Figure 1.--Here we see the stocking supporters and waists offered by Ward's in 1895. The stocking supporters were only to hold up long stockings while the waists could not only hold up the stockings but pants and kilts as well for the boys and skirts for the girls. |
Wards offered quite a range of waists and stocking supporters. The differnt styles are pictured here as well as interesting details on size ages, material, and color. The Ward's page is interesting because it is one of the earlier advertisement we have for these garments. They certainly were offered earlier, but we have not yet been able to acquire ads from the 1870s or 80s. Ward's also mentions that a waist was a "shoulder brace", an allusion to a beneficial affect on posture. All of these garments have the Daisy brand.
Although the word "consumerism" has a modern ring, it was personal concern for an early consumer movement, the "National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry,"That inspired a young traveling salesman named Aaron Montgomery Ward to start the world's first general merchandise mail-order company in 1872. Aaron Montgomery Ward was born on February 17, 1844, in Chatham, New Jersey, to a family whose forebears had served as officers in the French and Indian Wars as well as in the American Revolution. Looking for something more compatible, Monty left home and followed the river to Lake Michigan and the town of St. Joseph, county seat and market for outlying fruit orchards. Chicago was the center of the wholesale dry goods trade and in the 1860s Ward joined the leading dry goods house, Field Palmer & Leiter. As a retailer, Potter Palmer had previously built a reputation for fair dealing. Ward absorbed these principles while working as a clerk
for $5. The Chicago City Directories for 1868 through 1870 listed Ward as a salesman for Wills, Greg & Co. and later for Stetthauers & Wineman, both dry goods houses. In 1870, after canvassing territory in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Ward was again footloose. The plan shaping in Ward's mind was to buy goods at low cost for cash. By eliminating intermediaries, with their markups and commissions, and cutting selling costs to the bone, he could offer goods to people, however remote, at appealing prices - for cash. Since its founding in 1872, the company has literally "grown up with America" and has had a major impact on the shopping habits of a nation of consumers. Montgomery Ward & Co. discontinued its catalog operations in 1
985 as part of its restructuring effort to change itself into a modern, competitive chain of value-driven specialty stores, a move which for a time saved the company. week.
Daisy was a brand name. We know at this time nothing about the company that made them. A reader writes, "I'm not sure that "Daisy" refers to a manufacturer. I think it's just a type or style of garment. I notice, for instance, that some of the later Sears garter waists are also designated as "Kern's Daisy". In other words, it may be analagous to the "Dr. Parker" designation. But I'm really not sure about that. Check out the Sears 1939 page on "Stocking Supporters and Suspenders." This uses the "Daisy" designation for one of the styles, I think. And it appears in other Sears pages too."
The boys and girls wearing long stockings in the second half of the 19th Century held them up with various styles of stocking supporters. I believe that boys did not wear these supporters commonly in the first half of the 19th Century because kneepants were not nearly as common. Boys wearing long trousers did not commonly wear stocking supporters. It was not until the 1870s when kneepants became more commonly worn that stocking supporters became widely worn. Both boys and girls wore them. They were several different styles, including over the shoulder and waist styles. They were not very comfortable especially for boys involved in strenous outdoor activities. Notably Lord Baden Powell when he designed the first Boy Scout uniform chose kneesocks so cumbersome stocking supporters would not be necessary.
Ward's offered two basic types of stocking supporters.
The ad copy read, "10937 Child's Shoulder Hose Supporters in black, white and drab with improved
button clasp.
No. 1, age 1 to 3
No. 2, age 3 to 5
Try them and you will like them. Per pair $0.16; Per dozen $1.65." The model shown here is a girl with a doll, but these supporters are
obviously for boys as well as girls. I'm not sure what color "drab" is--perhaps similar to olive drab, or maybe just undyed grey.
There were three sizes of stocking supporters with what Ward's described as an "improved clasp". These stocking supporters were all te same design, but were made in different sizes. The smaller sizes were for boys and girls and "misses" (teen age girls). The largest size was for women.
10938: The ad copy read, "Shoulder Hose Supporters in black, white and drab.
No. 3, age 5 to 7
No. 4, age 7 to 9
Per pair $0.18; Per dozen $1.80."
10940: The ad copy reaf, "Shoulder Hose Supporters, in black, white and drab.
No. 5, Age 9 to 11
No. 6, misses
Per pair, $0.23; Per dozen, $2.50."
10942: The ad copy read, " Shoulder Hose Supporters, in black, white and drab.
No. 7, ladies' size
Per pair, $0.25
Per dozen, $2.65" This shoulder supporter is exactly the same as Nos. 1 and 2 above made in larger sizes--for boys and girls up to the age of 11 (Nos. 3, 4 and 5), for teenage girls (No 6), and for adult women (No. 7). Since many boys wore long stockings with their knee pants in their early teens, and some into their mid-teens, it is curious that the children's sizes here go only as high as age 11. Perhaps older boys wore a different style of hose supporter not advertised here or else the style with the "Cupid Snap" features, described below.
Underwaists were another type of support garment. Underwaists (sometimes called panty-waists) were worn by younger boys and girls to support additional underwear (such as bloomers or panties) or outer clothing (such as trousers or skirts). These bodices tended to be worn by boys only until about age 10, although some models came in ages for boys as old as 12. Some models were specifically for girls and others for boys, but the great majority of styles could be worn by both
boys and girls. They tended to be made of elastic knitted fabric (and therefore rather form-fitting) or of cambric material and a bit looser. They nearly always were equipped with reinforcement straps, waist buttons, and garter tabs for attaching hose supporters. The popularity of underwaists declined in the later 1930s and early
1940s although they were still available, usually in the preferred knitted style, up until about 1945. When long stockings stopped being worn by school children, the main function of the underwaist ceased to exist.
