Figure 1.--The advertisements for Hickory Garments took several different tacts. Often they showed the children in underwear so the garter could be seen and stressed the ease of dressing and the strength of the garters. Here the illustration stresses how long stockings are worn for formality and an elegant look. The problem though is that if drawn correctly you can't see either the waist or the garter clasps. So the illustrator has drawn one girl with a rather high hem and unusually shot long stockings. It is very unlikely than any girl or boy would come to a party dressed like that, they would have been embarassed. But it was necessary to show off the Hickory products. This advertisement for Hickory Waists is from the the 'Galveston Daily News' for March 19, 1924, p. 5. It is true that the illustration of the school children shows their garter clasps showing, which gives a false impression of how children actually wore garter waists. The stockings would be much longer than appears in the drawing and the hose supporters would be shorter so that the garters didn't show under the boy's above-the-knee knickers or the girl's dress. The illustrator has obviously falsified the actual appearance in order to make the point to readers of the advertisement that Hickory Garter Waists were widely worn by both boys and girls for school wear. To show the way Hickory Garter Waists actually functioned, the illustrator would need to remove the outer clothes and show the children in their underwear. Perhaps in the 1920s, illustrators were a bit squeamish about doing this although we do have other underwear ads that do just this. But commonly underwear ads show waists and waist union suits without the hose supporters attached. This is a bit odd because advertisements for women's corsets and girdles have no problem showing supporters fastened to stockings. Boys especially might be offended by the image of long stockings worn with the necessary underwear and hose supporters as too "girlish."

The advertisements for Hickory Garments took several different tacts. Often they showed the children in underwear so the garter could be seen and stressed the ease of dressing and the strength of the garters. Somewhowlong stockings had gto be wirked into the ad and illustration. There were various reasons for wearing long stockings. Warmth was an important one, but long stockings were also wirn for firmality. Here the illustration stresses how long stockings are worn for formality and an elegant look. The problem though is that if drawn correctly you can't see either the waist or the garter clasps. The illustrator here has drawn one girl with a rather high hem and unusually shot long stockings (figure 1). Curiously the ad text and illustration have nothing to do wuth each other. It is very unlikely than any girl or boy would come to a parrt dressed like that. But it was necessary to show off the Hickory products. This advertisement for Hickory Waists is from the the Galveston Daily News for 19 March 1924, p. 5.

Stein & Company

Of all the manufacturers of garter waists and hose supporters during the 1920s in America, the Hickory brand (manufactured by Stein & Company was the best known and most widely advertised. Hickory waists were almost a household name, like Hickory garters. The company had offices in both Chicago and New York. Hickory Garters were widely used by American children to hold up their long stockings. Hickory was a national brand name. They were sold all over the country in various stores and were widely advertised in magazines. They advertized extensively in Parents' Magazine. The fact that they were also sold by Sears doesn't rule them out. Stein also made garters for adukts. Their adult male line was Paris Garters.

Local Newspapers

HBC has founnd advertisements in major magazines like The Ladies Home Journal and . These adverisements are easy to find as many libraries have collections of the magaazines. Clothing advertisements, however, were not just un magazines, but also local newsppers. These adverisements are much more difficult to find. This advertisement for Hickory Waists is from the the Galveston Daily News for March 19, 1924, p. 5. We suspect that the company placed this same ad in many newspapers around the country at this time.

Garter Waists

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.

Complication

This is where our HBC termninology becomes a little confusing. The Hickory Waist could be purchased without the garters for 50 cents and up and with the garters attached (i.e. pinned-on already as shown in some of the ads) for an additional 25 cents (or a total of 75 cents). Technically, the waist without the garters is an underwaist, but when you add the garters you have a garter waist. Both terms were used almost interchangeably because some waists came with the garters already attached and others came without the garters. But since the principal function of waists was the support of long stockings, advertisers often referred to all waists as garter waists (even if the garters were not supplied and had to be purchased separately). The Hickory Waist had pinning tubes at the sides for the garter attachments. Probably no mother would have purchased the waist for boys and girls with any other purpose than to support their stockings. But her children might already possess the pin-on garters, or else she might prefer to purchase cheaper pin-on garters from a different manufacturer. Hickory garters, designed to be worn with Hickory waists, were more or less the top of the line in quality. They had better quality elastic, stronger pins that didn't break or bend, and rubber cushion clasps that were easier on stocking tops and prevented stocking tears--thus making for less darning.

