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Ready-made, cheaply-produced clothes were invented in the middle of the 19th century. Most people at the turn-of the-19thb century wore clothing made at home, while those who could afford it dressed in clothes made by a tailor or a seamstress. One American assessment reported that '“two-thirds of all garments worn by inhabitants of the United States” were homemade' (1811). Of course tailors and seamstresses could make wonderfully designed and tailored clothing. Most people, however, could not afford to buy tailored clothing. There clothing was made at home. Without sewing machines and printed patterns, however, these home made clothes were often formless and poorly fitting. The developments mentioned here helped even the inexperienced home sewer create a quality product. Ready-made clothing are a relatively recent development. In addition, by the 1860s, ready made clothing was beginning to come on the market. There were factories making ready made clothes as early as the 1830s. But modern ready-made clothing was not possible until the invention of the sewing machine. Production increased substantially during the 1860s. Commercial ready-made clothing began to appear in the 1830s. It was the American Civil War that gave the ready-made clothing industry a significant boost. The demand to equip huge armies with uniforms resulted in larger orders and expanded production. After the War when manufactures began targeting civilian markets the concept of standardized sizing helped to promote sales. This innovation was one of the key developments explaining the growth of the ready-made clothing industry. The appearance of increasing quantities of well-made, relatively inexpensive ready-made clothes in the 1860s was possible because of a series of technical improvements in the garment industry. One of course was the sewing machine. These developments helped make well made and fashionable clothing less expensive and more readily available. The transition to read-made clothing was not completed until the turn-of-the 20th century. Ready-made clothing is now widely available and dominate clothing manufacture. Modern textile production is for the most part is fully automated. Garments are, however, still sewn and pieced together by human hands operating sewing machines. The creation, production, and distribution of clothing is still the fourth largest manufacturing industry in the world.
Civilization began around 10,000 years ago. Civilization first developed in Sumeria. This was folowed by Egypt, the Indus Calley, China and evetually the Americas. All of these early civilizations developed in warm areas. This mean that clothing needs were minimal. Even so there were clothing needs. So part of ancient economes was clothing. This involved weaving and and the production of textiles. Weaving developed in pre-history, but of course becanme more sophisticated and complex with the advent of civilization. For virtually all of human history, clothing has been handmade, commonly at the family level. This included textile production. Raw materials meaning wool and flax was spun by hand into yarn or thread. Weavers wove fabrics at home or in small workshops on looms.
Archeologists have found clay tablet cuneifiorm records that merchants in Ancient Babylon were marketing and shipping ready-to-wear garments (1400 BC). We of course know much more abiut claical cuiviizatiions. Ancient Rome had workshops with as many as 100 workers to outfit the military. It should be note that not only were clothing needs in warm climates minimal, but the garments involved were for the mostb part not form-fitting. Most garments were were wrap clothing which were reatively easy to produce.
With the fall of Rome and the decline of civilization, especially urban civiizatiion, the production of clothing also declined. And through the medieval era fitted garments were not orofuced to any extent. The rural peasntry which dominated the population produced their own clothing, spspinning thread and weaving textiles.
Middle Eastern people wore loose, flowing robes whuich w stil se inSaudi Arbia, . Medieval Europeans wore linen under-tunics and wool tunics. Cottion was known, but was very exoebsive because it was not opriduced in Europe.
Wool was a durable fabric. Garments could literally last a lifetime and even if damaged could be mended , cut down for children, or pieces used. The general pattern in thev Westv was that women spun the thread and the weavers who wove the textiles were nostly men. This was generally done in homes. .
With the quicjkening od commerce, great strides were made in weaving and textiles. This was especially the case of the Low Countruies with an economy centered on weaving and tecxtiles. We begin to see more fitted garments. This began in the 14th century, especially after 1350 AD--although this varies reguonally uin Europe. As comerce quickened so did fashion. Fashion changes were glacial during the mediueval era. With the advent of the modern era we begin to see more change in fashion. Fashionable clothing for people with money tended to be hand- made for the person who would wear it. The working-class commony produced their own clothing at the family level. They might wear hand-me-downs or used clothing. Clothing continued to cost far more in real terms than is the case today. This meant that a greater proportion of income or labor was deveoted to clothing. Both textile and garment production was done on a small scale, lasgely in rural homes (worker cottags) which is why it was called cottage industries. The displacement iof the cottagers would be a problem well into the 19th century. Merchants would provide raw materials to the workers' homes. Here production was self-pacing and involved low and highly skilled work. The systenm was highly inefficent, but did provide employment and a livlihood, albeit at a low level, to large numbers of people. This only began to change with the onset of the Industrial Revolution which began in Britain (mid-18th century). The first industry to be mechanized launching the industrial revolution was the textile industry. The merchanizatiionn was for the most part to produce textile fabric, not finished garments.
