Figure 1.-- Ads for E-Z Waist Union suits appeared at least twice in the Ladies' Home Journal for 1919--in October, 1919, p. 210, and in November, 1919, p. 211. The illustration for the November ad shows two children (a boy and a girl) dressed only in their waist union suits and black stockings (the hose supporters are already attached and visible), leaning over the banister in their home and calling downstairs to find out what Mother is preparing for their breakfast. They are obviously getting dressed for school.

Children in the early 20th century wore a variety of suspension garments. Long stickinfs were still very common abd we note lrge numbers of adverisements for stocking sipporters in mailorder catalogs as well as magazines and newspapers. The primary purpose was to hold up long stockings, but some were also designed to support pants as well. There were several different types of suspension garments being sold in 1919. We know a great deal about them because they were heavily advertized. We note brands like E-Z, Kazoo, Nazareth, and Sampson. Magazine adverisements tend to stress brands much more heavily than catalog listings. We note quite a number of magazine ads as well as catalog offerings for the various types of support garments in 1919. We note ads for garter waists, susppender waists, underwaists, waists union suits, and other support garments. The ads for these garments normally stressed elaciticity, comfort, and durability as well as posture support. Kazoo in 1919 persued a new campaign stressing that their suspender waists were more masuline and boys wearing them would not be teased. We are unsure why the company adopted this advertising campaign in 1919. It was not persued very long.

Nazerth Underwaists

Here we have an ad for boys' and girls underwaists by Nazareth from the Ladies Home Journal, 1919 (July, 1919, p. 61). Curiously we have a later version of this ad already (see 1927 ad below), but this one, although it reprints the same image, has no descriptive text, so the earlier version is important.

Pioneer Suspender Waist

This ad for a boy's suspender and garter combination probably qualifies as a suspender waist. The main brands for this kind of product during the 1910s and 1920s were the Samson Suspender Waist and the Kazoo Suspender Waist, both of which are already noticed on HBC. This garment was made by the Pioneer Suspender Company of Philadelphia. They made Pioneer Suspenders and Belts for men and Brighton Garters for men. It does not seem to been very competitive with its rivals, Samson and Kazoo, but an illustration and description appeared in a trade magazine called The Boy's Outfitter, published in 1919. This was a magazine that catered to haberdashers and retailers of boys' clothing. The garment consists of white elastic suspenders with adjustable buckles for size adjustment which end in buttons that fasten to button-holes on short trousers or knickers. There are four non-elastic tape extension straps(two in front and two in back towards the sides) with rubber button and metal loop hose supporter clasps for the boy's long stockings. It is essentially a garter waist with no belt and suspender attachments for trousers in front and in back. The ad is directed at retailers in boys' wear: "Build Up Your Boys' Department. Carry in it Pioneer Junior, the best Suspender-Garter for boys on the market. Pioneer Junior is scientific, hygienic, perfectly comfortable and will stand an enormous amount of wear. Pioneer Junior sells on sight. No boy who has worn one will ever be satisfied with any other. Here's why Pioneer Junior is selling BIG. 1. Notice the extension back feature which avoids the shoulder blades and insures comfort--no binding. 2. No band around the waist, insuring perfect ease around the abdomen. Stocking Supporters are non-elastic, holding stockings smoothly, and are indestructible. Shoulder Straps of extra quality elastic. 3. All metal parts absolutely rust-proof. No exposed metal on inner surface. [I.e., not metal touches the body.] 4. Six flexible buttons are easy to button, and to provide complete support for trousers. Suspenders need not be unbuttoned when undressing. They simply slip from the shoulders. We have never risked our reputation on anything but a winner: witness: Pioneer Suspenders, Brighton Garters, and Pioneer Belts. We will send to any responsible dealer a sample pair of Pioneer Junior. Write us, specifying sized wanted. This offer will be good only for a limited time. Pioneer Suspender Company, Philadelphia. Makes of Pioneer Suspenders, Pioneer Belts and Brighton Garters." No size ranges are specified, but most boys' suspender waists were made in sizes up to at least 14. One version of the Kazoo suspender waist was available in sizes for boys up to 18 yeatrs of age.

