Figure 1.--This full-page advertisement illustrates just how intensely stocking supporters were marketed in 1919. Long stockings were very widely worn and quite a number of manufcturers were aggressively compeing for market share. The company here was Kleinert's, a manufacturer of notions. They specialized in items that incolved rubber and elastic.The illustration here is a photo of a boy who has apprently just been given a new pair of supporters by his mother. He is testing the stretch capacity of the elastic.

This full-page advertisement illustrates just how intensely stocking supporters were marketed in 1919. Long stockings were very widely worn and quite a number of manufcturers were aggressively compeing for market share. The company here was Kleinert's, a manufacturer of notions. They specialized in items that incolved rubber and elastic. One of their products were Buster Brown Hose Supporters, a type of children's garters. They were for boys and girls and made in even sizes up to the age of 12. Children's hose supporters at the timev were an item of clothing that was worn almost universally by all American children up to at least age 12 and often to age 14. The brand name here, Buster Brown, is taken from a famous comic book character popular with children during the 1910s and 20s. Buster was often, but not alwaysdepicted wearing long stockings. Period conventions allowed younger children to wear socks, usially three-quarter sovks. Boys and girls actually wore metal badges or pins with the image of Buster Brown on them and the inscription 'Buster Brown Hose Supporters.' These have become collectors' items and are sold sometimes on Ebay.

Long Stockings

At the time, virtually all American children wore long stockings, and most boys up to the age of 16 wore knee pants or above-the-knee knickers with black long stockings. Many boys went barefoot during the summer. Younger boys might wear three-quarter sovls. The most common hosiery at the time, however, was long stockings. Hence, devices for holding up stockings were in great demand.

Stocking Supporters

Long stockings to look smrt required stocking supporters. There were mny different tyoes and vrious manufacturwrs. This full-page advertisement illustrates just how intensely stocking supporters were marketed in 1919. Long stockings were very widely worn and quite a number of manufcturers were aggressively competing for market share.

Kleinert

The company here was Kleinert, a manufacturer of notions. The main office was located in New York City. We are not sure where the manufacturing facilities were located. There were also offices in Toranto, Canada. Kleinert specialized in a range of items that incolved rubber and elastic. One of their products were Buster Brown Hose Supporters, a type of children's garters. There products were dress shields, rubber sheeting, bathing caps, Buster Bron Hose Supporters, and baby pants. We wre a little confused about 'dress shields'. Shields were another name for sailor suit dickies, but we do not think the referrence is to dressy dickies. Here it appears to referto rubber inplants to women's dresses worn under armpits to protect the dress. I don't think dress shields are only for formal ladies' dresses either. Many dresses, formal and informal, have these underarm pads which can be partly made of rubber. A reader writes, "My mother was a seamstress and used them herself so I remember what they were like--usually semi-circular little pads that were sewn into women's garments where the sleeves connect at the armpits. I'm sure this is the object that is mentioned in the Kleinert's ad. They were available at nearly all notions counters."

Garters

Kleinert's garters were for boys and girls and made in even sizes up to the age of 12. Children's hose supporters at the timev were an item of clothing that was worn almost universally by all American children up to at least age 12 and often to age 14. The brand name here, Buster Brown, is taken from a famous comic book character popular with children during the 1910s and 20s. Buster was often, but not alwaysdepicted wearing long stockings. Period conventions allowed younger children to wear socks, usially three-quarter socks. Boys and girls actually wore metal badges or pins with the image of Buster Brown on them and the inscription 'Buster Brown Hose Supporters.' These have become collectors' items and are sold sometimes on Ebay.

Buster Brown

Although now known mostly as a coroprate symbol for a shoe company, Buster Brown was the best known boy character in 20th-Century America. He was an emensly popular cartoon chracter created by R.F. Outcault who had earlier created the Yellow Kid. He was also the subject of popular films. Buster was a charmingly mischievous boy, always carefully dressed and with nangs and long blond hair. He was often accompanied by his sister, Mary Jane, as well as his faithful bulldog--Tige. His antics while sometimes naughty were never meam-spirited and always ended with a little motal homily to have a moral influence on the youthful readers of the Sunday comics. He was normally the well dressed younger boy with friends that were rougher and not as well dressed. Buster was also made into the subject of popular films. He was also used to market a wide range of clothing. Because of his charateristic clothing, his include a range of clothing items. Buster Brown shoes was the jost enduring. Buster's girl friend was Mary Jane which became the American term for strap shoes even though Buster also wore them. Buster gave his name to his trade-mark bangs, collar, and suit. Curiously Mary Jane gave her name to the strap shoes, although both Buster and Mary Jane wore them.

