Figure 1.-- Penney's Store, in the Mason City Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa (August 11, 1936), offered a range of back to school clothes on different pages. This one is for supporters and boys' gym shirts--an odd combination.

Penney's Store, in the Mason City Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa (August 11, 1936), offered a range of back to school clothes on different pages. This one is for supporters and boys' gym shirts--an odd combination. The ad was for Children's Supporters, 19 cents a pair. These are obviously for both boys and girls to support their long stockings. No age sizes are given, but children's supporters were normally made in even sizes from 2 to 12. The color is not specified but there appears to be a choice between black and white, which was standard. In the illustration the two garters are not a pair--one is white, the other is black. Mothers often preferred black for boys. The ad copy read, "Checker brand! Of mercerized lisle elastic with rubber buttons and nickel brass trimmings. 7/8 inches wide."

Penny's

Penny's came to have a major catalog business, but in the 1930s it was primarily a chain store. JC Penney was founded by James Cash Penney. He called his first stores Golden Rule Store. He opened the first one in 1902. It was located in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The company grew to be one of the most important retailer in America. Penny had a major impact on American retailing. Merchants in the19th century did not commonly stand behind their merchandise. Penney called his store, the Golden Rule Store to emphasize his approach to retailing. He offered innovations such as money-back returns, standardized pricing, high quality merchandise, and friendly customer service. These were approached that were not very common at the time. Penney began with stores, but eventually began catalog sales, competing with Montgomery Ward and Sears. Penny now offers American consumers three different shopping channels (stores, catalogs, and internet channels). JC Penney in 2003 operated 1,050 JCPenney department stores in all the U.S. states (except Hawaii) and in Puerto Rico. In addition Penney operates 50 Renner department stores in Brazil.

Newspaper Advertisements

Newspaper and magazine advertisments like mail order catalogs are very useful fashion items because they are dates. This is something that available photographs are often not. Thus these ads are very helpful in devekoping information on chronological fashion trends. They also provide information on conventioins, ages, gender, material, color, and other topics associated with clothing asnd fashion. Penney's Store, in the Mason City Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa (August 11, 1936), page 9. I thought it was a bit unusual to have ads for boys' and girls' school clothes as early as the August 11. But the ad says "Mothers! Choose what your Boy or Girl will need for School, EARlY, when the stocks are new. Only 28 Days til School". Indicative of the Great Depression, Penney's offers even relatively inexpensive items on its "Penney's Lay-Away Plan."

Garters

This category includes round garters worn to hold up knee socks and hose supporters with button-and-loop clasps (for the tops of stockings) worn to support long stockings and suspended from some form of a waist or from another underwear garment. Garter (or gartier) is of historic origin. The word appears to have entered the English language from Old North French in the early 14th century. The word was derived from the French word describing the bend of the knee. It came to be the symbol for an English knightly order--the Order of the Garter. This kind of garter was worn around the leg just below the knee. Garters were worn by both children and adults. There are two basic types. One was an elastic band worn around the leg. This type was commonly used by children to hold us kneesocks. Scouts were noted for adding a colored tab to the round garter. This type of garter was commonly used before kneesocks with elasticised tops became popular. The round garter was also sometimes worn above the knee for holding up long stockings, but this was discouraged by doctors and health specialists because it restricted circulation, and hose supporters were recommended instead. The other type of garter was the hose supporter (or in England "suspender")--an elastic strap suspended from an undergarment. Supporters were worn by both girls and boys to hold up long stockings.

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.

Penny's Offerings

Penney's Store, in the Mason City Globe-Gazette, Mason City, Iowa (August 11, 1936), offered a range of back to school clothes on different pages. This one is for supporters and boys' gym shirts--an odd combination.

Children's supporters

The ad was for Children's Supporters, 19 cents a pair. These are obviously for both boys and girls to support their long stockings. No age sizes are given, but children's supporters were normally made in even sizes from 2 to 12. The color is not specified but there appears to be a choice between black and white, which was standard. In the illustration the two garters are not a pair--one is white, the other is black. Mothers often preferred black for boys. The ad copy read, "Checker brand! Of mercerized lisle elastic with rubber buttons and nickel brass trimmings. 7/8 inches wide."

Boy's Gym shirts

Only boy's wore gym shirts in the 1930s. Girls were more likely to wear middy blouses and bloomers. Some suits may have moved to romper suits. I am not sure what was meant by "regulation". The ad copy read, "Boys' Regulation Gym Shirts, 25 cents. Of soft spun cotton yarn. Cuyt to fit perfectly--knit to give long wear. A favorite style."

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Created: 9:13 PM 6/15/2009
Last updated: 9:13 PM 6/15/2009