Figure 1.-- The Eatons Spring-Summer 1907 offered shirtwaists with a variety of other garments. |
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Canadian boys are offered the choice for spring and summer wear of either short sleeved undershirts or long-sleeved ones and also of knee-length drawers or ankle-length drawers. All the underwear is knitted Balbriggan style (button-front on shirts) and, by modern standards, rather heavy for summer, even though one offering mentions “summer weight.” This underwear is really very similar to what Canadian boys would wear in the winter although perhaps of a lighter-weight material. One interesting difference from American boys’ underwear of the same period (as illustrated in Sears and Wards catalogs) is the total absence of union suits (or “combinations” as they are referred to in Canada)—one piece, all-encompassing underwear that buttoned down the front from the neck to the crotch and had a buttoned drop seat or “trap door” arrangement in the back. Union suits were available for Canadian men, but had not yet caught on for boys. They started to become more popular for boys in the 1920s and to appear more regularly; they became very common in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s Eaton’s catalogues. One reason for preferring knee-length underwear as a choice was not only the fact that short legs were cooler to wear but were easier to accommodate with long stockings if the boy was wearing knee pants. Boys characteristically complained of the lumpy look and difficult dressing involved with wearing long stockings over ankle-length underwear.
This Canadian retailer began publishing mailorder catalogs in 1881, at least that is we begin noticing them. We have catalogs from the 1970s, although we do not know about the company's current status. The 1970s catalgs were full of clothes which look like American styles. Timothy Eaton, founder of the huge all-Canadian department store chain bearing his name, was an Irish immigrant born on a tennant farm in northern Ireland. He was born in 1834 and followed his brothers to Canada in 1854. His brothers had opened a small dty goods store in St. Marys. Timothy Eaton began his business with a small dry goods business in Toronto during 1869. He built a giant retail store in Ontario’s capital city along with a country-wide mail-order business and a big new branch store in Winnipeg, by the time of his death in 1907. The Winnipeg branch was the first of many branches. Eaton Company business establishments eventually spread all across Canada when Timothy’s family successors extended the Eaton empire. Timothy masterminded the company during the crucial period of its early development, spanning nearly 40 years. It was Timothy who implemented the concept of the "Department Store", in Canada, a concept which were already flourishing in London, Paris, and New York.
Underwear is not a topic that HBC has addressed yet. This is in part becuse we began HBC primarily as a site to collect and assess old photographs. As underwear is worn under clothes, it obviously did not show in the old photographs. HBC has since expanded far beyond our intitial concept. There are so many projects that HBC had underway, we are not able at this time to begin such a large new toic as underwear. We do have several existing topics that are related which we will link here. So many HBC readers have asked about underwear, however, that we thought we would create a page to collect the information and comments that we are receiving. We especially want to collect some basic information on old-time underwear as it was so different than than modern underwear. In addition it was used to hold up other garments like pants and stockings and thus important in understanding how children were dressed.
Canadian boys are offered the choice for spring and summer wear of either short sleeved undershirts or long-sleeved ones and also of knee-length drawers or ankle-length drawers. All the underwear is knitted Balbriggan style (button-front on shirts) and, by modern standards, rather heavy for summer, even though one offering mentions “summer weight.” This underwear is really very similar to what Canadian boys would wear in the winter although perhaps of a lighter-weight material. One interesting difference from American boys’ underwear of the same period (as illustrated in Sears and Wards catalogs) is the total absence of union suits (or “combinations” as they are referred to in Canada)—one piece, all-encompassing underwear that buttoned down the front from the neck to the crotch and had a buttoned drop seat or “trap door” arrangement in the back. Union suits were available for Canadian men, but had not yet caught on for boys. They started to become more popular for boys in the 1920s and to appear more regularly; they became very common in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s Eaton’s catalogues. One reason for preferring knee-length underwear as a choice was not only the fact that short legs were cooler to wear but were easier to accommodate with long stockings if the boy was wearing knee pants. Boys characteristically complained of the lumpy look and difficult dressing involved with wearing long stockings over ankle-length underwear.
The Eaton's ad copy read, "Boys’ Balbriggan Undershirts or Drawers, short sleeves, short legs [i.e., knee length], natural cream color, sizes 22 -32, each garment. [price obscured]." [Sizes are chest measurements.] We are not yet sure what Balbriggan means. It seems tp be a brand name.
The Eaton's ad copy read, "Same kind with long-sleeve shirts and ankle-length drawers, sizes 22 to 32 each garment. [price obscured]."
The Eaton's ad copy read, " Boys’ Fine Balbriggan Under Shirts and Drawers, sateen facing and pearl buttons, as cut EIX666, 22 to 32 chest measure, each garment. Also some with short sleeve and ankle length drawers.[prices obscured]"
The Eaton's ad copy read, "Boys’ fine Imported French Balbriggan Undershirts or Drawers, or long-sleeve shirts, ankle- or knee-length drawers, as cut EIX666, sizes 22 to 32 chest measure, each garment. [price obscured]."
The Eaton's ad copy read, "Boys’ fine Imported Natural Wool Underwear, shirts or drawers, beige facings, pearl buttons, summer weight. Sizes 22 to 32 chest measure, each garment. [price obscured] Better quality at 75 cents and $1.00." We are not sure why Canada in 1907 was imported boys' underwear. Perhaps Canadaxwas still developing its clothing industry.
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