Made-to-measure clothing is very uncommon to the average person now, however, 100 years ago it was the way that all clothing was made for everyone. Those who were not able to afford to have their clothes made by a tailor or dressmaker would purchase the material themselves and make their own or would purchase second-hand clothing.
At the very start, fabrics were handmade, and wool and cotton had to be spun into yarn or thread by hand. Before the industrial revolution, there was small-scale production of materials, but this would have been either in people's homes or small workshops. The material output would be low and it was still a highly skilled job. However in the mid-1700s the ‘Roller Spinning’ machine was invented (see below) and allowed cotton to be spun into thread quicker than ever before, then later in the century the ‘Water Frame’ was invented that allowed the process to be powered by water, allowing the move to factories from homes.
The ‘Power Loom’ then allowed a way for thread to be woven into cloth on a machine, and by 1880 Britain had 250,000 cotton power looms. At this point, some businesses began to sell garments such as hats, gloves, and stockings, but this still relied on hand sewing for production.
Tailors and weavers were not happy when the invention of machines to produce textiles and clothing started to engulf the business, and many invaded factories and tried to destroy the machinery. Their pivotal role in society was starting to diminish.
These technological advancements were causing many issues alongside their benefits. Often children would be working in these factories, working 12-20 hour shifts for little pay. Labour laws did come into place in 1833, meaning children could only work 8 hours a day and only once they were nine.
The next large advancement was the sewing machine. Elias Howe partnered with the well-known name Isaac Singer. At this time they were producing industrial machines, but later Signer would create the home sewing machine.
A lot of clothing was still handmade at this point. The wealthy and upper middle class would have garments made specifically for their measurements. The middle class was more likely to make their clothes, taking inspiration from fashion shops, then using a pattern to make the clothing at home.
By the early 1900s shops were becoming more like we know them now, with department stores offering cheaper versions of designs inspired by the couture of the time. The places these garments were produced were still dangerous with women and children working in awful conditions. Then came fashion magazines with clothing patterns within them, at this time (around the 1930s) many garments were still made at home.
The clothing available became more simple and plain as mass production increased, to become more affordable. Clothing was still good quality and wasn’t the fast fashion that we see in shops today, but it was clear that times were changing. Stores still only produced 4 lines a year, with a new range of clothing coming for each season. Consumption was growing, with the average person having more disposable income as the economy grew, but it was still far away from today's world.
Now we live in a society of overconsumption. Shops are bringing clothes from sketchpad to rack in less than 8 weeks. If you think about it you can go into the same shop a week later and there will be different clothing all over the racks. Items are cheap, and low quality, and many are still produced in shocking working environments.
There is something nice about being able to buy a new dress for a special occasion or trawl through the sales racks, but it scares me that we are all so unaware of how much we overconsume. This brings me back to the reason I wanted to investigate this topic in the first place. I like to think of myself as an environmentally conscious person, I look at where my food comes from, I try to save energy, and I avoid plastic where I can among many other things, but it wasn’t until recently I thought about how bad my consumption of clothing may be. I do not constantly have new items coming into my wardrobe and I don’t buy from ‘fast fashion’ websites such as Shein, but this is the issue that we face. We forget that our high street brands are fast fashion too, we have also had the ever-changing clothes in Zara and H&M and it made us not realise they are part of the problem.
Whilst buying my shampoo bar and making sure to get loose fruit and veg, I was not thinking of the fact that I was wearing a top that I would wear 10 times, if it managed to last that long.
https://bellatory.com/fashion-industry/Ready-to-Wear-A-Short-History-of-the-Garment-Industry
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