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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. They apparently moved to a new address. We note an eye-catching baseball storefront window display for the George Frost Company Boston Garters in 1914 which lists the company's address as 551 Tremont Street, Boston. 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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