We notice two styles of Daisy waists. One for children up to age 11 and the other only for younger children.
The Ward's ad copy read, "Child's Waist, Hose and Skirt Supporter combined. Quite new and a great success. Made of corset jean with elastic straps; has two rows of buttons, one for panties, the other for skirts. Easily laundered. Made in four sizes; colors: Black, white, and drab.
No. 1, 1 to 2 years, length, 9 1/2 inches. No. 1 only has a diaper attachment.
No. 2, 2 to 5 years, length 11 1/2 inches.
No. 3, 5 to 8 years, length 12 1/2 inches.
No. 4, 8 to 11 years, length 14 inches.
In ordering, give size and color.
Each $0.40; Per dozen $4.30." TThis waist seems to be specifically designed for girls since "panties and skirts" are mentioned and pants are not mentioned. But there is no reason that a boy couldn't wear it since skirts and knee pants both button in the same way. And in 1895 some smaller boys were still wearing skirts. The designation, "Daisy Child's Waist" could obviously include boys as well as girls. The length mentioned in each case is the length of the elastic supporters that are attached to the waist at the sides. The fact that the
garter straps are quite long suggests that the average length of long
stockings was not too many inches above the knee.
The Ward's ad copy read, "10946 Cupid Snap Waist for Children, Combination Hose Supporter, Waist and Shoulder Brace; no buttons, no button holes, no buckles. Everything goes on with a snap; can be removed or put on in a second's time. Each $0.50. Postage $0.05. Note: If for girl send exact size of petticoat around the waist; for boy, size of kilts or pants around waist. Black only." It is interesting that no age sizes are given here. One reader suggests, "Presumably this waist is made in any size for children up to about 17 or 18, both boys and girls." HBc tends to think that this style was only for small children. Note an especially small small male child appears in the model. Emphasizing the speed of putting it on and takung it off as well as mentioning a boy wearing a kilt all suggest that it was for a younger child. This style of waist is unusual in several respects. First, it uses snaps in lieu of both buttons and the usual button-and-metal-loop clasps on the hose supporters. Presumably the top of the stocking goes between the concave and convex parts of a snap and is held in place simply by the tightness of the connection. Note that there are four garter straps attached to the waist rather than two straps with a Y-shaped division lower down. This is quite a novel arrangement. I doubt that it was very popular because it does not seem to have been repeated in later Ward's catalogs. But snaps (as opposed to buttons) would have two advantages. They would be easier for small boys and girls to manage on their own while getting dressed, and mothers would be relieved of having to sew on loose or missing buttons. Notice the chest strap to prevent the shoulder straps from slipping off. Restriction to the color black is also a bit novel. Usually such garter waists were offered also in white. Black was probably thought to be more practical because of its non-soil aspect.
A reader writes, "Did you notice that the waist supporters were sold by the dozen. I wonder if that meant that they did not last very long. Only the youngest version (the last one down) was sold singly without a dozen quantity as an alternative." Yes having to buy a dozen does seem to suggest that they were not very duyrable. Of course families in the 1890s tended to be larger than today, but still buying a dozen does seem to suggest that children ran through several of these during the year. We have, however, no actual indormatiuon on this. A reader writes, "The question of durability is indeed interesting. Notice that only the Cupid Snap waist is the one not offered by the dozen. I think the least durable part of a garter waist or stocking supporter was the elastic which, being partly made of rubber, tended to lose its stretchiness and resilience.
Most over-the-shoulder garter waists were made of non-elastic cotton tape or webbing with only the garters proper being made of elastic (and even here only the section of the hose supporter above the pendants was typically constructed of elastic). Some of the early advertisements for hose supporters advertise their "fresh elastic," meaning of course that such elastic would have longer
life. Elastic products tend to deteriorate over time even before they are sold; but daily use would and washing tend to make them less and less effective and cause stockings to sag and look untidy. Active boys engaged in rough-and-tumble play could be expected to give supporters maximum wear. This is perhaps one reason in the later Sears and Wards garter waist ads (see the 1939 Sears ads especially) for the prominence of boy models. It looks to me as though the Daisy shoulder garters are elastic only at the bottom where the actual garters
are attached to the shoulder straps. As for the waists made of jean material with the button front, these would be quite durable (jean is very sturdy material), but the garters attached to the jean waist are of course made of elastic and would be subject to the same problems of wear. Perhaps washing in very hot water would also be a factor for the durability of elastic. But the writer who mentions large families makes a significant point. A mother might be buying these waists for half a dozen children at the same time. So, on reflection, I think both large families and the questionable durability of elastic are factors in explaining why these waists were sold in quantities."
It is cirious that these waists and stocking supporters were made in sizes only to age 11 for boys, although the ad copy is a bit ambigious here. We note, however, that the many styles of Ward's kneepants suits were made in sizes up to 14-15 years of age. Most younger boys and virtually all older boys would have worn long stockings with kneepants, especially kneepants suits. We are left with the obvious question of how boys 12-15 years of age get their long stockings up. We are not at this time sure as to the answer to this question. If different companies sere involved we would have attributed it tgo the vageries of marketing. Here not only is the same company involved, but the these age references are from the same 1895 catalog.
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