Most Americans at the turn-of the-19th century lived in rural areas, something like 95 percent of the population. They lived on family farms ans weec reatively well-oo in terms of housing and food comopared to Europeans, but were cashbppor. They wore clothing made at home. There werev cities (Baltimore, Boston, New Yiork, Philadelphia, and New Orkleans), buttheybwereverybsmall compared to European cities. The well-to-do urban elite dressed in clothes made by a tailor or a seamstress. One American assessment reported that 'two-thirds of all garments worn by inhabitants of the United States' were homemade' (1811). Of course tailors and seamstresses could make wonderfully designed and tailored clothing. Most people, however, could not afford to buy tailored clothing. There clothing was made at home. Without sewing machines and printed patterns, however, these home made clothes were often formless and poorly fitting. An unrelated development was Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin (1793). Until this clothing was mostly made from wool and flax (linen). Cotton production based on slave labor rapidly expanded in the southern states, adding another major fabric to the textile industry. Cotton was less expensive, reducing the cost of clothing and laying the foundation for the industrial revolution. In doing so, it resurrected the dying institution of slavery. In the North, textile mills based on southern cotton would be the first step in the American Industrial Revolution. Most of southern cotton was exported, primarily to Britain and other European countries, but smaller quantities were shipped north to supply textile mills at first mostly in New England. One reort describes themass production of uniforms for the War of 1812. 【Cunningham】 We have few details on this.
The developments mentioned here helped even the inexperienced home sewer create a quality product.
Commercial ready-made clothing began to appear in the 1830s. Following the opening of textile mills in New England we begin to see factories making ready made clothes. Some of this work was let out as piece-work in homes, but early factories appeared. These factoring were operating (1830s). The garments were all hand and sewn. And initially it was low cost items like underwear. As they were worn under clothing, the quality of the clothing was less important than outer clothing. It was undershirts and pantaloons that were the first ready-made clothing. They were hand-sewn by workers paid very low wages. These were the first mass-produced garments in America. Some of the first ready-made garments were for sailors. These garments were sold at 'slop-shops' opened around wharves in important port cities. This included Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and smaller cities with sea-going vessels (merchant, whaling, and fishing vessels). These first ready made produced garments were produced in a single size. It was up to sailor to modify hem to fit. Ready-made manufacturers probably targeted sailors at first because not only they were some of the few men with sewing skills, but on long voyages aboard slow sailing vessels, they commonly had time on their hands.
Ready-made clothing wee a relatively recent development. The trade began in the 1830s with underwear and sailor clothing. It expanded significantly in the 1840s with surprisingly, a brand new industry of producing low-cost clothing for slaves in the southern states. Until this times, slaves sewed their own clothing. This mean, however, that this activity took them away from field work. Plantation owners found that they could purchase cheap, mass-produced clothes from northern factories. This permitted them to devote more of their slave labor to field work. The northern factories used inexpensive coarse fabric and carefully planned production steps to produce clothes far below what the planters could produce on their plantations. Trade routes already existed transporting cotton north to the early textile mills, almost all founded in the North, especially in New England. One New Orleans firm, Folger and Blake Company claimed in a newspaper advertisement that planters would "find it greatly to their advantage to purchase their clothing ready-made" for slaves. Several New York firms offered what they called 'Negro clothing'. The term 'Negro' was used in part because of the growth of the Abolitionist movement in America and the the moral implications of slavery was beginning to achieve traction in the North. The fact that the southern states could not found an industry producing slaves clothes is in itself a condemnation of the economic weakness and fragility of the economy of slave states. Seamstresses were one of the few employment opportunities open to women at the time. The wages for seamstresses in the northern factories were less than the cost of slave labor. (Slaves of course did not get wages, but the up-front purchase price of a slave was substantial and the owner once purchased had to pay for food and other maintenance costs such as clothing, health care, and housing.) economical option, with opportunity costs of labor lower than those of slaves. As in other northern factories, the factory owner could be very demanding of his workers who often worked in oppressive conditions. The pay would seem very low to modern readers, but how it compared to other options at the time or to wages in foreign countries is a different matter. And of course there was he frontier. Most Americans at the time lived in rural areas with agricultural backgrounds and the availability of low cost land in the West was a viable option. A major step was the sewing machine. A range of devices had been invented, but none were practical in clothing manufacture. It was American Elias Howe who patented the first practical machine using the basic eye-pointed needle and lock stitch (1846). I took some refinement and time for sewing machines to become important in manufacturing. The process was complicated by a legal battle with I. M Singer. Modern ready-made clothing was not possible until the invention and adoption of the sewing machine. Also notable is that America was still a largely rural, agricultural country without major, prestigious universities and huge cities. Even so, at this early stage, inventions from America werehgaving an impact on the world economy. America became a nation of inventors. Even Abraham Lincoln filed an invention with the Patent Office. The reason for this was one of the many benefits of economic freedom (capitalism). America was the country unburdened by centuries of restrictive European regulation as well as developing a fine public school system ahead of most European countries--except the Germans.
