The last time stocking supporters were worn to any extent was the 1940s, although they did not disappear until the early 1950s. They were still prominently advertised in the 1940s. They were available in quite a wide range of different types. Sears referred to them as "garter waists". Many were clearly targeted for younger children. The ad shows the proud children, beaming "See mommie, now we can put on our own garter waists.Interestingly, while long stockings were going out of style, there was still quite a variety of stocking supporters. This ad appeared in the Sears Fall and Winter 1941-42 catalog
This ad appeared in the Sears Fall and Winter 1941-42 catalog. The Sears, Roebuck and Co., huge merchandising firm centered in Chicago was founded by Richard W. Sears
(1863-1914) and A.C. Roebuck (1864-1948). Sears
had begun a career in mail-order business in Minnesota
1886. In Chicago he and Roebuck joined resources and
formed a corporation in 1893 as a mail-order business
under title Sears, Roebuck and Company. The catalog
by the 1890s included just about any imaginable item.
You could even purchase a complete house--all you had
to do was assembkle it. In 1895 Julius Rosenwald
(1862-1932) bought Roebuck's interest the in firm and
became president on Sears's retirement 1908. A
retail-store system was added 1925. The first foreign
store added in Havana, Cuba during 1945 and becane te
first expropriated store in 1960. The Sears-Roebuck
catalog brought the production of industry to the
fartherest corner of rural America, opening the
cornucopia of the consumer age to rural America. All the
new things that were changing American life danced
across their pages. Through it, a huge Chicago
warehouse offers to modernize the farms and small towns
of the Midwest.
This category applies to a broad variety of devices for holding up long stockings. Theoretically it would apply to any garment worn on the upper body used for this
purpose (including underwaists, pantywaists, and suspender waists). But HBC uses the term to apply specifically to waists with hose supporters already attached,
even though in some cases these supporters are detachable. Most of these garments are designed to have the strain of the garters carried by the child’s shoulders.
Some have waistbands and some do not, but all are worn under the outer clothing and therefore as a species of children’s underwear. One of the first such garments
we notice was in the Sears 1902 catalog Sears refers to a "combination belt and supporter, but the garment was essentially a garter waist. The use of different terms
somewhat complicates the assessment if the garments. Interestingly, even when the wearing of long stockings was supposedly declining in the late 1930s and early
1940s, a proliferation of styles of garter waist became very prominent in the Sears and Wards catalogs of this period. We have more different styles for this period
than for any other on HBC. A good example is the Sears 1939 garter waists.
Sears here offered several different styles.
The boy and girl in the picture are both wearing Kern's "Dandy" garter waist. Mary says , "It's easy as apple pie" for any girl or boy to put it on without
any help...they can slip it off alone, too. John says it doesn't drag on his
shoulder like some other kind he has to wear. And another thing, it doesn't
slow him down in the rough and tumble games he likes to play. Mary's and
John's mother says she likes it because it's made of strong cotton tape with
the elastic adjustable hose supporters...it's so easy to wash. No buttons to
come off. Strap across front and back to prevent slipping from shoulder.
White. Even sizes: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 14.
Washable heavy white cotton tape. Adjustable non-slip shoulders, garters.
Buttons at waist for outer garments. Even sizes: 2 to 14
Above style, medium wt. Even sizes: 2 to 12
Fig.C One inch width white cotton terry-elastic. Comfy slip-on style with
adjustable garters. Washable. Sizes: Small, ages 2 to 4; Medium, ages 6 to
8; Large, ages 10 to 12
Cotton Elastic, nickeled metal clips. Adjusts to age 10. White on blue or
brown. State color. Rayon Elastic, gold-color clips. Adjusts ages 3 to 14.
Dk. brown, Maroon, Navy
Adjustable 1-inch rayon classic, oblong rubber button, double pendant.
Rustproof finish metal fittings. White. Sizes: 2 to 4; 4 to 6; 6 to 9; 10 to
12.
Adjustable rayon elastic. Nickel finish metal fittings. White. Sizes: 2 to
4, 4 to 6, 6 to 9.
The sizes for the stocking supporters were through age 12, and 14 in the case of one style. HBC notes that most of the available adds from comparable Sears catalogs were only for boys through age 10. Also while the advertisements picture boys and girls age 10-12 in long stockings, the stocking supporter advertisements only picture younger children.
All of our information on stocking supporters at this time is American. We have no indormation about stocking supporters in other countries. German sources tell us that most mothers adopted ad hoc devices such as saftey pins or rubber bands rather than store bought stoking supporters as shown here.
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