Formality

The advertisements for Hickory Garments took several different tacts. Often they showed the children in underwear so the garter could be seen and stressed the ease of dressing and the strength of the garters. Somewhowlong stockings had gto be wirked into the ad and illustration. There were various reasons for wearing long stockings. Warmth was an important one, but long stockings were also wirn for firmality. Here the illustration stresses how long stockings are worn for formality and an elegant look. The problem though is that if drawn correctly you can't see either the waist or the garter clasps.

Illustration

The illustrator here has drawn one girl with a rather high hem and unusually shot long stockings (figure 1). Curiously the ad text and illustration have nothing to do wuth each other. It is very unlikely than any girl or boy would come to a parrt dressed like that. But it was necessary to show off the Hickory products. This ad has interesting social implications because it shows a group of school children (perhaps 10 or 11 years old)fully dressed but with the supporters for their stockings showing underneath their knee trousers and skirts. I think this illustration may be another distortion of what children actually looked like--the distortion for the purpose of showing that the boys and girls are wearing Hickory garters and waists underneath their street clothing. In other words I doubt that ordinary American children would wear long stockings so short that the garters would invariably show. Mothers would disapprove and besides many boys and girls would be embarrassed. One point worth emphasizing is that the illustration is drawn so that the hose supporter clasps of all four children (both boys and girls) can be seen if you look closely. The drawing is rather crude and the clasps are hard to see on the boys because their stockings are black. Although garters are more easily exposed when a boy or girl is sitting down and the trousers or skirts ride up, we can also see the garter straps of the girl who is standing. In ordinary life, this would hardly be the case.

Photographic Record

The photigraphic record shows very clearly that children wore waists and garters as well as the top of their stockings so as to not show. We do note a few photograpgs where garter clasps can be seen, But this was almost always when they were sitting diwn and the hen of their knickers/knee pants/short pants or skirts rose up. This was always unintentional. One unidentified boy (see figure 3) in the late-1910s has his garters showing. One interesting aspect of the illustration, however, is that the boys both wear black long stockings whereas the girls where white or at least light colored stockings. But the garters are visible in every case.

Stocking Length

We might compare this illustration with an ad for Ward's Extra Long Playhard stockings in 1933. This ad makes a point of Ward's long stockings being long enough to hide supporters from view: "Mothers know that these sturdy stockings do away with unsightly garters peeping out from under the short suits and skirts the children wear nowadays." Of course the Wards ad is 9 years later than the Hickory ad for children's waist and garters.

Age

The ad here does not indicate the sizes the garter wist was made. The children in the illustration liik to be about 8-11 years old.

Ad Copy

The illustration deals with long stockings and formality, The The Hickory ad copy goes on about buttons. The two seem unrelared. The ad cipy text read, "Hickory Waists. 'Button, button, who's got the button?' need never be inquired of a Hickory Waist. The buttons are always right where they belong--unbreakable bone buttons taped on extra strong [for attaching bloomers, short trousers, skirts, or additional underwear]. Everthing about these waists is strong--the firm fabric, the close stitching, the bound button holes. Hickory Waists wear well and wash wonderfully. It pays to buy them. A. Stein & Company. Also makers of Paris Garters. Chicago. New York. And for other needs: Hickory Children's Garters Hickory Elastic by the yard. Hickory Baby Pants Hickory Girdle Supporters Hickory Sock Garters Hickory Shirred Ribbon Elastic Hickory Personal Necessities: Hickory Sanitary Belts Hickory Sanitary Aprons."

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Created: 3:22 AM 8/26/2008
Last updated: 10:44 AM 2/28/2013