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Long stockings were very common in America. Boys and girls of all ages wore them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, even during the summer. After World War I they became more often worn during the Winter and by younger boys. They were also wore as dress wear to some extent. A wide variety of stocking supporters were worn by American children to hold up these stockings. The stocking supporters discussed on the main stocking suporter page are largely American. Mail order catalogs and magazines have many ads for waists and stocking supporters during the early 20th century. We note samples from the the 1920s. The last prominent ads we note are from the early 1940s. Some call ads continue into the early 1950s.
As we began building HBC, we archived much of the information we have collected on the main stocking supporter page rather than on the American stocking supporter page here. Much of the information we have found on stocking supporters pertains to American stocking supporters. Thus readers interested in American stocking supporters should also look at the general page.
Stocking supporters were of course a function of the popularity of long stockings. Most American children wore them. There were various reasons. The primary one was for warmth, but fashion was also a factor. Many mothers did not think a child was well dressed without long stockings. We note European children wearing socks in the late-19th century. This was much less common in America. We see children wearing long stockings in many colors. This caried chronologically. Black was especially common, but there were many different colors. And as short psants and and shoter skirts became populsar for children, long stockings became even more popular. The more popular long stockings were the more in demand stocking supporters were. And we see many different items appear to hold the long stockings up so tey looked good. A function of the popularity of long stockings was the variety of stoickings and supportes offerd.
American boys mostly wore blouses in the rather vthan shirts inthe 19th and early 20th century. The reason for this was that lng stockngs were so pevaet. And long stoickings had ti be supported. This meant that shirts with their long tails coud not be worn as they woud cover over the sticjing supporters. Blouses as they were cut off at the waust or had very littlematerial velow the waust did not prevent the attachment and suppoort of the long stockings. This did not begin to change until the 1920s. We see blousesstill domiated boys wear in the early-1920s.
Long stockings were very common in America. We see them in the late 19th century as long stockings became common. The extent to whivh long stovkings were worn as well as the number of advertisements we see suggest that stockig supporters were also very common.
Boys and girls of all ages wore long stockings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, even during the summer. Thus stocking supporters were needed by both genders. Many stocking supporters could be used by both boys and girls. There were, however, some differences.
The first stocking supporters we note are in the late 19th century. This corresponds to the growing popularity of kneepants and long stockings. Knee pants and long stockings were standard boys wear in the 1890s. Girls also wore long stockings. Thus period catalogs offer stocking supporters. They were also very common in the early 20th century. Boys and girls of all ages wore long stockings and thus stocking supporters were needed and offered in all major catalogs as well as commonly advertised in magazines. After World War I they became more often worn during the Winter and by younger boys. They were also wore as dress wear to some extent. We note samples from the the 1920s. The last prominent ads we note are from the early 1940s. Some call ads continue into the early 1950s.
Children's hose supporters, although made in various qualities with corresponding prices, were very much a standard item of clothing in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century and didn't differ much in construction from brand to brand. There was especially fierce
competition between the two major brands--Velvet Grip and Hickory. Velvet Grip emphasized the rubber button fastener that prevented damage to the stocking top when attached whereas Hickory (as the name implies) emphasized the strength of their supporters, particularly the strength
of the safety pin at the top that would not bend or come undone even under the maximal tugging that supporters were subjected to in the rough and tumble play for which children were notorious. Buster Brown supporters also emphasized strength with an advertising pun: "You can't bust 'er!" Originally hose supporters were attached to underwaists by means of buttons. But by early in the 20th century, the button at the top had been largely replaced by the safety pin which was designed to
pass through tape loops on the underwaist or "pin tubes" (little metal cylanders through which the pin passed and which held the garter more firmly in place). When supporters were first invented about 1875, they seem to have been constructed entirely of elastic. The main elastic
band (about an inch wide) could be adjusted for length by means of a sliding buckle like the adjustment buckle on men's trousers suspenders (or braces). At the bottom of the upper band, two smaller strips of elastic divided in a Y shape with metal clasps at the ends so that each
supporter gripped the stocking top in two different places, thus distributing the strain of the garter pull. Manufacturers soon discovered that supporters would be much more durable if the pendants (the two smaller straps) were made of non-elastic material, there being enough elasticity in the upper band to keep the stockings tautly pulled up. The clasp consisted of a button, almost always made of rubber, which was passed under the stocking top and over which a metal loop
hooked on to keep the stocking firmly attached.