Large scale production of ready-made clothing was not possible without the sewing machine. Some economies if scale were achieved with the earliest factories, but only with sewing machines were major economic benefits achieved. The legal battle between Howe and Singer, however, slowed down adoption. The adoption of sewing machines in manufacturing can be followed by newspaper adverting. Advertising for sewing machine began appearing in newspapers. The new Singer Sewing Machine Company
began placing ads (1850). Singer began advertising "sewing by machinery" with the idea of selling to "Journeyman Tailors, Sempstresses, Employers, and all others interested in Sewing of any description". Singer also advertised a "new, improved sewing machine especially adapted to the making up of Negro clothing." Some of the first garments to be mass produced with sewing machines were corsets at mid-century. Singer's first production runs were relatively small. It took Singer over a decade to build his first large factory constructed for mass production . It was built in Elizabeth, New Jersey (1863). 【Cunningham】
Ready-made clothing production increased substantially during the 1860s. Ready made clothing at the onset of the decade had not yet come on the market in a major way. A major step in ready-to-wear manufacture was the development of standard sizing. Interestingly, this process actually began with dress making for the home sewer. New England tailor Ebenezer Butterick created printed paper patterns in standard sizes which first appeared (1863). It was the American Civil War (1861-65) that gave the ready-made clothing industry a significant boost in America The demand to equip huge armies with uniforms resulted in larger orders and expanded production--at least in the North. The Confederacy with little industrial development did not have the capacity to uniform and equip its men nearly as well--an important factor in the outcome of the War. Often Confederate soldiers just dyed their clothing with butternut. Some Confederate soldiers even went into battle barefoot. As a result, of the mass uniforming of Union soldiers, standard sizing developed. Volunteers and conscripts were measured creating a mass of body measurement data. This allowed for the creation for the first time, the adoption of generic sizes. These were subsequently refined, but for the first time generic size categories existed. After the War, ready-made manufactures began targeting civilian markets. The concept of standardized sizing was vital in promoting civilian sales. Soon substantial quantities of well-made garments at substantially reduced prices appeared on the American market. By the end of the decade the ready-made clothing industry began having a real impact. This can be seen in the sales of Singer sewing machines. The company sold only 810 (1853), but nearly 11,000 (1859). After the the end of the Civil War they exceeded 43,000 (1867). And only a few years later more than 181,000 were sold and only continued increasing in the 1870s. 【"Sewing Machines"】 And of course these machines were only being improved each year as production expanded.
These developments helped make well made and fashionable clothing less expensive and more readily available.
Following the Civil War, factories that had begun producing military uniforms made the relatively seamless transition to producing men's garments including suits. The suit was the standard male garment in the 19th century, much more important than is the case today. And this included boy's suits. We see this in the photographic record. Many early photographic portraits (Dags and Ambros) show boys wearing just blouses and button-on long pants (1840s and 1850s). There were also portraits of boys wearing suits, but there were far fewer. After the Civil War, we mostly see boys dressed up in suits for photographic portraits (1870s). There was also the ready-made production of German Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss' overalls, at first more of a garment for miners and factory workers than for farmers. A natural progression was suit-like cloaks and jackets for the ladies These were at first not very common garments in Americas. Most women beyond the trendy big city elite wore simple and inexpensive shawls. Mass-produced clothes had the advantage of reducing prices so the working-classes, both urban factory workers and rural farmers could begin to emulate the fashion of the wealthy. And throughout the 19th century fashion styles were set by the wealthy. Adding to that was the fact that American workers were the best paid workers in the world and American farmers the most affluent. So not only were clothing prices coming down, but the irking-class and growing middle-class could afford consumer goods including clothing like never before. This is a major reason why waves of European workers and farmers began flooding into America in unprecedented numbers, launching one of the epic migratory movement in history. There of course was immigration before the 18790s, but never before at the levels that began to enter America (1870s). We also by the end of the decade begun to see ready-made dresses for women and girls.
