughskins Plaid Pants while skating, climbing trees, or doing chores. The pants hid a secret knee pad behind the pant knees enabling the wearer to skin up the pants without leaving a hole.
Unfortunately, the brilliant designer of these pants failed to note the pad cracked and deteriorated after several washings. This left a scratchy knee pad rubbing the child's knees raw under the pants. The pad deteriorated so badly kids often ripped the pad out of the knees leaving little protection from the rough and tough sidewalk.
Sears marketed the Toughskins brand to moms like they marketed Craftsmen tools to men. No beloved child could go without a pair of Toughskins, just as no plumber could get away without using a Craftsmen plumbing wrench.
I must admit I wore quite a few pairs of these treasured jeans. For years mom whipped out the Sears catalog and ordered me two pairs every fall in time for school. This went until the Ocean Pacific (OP) brand came out with clothing all the 13-year-olds were wearing and I convinced her to buy them instead.
I won't go into my satin flower shirt period.
Cheers,
Michael