Sears Garters and Garter Waists (1936-37)
Figure 1.-- Sears offered Three different grades of pin-on supporters and two types of garter waists for children in its 1936-37 Fall-Winter catalog. Sears described them as "Free Play Supporters", stressing thatt they would not inhibit movement. They also rather curiously described them as a sholder brace. They were considered helpful for good posture. The illustrations show younger children wearing them, presumably because older children were increasingly wearing knee socks and ankle socks. The principal purpose of these garments f course was to hold up long stockings. This was apparently understood because long stockings were hardly mentioned in Sears the ad copy.
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Sears offered Three different grades of pin-on supporters and two types of garter waists for children in its 1936-37 Fall-Winter catalog. Sears described them as "Free Play Supporters", stressing thatt they would not inhibit movement. They also rather curiously described them as a sholder brace. They were considered helpful for good posture. The illustrations show younger children wearing them, presumably because older children were increasingly wearing knee socks and ankle socks. The principal purpose of these garments f course was to hold up long stockings. This was apparently understood because long stockings were hardly mentioned in Sears the ad copy.
The Sears, Roebuck and Co., huge merchandising firm centered in Chicago was founded by Richard W. Sears (1863-1914) and A.C. Roebuck (1864-1948). Sears had begun a career in mail-order business in Minnesota 1886. In Chicago he and Roebuck joined resources and formed a corporation in 1893 as a mail-order business under title Sears, Roebuck and Company. The catalog by the 1890s included just about any imaginable item. You could even purchase a complete house--all you had to do was assembkle it. In 1895 Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) bought Roebuck's interest the in firm and became president on Sears's retirement 1908. A retail-store system was added 1925. The first foreign store added in Havana, Cuba during 1945 and becane the first expropriated store in 1960. The Sears-Roebuck catalog brought the production of industry to the fartherest corner of rural America, opening the cornucopia of the consumer age to rural America. All the new things that were changing American life danced across their pages. Through it, a huge Chicago warehouse offers to modernize the farms and small towns of the Midwest.
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.
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.
Sears 1936-37 Offerings
Sears offered Three different grades of pin-on supporters and two types of garter waists for children in its 1936-37 Fall-Winter catalog. Sears described them as "Free Play Supporters", stressing thatt they would not inhibit movement. They also rather curiously described them as a sholder brace. They were considered helpful for good posture. The illustrations show younger children wearing them, presumably because older children were increasingly wearing knee socks and ankle socks. The principal purpose of these garments f course was to hold up long stockings. This was apparently understood because long stockings were hardly mentioned in Sears the ad copy.
Sears offered Three different grades of pin-on stocking supporters. The illustratin shows a rather old-fashioned looking Buster Brown with a wide-brimmed hat, but he has been updated a bit with short pants rather than a tunic and bloomer knickers. We note sizes up to 12-years of age. We suspect that many of the 11 1nd 12 year olds wearing long stockings were girls. Some boys this age may have worn long stockings with knickers for formal occassions, but they were probably mostly worn by girls at these older ages.
Sears also offered two types of garter waists for children in its 1936-37 Fall-Winter catalog. They were cnstructed quite differently. Sears described them as "Free Play Supporters", stressing thatt they would not inhibit movement. They also rather curiously described them as a sholder brace. They were considered helpful for good posture. The illustrations show younger children wearing them, presumably because older children were increasingly wearing knee socks and ankle socks. They are shown with boy and girl models, but both of the garter waists could be worn by either gender.
The principal purpose of these garments of course was to hold up long stockings. This was apparently understood because long stockings were hardly mentioned in Sears the ad copy. We note a range of long stockings offered in both the Sears and Wards catalogs during 1936-37. There were many possible selections. Tan and browns shades seem the most popular.
HBC
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Created: 10:24 PM 6/21/2006
Last updated: 9:41 PM 6/22/2006