America was undergoing a huge industrial expansions in the 1880s. Great fortunes were bring made and powerful corporations rising. And the clothing industry was part of that expansion. It was in the 1880s that ready-made clothing came into its own. Both men's and children's clothing were being mass-produced (1880s). Women's fashion was more ornate and dependent on a precise fit than men's fashions. This mean that the transitiion to ready wear was much slower than that for men. Well-to-do women purchased new stylish garmens from bitiques wherev they were made to measure. Middle-class and lower-class women could no afford suchshops. They tended to modify their dresses to changing fashions by adding new collars, adjusting skirts, and cinching shirt waists as fashion trends demanded. 【Farrell-Beck and Johnson】 Important distribution networks developed which German-Jewish immigrants help organize. Because of the prevailing prejudices of the era, it as more difficult for Jews to enter banking and heavy industry. Given their role in founding many major big city department stores, especially in New York City. Jews, often German Jews, played an important role in developing retail clothing distribution networks. The ready-to-wear garment industry along with the country grew dramatically. Not only was the population increasing, but also the purchasing power of the workers and middle-class. The modern generation of Marxist professors like to write about how poorly paid the workers were. But this is only true of a historical comparisons with modern standards. At the time, American workers while admittedly underpaid were the best paid in the world. Why do you think European workers emigrated to America? These people were not dumb. One of the primary reasons that they came was for the higher wages being paid. The value of clothing production more than doubled (1880s). Capital investment skyrocketed from $8 million to over $22 million--and renumber these are 1880s dollars. The number of clothing manufacturers doubled: from 562 to 1,224. This created jobs in the tens of thousands. And no city rivaled New York in the garment industry--the New York Garment District became the center of the country's textile industry. And most of the growth was in ready-wear. Much of this was not yet in factories. The industry operated on a biannual pattern, producing winter and summer clothing. Note that in the 19th century much more of the population lived in the North and experience pronounced seasonal changes. Clothes were produced along the two pronounced seasonal needs. The system depended to a substantial degree on 'jobbers'. This meant that biannually in preparation for the winter and summer seasons, the jobbers would create a merchandising plan. The first step was to obtain patterns through various means. They might mean designing the patterns themselves or commonly just steal then from competing firms. European fashions still dominated American fashions. So commonly they would get hold of European fashions and create patterns from. them. The jobber would then purchase material from textile mills, in some cases imported fabric, at the time seen as a sign of quality. The jobbers would then turn over the materials on consignment to a sub-manufacturer, and then buy back the finished garments. Some of the work was done in factories, but some of it was done in homes where workers did piece work. Through all of this American consumers had access to high-quality ready-made clothing at real prices substantially available to previous generations. It also meant that workers and the middle-class could afford fashions comparable to elite society. One off shoot of this was a kind of fashion overkill centered on the unsuspecting American boy. Americans had money in their pickets--far more than any previous generation. And many American women were not yet involved in the work force, meaning that they had time on their hands and money to spend. Thus resulted in substantial home purchases and decorative home finishings. It also meant substantial purchases of fashionable clothing. Americans were dressed to he nines in the late-19th century. And parents, especially mothers, took on dressing up their children as competitive projects to outshine their social set. And when Mrs Burnett published Little Lord Fauntleroy the race was on to see who could dress their sons in frilliest Little Lord Fauntleroy suits possible--the most elaborate and inappropriate outfits boys have ever worn. Some adorned with ringlet curls. And thanks to ready-wear many moms could compete with the rich. Curiously while European fashion still dominated American fashion, the Fauntleroy suit was the first American fashion to have some success in Europe--especially Britain. An unintended consequence was begin to see the beginnings of the centuries-old convention of outfitting younger boys in dresses. .
Ready-made garmets by the 1890s, no longer carried the stiga as for the lower classes. This was esopecially true for men. 【Aindow, p.37.】 Middle-class consumers increasingly saw ready made as of high quality and good value. This trend was stronger in the United States than in France and other European countries. 【Green】 Estimates suggest 60 percent of Anmericans were wearing ready-wear. We thought it might be a higher propoortion.
The transition to read-made clothing was not completed until the turn-of-the 20th century.
Aindow, Rosy (2010). Dress and identity in British literary culture, 1870-1914 (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2019).
Cunningham, John T. (2004). Ellis Island: Immigration's Shining Center (Arcadia Publishing: 2004).
Farrell-Beck, J. and J.S. Johnson. "Remodeling and renovating clothes, 1870–1933," Dress Vol. , 19, No. 1 (1992)), pp. 37–46.
Green, Nancy L. Ready-to-wear and Ready-to-work: A Century of Industry and Immigrants in Paris and New York (Durham: Duke University Press, 1997).
Hollander, Anne. "The modernization of fashion," Design Quarterly Vol. 154, No.154, (1992), pp. 27–33..
"Sewing machines," Machine-History.Com. (2010).
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