Kazoo Suspender Waists

Several brands of suspender waists were widely marketed in the early 20th century. One of the most popular, at least based on the extent of the advertizing, was the Kazoo suspender waists. Mostly these adds emphasized the strength and durability of these garments. For som reason we notice that in 1919 the Kazoo advertisements stressed that kazoo suspender waists were prefereed by boys than the waists suits which were depicted as a sissy garment for girls and younger boys. The ads made the point that if mothers did not get the Kazoo suspender waists for their sns, they would be teased or get into fights with other boys. We note ads in Good Housekeeping, but they may appeared in other magazines as well. Other Kazoo ads made this point, but in 1919 the Kazoo ads were much more explicit. We note one add stressing the point about teasing. Another ad made the point about fighting. We are unsure to what extent such teasing took place, but suspect it was not a fiction created by the company. These advertisements for Kazoo Boys' Suspender Waists are very valuable for HBC purposes because it illustrates older boys' attitudes toward the underwaists that they had had to wear at younger ages and that they were growing out of. Apparently the company reconsidered this ad campaign because they did not continue to promote this approach. e have no details as to why this corporate decession was made.

Samson Suspender Waists

Another popular brand of suspender waist was the Samson. We see many ads for Samson suspender waists, but not as many as for the rival Kazoo brand. They had a very different advertizing approach than Kazoo. An advertisement in the Boys' Outfitter stressed the flexibility of the Sampson suspender waist. It was made by the Knothe Brothers who claimed they couldn't keep up with their orders.

E-Z Waist

The E-Z Waist Company was located in Bennington, Vermont, with distribution headquarters in New York City. W note quite anumber of E-Z ads in the early 20th century. The Ladies Home Journal was one of the magazines in which E-Z ads appeared. These ads were illustrated with domestic scenes. One E-Z ad appeard in the October issue and another in the November issue. These were of course the months when children were shifting from summer to winter underwear, so of course these waist union suits are shown with long sleeves and long (ankle length) legs; but E-Z also made summer versions with short sleeves ang legs. All the styles were equipped with reinforcing straps over the shoulders and waist buttons to support trousers or skirts, and they also had additional reinforcement straps for the attachment of hose supporters which were fastened by buttons or safety-pins at waist level under the armpits.

Sears Support Garments

Here we have a Sears Fall and Winter catalog (1919) showing the wide variety of hose supporters and support garments offered for boys and girls. In 1919 all 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. Hence, devices for holding up stockings were almost univeral. Sears devoted an entire page to elastics and hose supporters, covering items that women would buy, not only for themselves, but also for their children up into their later teens. Although children's supporters were available in both black and white, black seems to have been the preferred color for pin-on garters. The garter waists and shoulder supporters, however, seem to have been made mainly in white. At the top of the page, we note an advertisement for the widely popular Buster Brown Hose Supporters, made in sizes for children, for misses, for young women, and for older women.

Kleinert's Buster Brown Hose Supporters

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 mrket 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.

New King of Boy's Suspender Waist

This ad appeared in a magazine circulated to retailers of boys' clothing called The Boy's Outfitter (1919, p 18) It was a trade magazine from which shops, department stores, and other retailers got ideas for stocking their shelves. It is therefore a pretty good guide to what children (in this case boys) were wearing in 1919, when the issue from which this ad was taken was published. During the 1910s and 1920s a variety of support garments for boys in knee trousers, short pants, or above-the-knee knickers were being purchased. We have already noted the most popular of the suspender waists, the "Kazoo" which apparently sold very widely, judging from the large number of advertisements that appeared in newspapers and magazines of the time. The Pioneer Suspender-Garter or "Suspender Junior" seems to have been less popular, but it was manufactured by a prominent company that specialized in men's belts, suspenders, and garters and was therefore very well known. Pioneer was a reconizable brand name.

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Created: 6:13 PM 7/24/2005
Last updated: 11:00 PM 11/29/2013