11 extremely Seventies pages from the 1975 Sears catalog

Corduroy, Dacron and puppets galore!

Remember that early fall day when you would come home from school and find the Sears catalog in the mailbox? It was glorious. We would pour a bowl a cereal, sit at the kitchen table, and flip right to the toy pages. Folding dog-ears on the corner of the page would let mom and dad know what we found, you know, interesting. Hint, hint. Just a suggestion, mom and dad.

The more we dug through the 1975 Sears catalog, the wider our smiles grew. So. Much. Dacron. Here are our favorite pages. Alas, these items are no longer for sale.

1. "Featuring Corduroy"



"Featuring corduroy" is the de facto theme of the catalog — and the year 1975, really.

2. Overalls were the preferred delivery system of corduroy



Family matching was on point.

3. The cowboy look was in.



Westerns may have fallen off the TV schedule, but everyone still wanted to be on Gunsmoke.

4. If it wasn't corduroy, it was probably Dacron.



Without these jackets, it's just not the same being leisurely.

5. Dusty Coral was hot.



No, Dusty Coral was not an actress, rather the trendiest color of the season. Though there was probably an actress named Dusty Coral, too.

6. Fire was no match for NFL pajamas.



There is no more relieving term on an article of clothing than "Self-extinguishing when removed from flame."

7. This was a smart watch.



Oh, you're Apple Watch can keep up with stock prices? Can it show me the time in red when I turn it towards my face? Because that's what a watch is supposed to do.

8. You built a home stereo in pieces.



Who needed a vinyl comeback when there was 8-track?

9. Wearing headphones was a good workout.



Ear buds? Try ear boxes.

10. There were multiple pages of roller skates.



These are so stylin'. As the red, white and blue here illustrates, Bicentennial fever was just starting to grip the nation. "Spirit of '76" shirts can be found inside the catalog, too.

11. Kids loved ventriloquism.



Okay, perhaps some things are better left lost to the sands of time.

Catalog pages from Wishbookweb.com.

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3 Comments

JohnBates 54 months ago
The Hugo puppet was "Dr.Mondo" on "The Pee Wee Herman Show."
PatrickRsGhost JohnBates 43 months ago
The shape of the head and one of the accessory sets makes me think of Pedro, one of Señor Wences' characters.

ajisuzu1 70 months ago
I had those exact $39.50 ear boxes and used them for years. They met their end not because of electronics failure but because the glue holding the earpads gave way. I tried different adhesives, but was never able to get them to remain adhered after that. Plus, the "lightweight, deep polyurethane foam" had lost its spring, so the hard plastic would rub your ears. They worked great for a long time, though. I hadn't thought about those things in decades...
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