Advertisement Illustration

The illustration here is a photo of a boy who has apprently just been given a new pair of supporters by his mother. He is testing the stretch capacity of the elastic.

Construction

American boys and girls wore pin-on supporters that fastened onto garter tabs on underwaists or waist union suits to hold up long stockings worn with short trousers, knickers, or skirts. The standard colors were black and white. This boy's mother has bought him white supporters, probably as part of his back-to-school wardrobe. There was some disagreement about where the elastic should be on quality hose supporters--i.e., whether the elastic should be (a) in the main strap below the safety-pin with the buckle for length adjustment, (b) in the two pendants below the buckle with the the rubber-button and metal loop clasps, or (c) in both these sections. There were two considerations here: (1) the more elastic, the greater the stretchability and therefore the better the smoothness, neatness, and tautness of long stockings on the leg; (2) the more non-elastic tape in the construction, the greater durability of the garters because elastic web wears out much more quickly that non-elastic tape. As a result some manufacturers of children's supporters (such as Hickory, made by Stein) put the elastic in the upper strap and made the pendants of non-elastic tape, whereas others (such as Buster Brown, made by Kelinert) did just the opposite by making the upper strap non-elastic and the pendants elastic. There was even a more expensive version of Hickory supporters that used elastic for both the upper strap and the pendants. These were more expensive, of course, because of the use of more rubber in the product, and they presumably held stockings up more smoothly because of the greater stretch capacity. But they also wore less well and therefore had to be replaced more often. The Buster Brown supporters advertised here have non-elastic tops so that the buckle won't bite into the rubber and weaken it, reserving the stretch part of the garter to the two pendants alone.

Notion Trade Topics

The source of this ad is a publication for the retailers of notions called Notion Trade Topics (Vol. 52, p. 26), dated 1919, published monthly by McCready Publishing Company, 118 East 28th St., New York City. Owners or managers of dry goods stores or department stores across the nation consulted this monthly magazine as a guide to stocking their stores with the best selling items in the category of "notions" (including buttons, sewing materials, dress shields, ribbons, garter elastic, bias tape, hose supporters, garter waists, etc.). Buster Brown supporters were apparently a big seller with retailers because of the famous brand name. There were various items of children's clothing with the Buster Brown label including long stockings, shoes, and boy's blouses, some of which have already been noticed on HBC.

Ad Copy

Here is the text of the ad copy, ""Kleinert's Buster Brown Hose Supporters. These are the hose supporters the boys and girls like--they feel freer in them. Mothers prefer them--they know Kleinert's Buster Browns wear longer and don't tear stockings. All the elastic is below the buckle--where it ought to be. The teeth of the buckle can't bite the stretch out of Kelinert's Buster Browns. That's one reason why Buster Brown Hose Supporters are the big sellers. And they are backed by a persistent campaign of national advertising and by the Kleinert Service. I. B. Kleinert Rubber Company, 721, 723, 725, 727 Broaadway, New York. Canadian Office: 84 Wellington St. West, Toronto. Makers of Dress Shields, Rubber Sheeting, Bathing Caps, Buster Brown Hose Supporters, Baby Pants."

Reader Comments

A reader writes, "It's interesting that ads for children's hose supporters, sold separately for attachment to underwaists and waist union suits, usually go only up to age 12 years. Dr. Parker Hose Supporter waists (with supporters attached), however, were made for children as old as age 14, and Kern's supporter waists (also with supporters already attached) were made for children as old as 16. The famous Hickory Waists were for boys and girls up to 14. These were sold both with and without supporters attached to the pin tubes. I suppose children older than 12 simply bought (or had bought for them) hose supporters made for "misses and women", who also wore pin-on supporters in larger sizes. There was no difference at all between children's pin-ons and women's except size. Even the two major colors, black and white, were available in women's sizes. It's also worth remembering that supporters were adjustable for length, which is why they were sold only in even-numbered age categories, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12. Supporters marked as age 12 would probably be suitable for someone 13 or even 14, since size 10 would fit kids who were 11 or almost 12." Afactor here is that in the 1900s and 1910s we see quite old boys includingmany teenagers wearing knee pants and knickers with long stockings. This changed in the 1920s. You still see some yonger teens wearing knickers, but rarely boys mucg beyond 14 or perhaps 16 years of age.

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Created: 6:47 AM 12/22/2012
Last updated: 10:47 PM 11/29/2013