7 THE HISTORY OF CLOTHES

THE FIRST CLOTHES

LEARNING TO SEW

At first, primitive people probably tied the front paws together around their necks to keep the skin in place. If the
animal was large enough, the caveman could tie the back paws around his waist. Since this was not a very secure
method, the skin probably kept falling off. He may have tried to tie it more securely with a piece of vine or sinew.

Then he discovered some holes in the skin. He threaded a piece of bone or twig through a few holes and the first pin
was born. Later, he learned how to punch holes in the skins and lace sinew through the holes. Now his skins fit better
and stayed on.

With this crude form of sewing, he could even put the skins of several small animals together to form a garment.

LEARNING TO MAKE LEATHER

While primitive people were learning how to make their garments fit better, they were also discovering how to treat
the skins so they felt better against their bodies. At first, they may have worn the skins just the way they came off the
animal. They were stiff and uncomfortable. Then people discovered that they could scrape the fat off the inside of the
skin and beat the skin to make it soft.

Different tribes discovered different ways to do this. Some people chewed the skins to make them soft, while other
people beat them with stones. Others beat the skins, then wet them, and rubbed them with oil. Much later someone
discovered tannic acid, a substance that comes from a tree. When they are tanned, or treated, the skin with this
substance, the skins stayed soft for a long time.

LEARNING TO MAKE FABRIC

People in warmer climates, such as Africa and the South Pacific, needed protection from sun and rain. They learned
to make garments from the trees and plants around them. Some plants, such as the grasses, could be picked and
used right away. Grasses were laced together to form the first woven fabric. It was probably used for mats and
baskets rather than for clothing. Parts of plants, such as the bark of the trees, had to be soaked and treated until soft
enough to be used as cloth. People in colder climates began to cut up the animal skins for a better fit. As they did
this, they found that the wet, matted clumps of animal hair formed a crude version of felt.

THE DISCOVERY OF NATURAL FIBERS

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Although we know very little about how the process of weaving developed, ancient Egyptian wall paintings illustrate
weaving techniques from as early as 5000 B.C. Other civilizations in the Middle East, Pakistan, and central Europe
probably learned how to weave fibers into fabrics as early as 2500 B.C. The Chinese learned to weave sometime
between 2500 B.C. and 1200 B.C. Here in America, the Pueblo Indians, along with other tribes from what it is now
the Southwestern part of the United States, developed the art of weaving cotton around A.D. 700.

Flax
Flax, which is a tall, slender plant used to make linen, grew plentifully along the Nile River. It was discovered by the
Egyptians, who learned to spin and weave the flax into linen fabric. This early linen was light, cool, and easy to
launder. These characteristics made it particularly suitable to the Egyptian people. They needed work clothes that
were cool and comfortable in the hot climate. Pieces of linen more than nine thousand years old have been found in
Egyptian tombs. The fabric is as fine as any that is made today and may be seen in many museums.

Wool

Wool is the fleece, or hair of sheep. Some wool also comes from lambs, goats, and camels. Many cultures developed
the art of spinning and weaving wool. Five thousand years ago, the Sumerians, who lived in the valley of the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers, not only learned how to make fine wool but were also great traders. They exported wool to
many other parts of the world.

In 150 B.C., the Romans introduced sheep into Spain and then crossbred them with sheep from Asia Minor. This new
type of sheep was the ancestor of today’s most important sheep, the merino. For centuries, the wealth of the Spanish
Empire was based on these sheep. Spain’s highest order of nobility was called the Order of the Golden Fleece. At
one time, anyone caught smuggling merino sheep out of Spain could be put to death and his property seized by the
Crown.

Gradually, however, these sheep were spread throughout the world by the Spanish royal family. Whenever one of
them married someone from another royal family, merino sheep were always part of the dowry, or property given nu
the bride’s family to the groom.

Cotton

Cotton comes from the cotton plant. We do not know very much about its beginnings. Probably it was first made into
cloth by the people who lived in the areas known today as northern India and Pakistan. Sir John Mandeville, an
English explorer who visited India in 1350, described the cotton balls as tiny lambs growing on a tree.

In the fourth century B.C., Alexander the Great’s armies introduced cotton to North Africa. The Nile Valley in Egypt
became a center for raising the “wool plant”. Egyptian cotton soon surpassed Indian cotton quality. When the
Spanish conquistadors arrived in the New World, they found cotton fabric being produced in Peru, Mexico, and
southeast North America.

