Figure 1.-- This ad for R & J waists appeared in the 'Bridgeport Telegram' in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The ad was for a R & J waist and hose suporter. They were for boys and girls and did niot require vsafety bpins. There were adjustable garters. |
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R & J Waists were made in Bridgeport, Conneticut. We also notice an office in New London. This is a company for which we have been able to find very little information. The comapny snd brand was the sane name--R&J. We notice some newspaper advertisements during the 1920s. We note them being sold through big chain stores like Grant's and Sears. The Grant's was a dime store meaning a kind of low-cost department store. An adverisement offered a kind of deparment store with relatively lowe-cost items. The ad offered a 'waist and hose supporter' for boys and girls. This seam to mean a combinsation gsrment with both waist buttons and straps extending down for hose supporters.
R & J waists were underwaists (or garter waists) with the supporters already built into them--therefore a combination item. The supporters were mounted on an arrangement of built-in reinforcements under the arms of each waist. If you bought an R & J waist, you wouldn't have to buy additional supporters since the two came together
in the same item. R & J waists were sold by Sears and also by Eton's in Canada. The 1919 waist worn by the boy in the Eton's ad is actually an R & J style, although Eton's doesn't designate the style by that term. But this gives you the idea of what they looked like. Sears actually uses the term. I have seen the image but can't put my finger on it right now.I don't know what R & J stands for, however (probably initials of the designers or firm). The main advantage of the R & J waists seems to have been the protective material underneath the supporters next to the skin so that the elastic of the garter wouldn't chafe the boy's leg.
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