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George A. Frost for whom the company was named was born in 1857 in
Massachusetts to parents, George and Almira Frost, who came
respectively from Connecticut and Maine. The family lived in Newton,
Mass. by 1870. By 1880 the family lived 310 Highland Street, Newton,
and George, the oldest son, was working for his father's business that
specialized in "ladies furnishings." George's father was a dry goods
merchant. Records indicate that the family business was called the
George Frost and Company, founded by the elder George Frost, and taken
over by his son, George the younger, at some point in the late 1880s.
The firm was located on Devonshire Street in downtown Boston, although
the store was damaged by fire in 1876 and it is not clear whether the
location changed after the fire. The company had two famous products. One was the "Boston Garter," a supporter for men and for older boys' calf-length socks. We notice a magazine ad for Boston Garters in 1926.
Another was pin-on supporters for children's and women's long stockings.
The Boston Garter had been recently patented by F.
Barton Brown and proved to be one its most popular products, advertised
and sold all over the United States. By 1890s the company had become
so prominent and successful that it expanded its production facilities
to include several locations in Boston as well as mills in New Jersey
and Connecticut. The other popular and widely advertised product was
"Velvet Grip Hose Supporters" which were worn by children and women all
over the country and were also widely advertised. Here we see a Velvet Grip advertisment from a popular magazine in 1911 (figure 1).
We note another Velvet Grip advertisement in 1911.
These ads are aimed for younger children. We notice a Velvet Grip ad aimed for an oldr boy in 1909.
The Velvet Grip
supporter had a specially patented clasp for holding up long stockings
that featured a rubber button and metal loop to hold stockinga neatly
in place on the upper thigh and was famous for not coming undone even
under the strenuous activity necessitated by the movements of boys and
girls, and also for not tearing the tops of stockings. Velvet Grip
supporters continued to be very popular up through the early 1940s in
America. They were advertised and sold, for instance, by Sears and
Roebuck and competed favorably with the other most popular brand of
hose supporters, the "Hickory" brand sold by Wards. Notice, for
example, the "Velvet Grip" pin-on garters advertised by Sears in 1939.
The competing brand, Hickory garters, were advertised by Wards in
1940-41 as the "famous Hickory brand":
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