Silk

Silk is the fiber made by the silkworms as it builds its cocoon. The silkworm eats the leaves of the mulberry tree.
There are ancient Sanskrit writings that claim that silk was produced in India as early as 4000 B.C. There are also
written records from China, dating as far back as 2640 B.C., that talk about growing mulberry trees and mention the
rare and valuable silk robes that were worn at that time.

The secret of making silk was carefully guarded by the Chinese for centuries. Although the punishment for revealing
the secret was death by torture, people tried to steal it.

Eventually, in the East, this knowledge was smuggled to Japan via Korea. In the West, it was smuggled into the
eastern Roman Empire by monks, who hid the little silkworms in their bamboo canes.

Because silk has a beautiful luster and can be dyed in many rich colors, it is still considered a luxury fabric today.
CHANGES IN CLOTHING STYLE

DRAPES, OR WRAPPED, GARMENTS

The very first draped garment was the animal skin that the cave dwellers wrapped around their shoulders. Later,
people took a square or rectangle of fabric and draped, hung, or wrapped around their shoulders. Later, people took
a square or rectangle of fabric and draped, hung, or wrapped it around their body.

The early Greeks wore a garment called a himation, which was an oblong piece of fabric nearly five yards or meters
long. It could be worn as a cloak, or with one end draped over one shoulder and the other end draped over the
opposite arm. They also wore a chiton, which was a tunic made from two rectangles of fabric joined at the shoulders.

The Romans wore a toga, a crescent-shaped piece of fabric with one straight end. It measured 4 ½ to 5 ½ yards or
meters long and was wrapped and draped around the body.

Women in India wear a sari, which is a piece of silk or cotton fabric 45” (1.1 m) wide and 80” (2m) long. One end is
tucked into the waistband of a petticoat. Then the fabric is pleated and wrapped around the body, and the other end
goes over the head or the shoulder.

Draping was the quickest and easiest and easiest way to make a garment. It often took a long time to weave a
beautiful piece of fabric. It could be washed and carefully smoothed out. When it dried, it was neatly pressed.

FITTED, OR SEAMED, GARMENTS

When early people learned how to punch holes in the animal skins and lace them together, they made the first fitted
garment. A group of people known as Minoans lived on the Mediterranean island of Crete before the time of the
ancient Greeks. The women wore some of the first recorded examples of fitted garments. They wore full skirts and
very tight fitting jackets with elbow-length sleeves.

Gloves, developed by some of the early cultures that lived in cold climates, are another example of a fitted garment.
Trousers were worn by northern invaders who swept into ancient Greece and Italy on horseback.

COMBINATION GARMENTS

Combination garments are garments that have been draped, then cut and sewn so that they hang loosely on the
body. Examples of combination garments are the Arabian kibr, a hooded robe with sleeves; the Japanese kimono;
the Hawaiian muumuu; and the caftan from many cultures.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANUFACTURING

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Watt’s invention began what is now known as the Industrial Revolution. The term describes the changes in society
that resulted from the invention of power tools and machinery and the growth of factories. Before this time, fabric was
woven on a loom by hand. Many people worked long hours to weave a limited amount of fabric.

After the sewing machine was invented in the 19th century, clothes could be made faster and cheaper. It became
much harder to tell the difference between upper-, middle-, and lower-class people by looking only at their clothes. It
was possible for almost anyone, rich or poor, to own more clothes.
Before, an English gentleman’s clothes were as elaborate as an English lady’s clothes. Both wore light colors and
delicate fabrics. However, because the machinery in the new factories created a lot of dark and dirty smoke, middle-
class businessmen began to wear darker colors and practical fabrics.

Inventions

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the early 18th century. Along with the development of the steam
engine, new mechanical processes were invented for use in weaving, spinning, and knitting.

The first was the flying shuttle, invented by John Kay, an Englishman, in 1733. A shuttle is an instrument that is used
to weave the crosswise threads in and out, back and forth, on a loom. Until the 18th century, the shuttle was moved
by hand.

The flying shuttle came with two boxes, one on either side of the loom. When the weaver pulled a stick, the shuttle
was released from one box and “flew” across the loom to the other box. Fabrics could now be woven faster, and they
could also be made wider.

The next invention, the spinning jenny, was developed in 1767 by James Hargreaves, an Englishman who named it
in honor of his wife. Until the Industrial revolution, yarn was spun by hand on a rod or stick called a spindle. The
spinning jenny had eight spindles so that eight yarns could be spun at the same time.

In 1769, another Englishman, Sir Richard Arkwright, invented the water frame, a machine powered by water rather
than by animals.

In 1779, it was followed by the spinning mule. This machine could produce yarn as 200 hand spinners. At the time it
was invented, it was the largest machine in the world. Samuel Crompton, Englishman who developed it, combined
many of the ideas utilized in the spinning jenny and the water frame.