There were several different types of stocking supporters commonly used in the States. Unfortunately for ease of assessment, the various terms were often used interchangeably. We note a newspaper ad in the Middletown Daily Times (September 3, 1915). Middletown was a small town in New York state. The ad is for the "Dr. Parker Suspender Waist for
School Boys of All Ages". The ad copy read, "The Dr. Parker waist is a suspender waist with belt for attaching
pants, garters, and [shirt]waist .. It is cool, sanitary and the most modern method of supporting the clothes of the growing boy--from the shoulder and not from the waist. The best and cheapest waist of its kind made. All sizes from 2 to 14 years--25 cents each." It was not proofread very carefully by the editor because the word "Waist" in the title has two letters reversed: "Waits". But it illustrates that the term, suspender waist, was loosely used in some cases to refer to any
waist with suspender construction, even garments like the Dr. Parker waist, which is usually referred to as a "Skeleton Waist" and is worn underneath a shirt-waist as underwear. It has buttons for fastening the shirt-waist, the trousers, and supporters for long stockings. But again, the largest size is 14. But in this case, we are probably dealing with a year (1915) when boys older than 14 had switched to knee socks to be worn with knickers or long trousers and wouldn't need an
underwaist of any description.
Mothers shopping for children's clothes often bought hose supporters in quantity--as many as six pairs at a time, presumably in different sizes, for children of different ages. Children's supporters got hard use from everyday wear and had frequently to be replaced when children
grew larger or when the elastic gave out and could no longer hold long
stockings neatly in place.
At the turn-of-the 20th century, black hose supporters seem to have been more popular, presumably because black long stockings were so commonly worn. By the 1920s and 1930s white supporters were becoming the usual color. A good example are Beltx garters we think from the 1940s. Black was usually still available up through the 1940s. After the mid-1940s, long stockings declined in popularity and disapprared completely in the early 1950s. Thus hose supporters for boys and girls went out of style and were no longer widely sold.
Velvet Grip and Hickory made a point of the non-rusting quality of the metal used since
supporters could theoretically be washed in the laundry. Elastic, however, deterioriates with immersion in hot water so washing supporters must certainly have shortened their life. The preference for black supporters over white ones undoubtedly reflects the issue of soilability. But gradually white supporters seem to have become the more popular color, maybe because the garters got relatively cheaper and could be replaced more often because of the relative
inexpensiveness. But up until the late 1940s when long stockings for children went out of style, Sears and Wards sold various grades of hose supporters from very cheap (about 9 cents a pair) to medium quality (19 cents a pair) to best quality (23 cents a pair). The more expensive
supporters simply lasted longer and had better quality elastic in them.
Buster Brown hose supporter celluloid badges were apparently given out to children whose mothers bought them Buster Brown garters. There were similar badges for shoes and other products as well. The hose supporter badges seem especially common. There were an entire series of these badges, each with a motto or saying having to do with the indestructible quality of Buster Brown garters--usually with puns on "Bust" (= break) and "Buster". These badges became popular with children but also of course served as an effective advertisement for Buster Brown Hose Supporters. In the 1900s hose supporters would have been worn by nearly all children, both boys and girls, from about age 2 up to 14 or older. I think the badges were especially popular with children of about ten or younger. An interesting website has a collection of these badges and gives the motto for each one.
A wide variety of stocking supporters were worn by American children to hold up these stockings. The stocking supporters discussed on the main stocking spporter page are largely American. Mail order cataloga and magazines have many ads for waists and stocking supporters during the early 20th century. In addition to stocking supporters there were other garments worn to hold up stockings. These included waist union suits and waist suits. These were vest-like garments to which the garters to hold up stockings might be attached. The garments were popular for the youngr children wearing long stockings. There were also elastic garters. A good example here are two New York City boys in the 1890s.
Several American companies manufactured stocking supporters. The most famous stocking suppoter brands in America were "Velvet Grip" supporters (manufactured by the George Frost Manufacturing Co.) and "Hickory" (manufactured by Stein & Co.). Velvet Grip and Hickory supporters became very well known across the nation because they were widely advertized in major mass-market mgazines. They were sold, respectively, in the Sears and Wards mail order catalogs, although they could be purchased at most dry goods and department stores throughout the Umited States. We also notice some smaller manufacrurers. We note, for example, the "Polly" brand of supporters. It may have been a local brand, since a reader discovered a box of Polly supporters in California.
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