The textile industry began to grow in the United States, too. Cotton was already the major crop in the Southern states
when Eli Whitney invented the cotton fibers from the seeds. As a result, much more cotton fabric could be produced.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FACTORIES

Factories were developed because all of these wonderful new machines needed to be put somewhere. A factory is a
place that houses many machines and many workers. The factory worker was paid a wage, a certain amount of
money per hour or per day of work. Factory owners became very rich, but factory workers stayed very poor.

American Factories

The plans for all these new machines and factories were carefully guarded secret. A man named Samuel Slater was
responsible for introducing factories to the United States. In 1789, he sailed from England to the United States. Soon
after he arrived here, he built a cotton mill in Rhode Island from the plans that he had memorized in England.

Many different textile factories were established in New England. In 1825, the first men’s clothing factory was
established in the United States. Its specialty was making sailors’ suits. In 1842, the first loom especially designed for
weaving silk was set up in a factory in Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson was the silk center of the world until the early
1930s.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GARMENT INDUSTRY

Then someone got the bright idea of marking these strips into certain segments, or measurements, and the tape
measure was invented. Now there was a universal way a record everyone’s measurements. Soon people noticed
that a person’s chest, waist, and hips were in proportion to each other and that some combinations of measurements
occurred more often than others. Using the most combination of measurements, the concept of sizes were
developed.

The Sewing Machine

The sewing machine came next. It was the combined result of the ideas and work of many inventors. In 1790, the
first patent was given to Thomas Saint, an Englishman, for a machine that sewed on leather.

In 1832, Walter Hunt developed a machine in his shop in New York City that incorporated two new ideas. These were
the eye-pointed needle and a locking stitch.

Many other people contributed to the development of the sewing machine. In 1845, Elias Howe, an apprentice
watchmaker from Boston, made a sewing machine that had a curved eye-pointed needle and an underthread shuttle.
This machine could sew 250 stitches per minute. That was five times as fast as the fastest hand sewer. In 1846,
Isaac M. Singer, an American, produced a machine that had a straight needle and could sew continuously.

By the 1860s, large quantities of ready-made clothes were available. Although the quality was not good, the clothes
were inexpensive.

The Paper Pattern

The paper pattern was an American invention. Very wealthy gentlemen had their shirts made by a chemisier, or
shirtmaker. Everyone else’s shirts were made at home.

A Massachusetts tailor names Ebenezer Butterick developed a paper pattern that his wife used to make his shirts.
Friends and neighbors soon began to buy patterns. By 1865, the Buttericks had moved to New York and were
selling paper patterns by mail to customers from all over the world.

In 1870, James McCall, a tailor and an author of a system for drafting patterns, began to manufacture dress patterns
in New York City. Although other people tried, and failed, to start pattern companies, for many years these two
companies were the ones that survived.

MARKETING AND SELLING CLOTHES

Once people developed ways to make clothes faster and cheaper, they looked for ways to sell them more efficiently.
With more people working in factories, a new middle class arose that realized that these people had some money to
spend on clothes.

There were also pioneers, miners, and sailors who needed simple, durable clothing and could not wait for a tailor to
make up a garment. Catalogue or mail-order selling became a popular way to reach all these people.

The Stores
Dry good stores were common when everyone’s clothes were made by tailors, dressmakers, or at home. At first,
these stores sold fabric, thread, and ribbons, but then some stores began to sell the mass-produced clothing that was
made in the factories.

These stores expanded and carried so much merchandise that shirts were sold in one area, trousers in another, and
so on. By 1850, the department store was born. A large store in Boston was the first one to use special marketing
techniques like “sales” and “specials”. The method spread quickly.

Men’s and Women’s Fashions

Because men’s clothing was easy to sew and did not change style very often, the market for ready-to-wear, or mass-
produced garments, for men grew very quickly.

In the 1850s, women who could afford to do so were still wearing clothes made by dressmakers from expensive
fabrics. Because women’s fashion changed frequently and were difficult to sew, the first ready-to-wear items were
simple capes and shawls. Later, garments that would not go out of fashion quickly, such as robes, underwear, and
petticoats, began to be manufactured.

In the 1890s, girls who worked in factories and offices began to wear a style called the Gibson Girl look. It was
named after illustrations drawn by Charles Dana Gibson, an American artist. These simple skirts and white linen
blouses, called shirtwaists, were easy to manufacture in proportioned sizes. After that, many more styles clothing
were manufactured for women. By 1900, New York City had about 475 shirtwaist factories that employed over
18,000 workers.