Figure 1.--Fay in 1901 offered these Fay button-on stockings. They do not seem to have been very popular.
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Figure 1.--Fay in 1901 offered these Fay button-on stockings. They do not seem to have been very popular. |
We thought that when we found a Wards advertisement for button-on long stockings in 1939 that it was a totally new (and largely unsuccessful) invention. Sears also had a similar product, but the fad was very short-lived because they disappeared quickly from the catalogues of successive years. But I was wrong about the novelty. As this image shows, button-on stockings were being sold as early as 1901 by the Fay Stocking company of Elyria, Ohio (south of Lake Erie in Loraine county). These stockings are made for both adults and children, for
ladies as well as for boys and girls.
These stockings were made by the Fay Stocking company of Elyria, Ohio (south of Lake Erie in Loraine county). We know nothing about the company at this time. Attempts to discover anything about the Fay Stocking Company have been unsuccessful, and this is the only ad for Fay stockings that I have encountered in our research.
We thought that when we found a Wards advertisement for button-on long stockings in 1939 that it was a totally new (and largely unsuccessful) invention. Sears also had a similar product, but the fad was very short-lived because they disappeared quickly from the catalogues of successive years. But we were wrong about the novelty. As this image shows, button-on stockings were being sold as early as 1901.
These stockings were made for both adults and children, for
ladies as well as for boys and girls.
These stockings have the advantage of not requiring hose supporters since they have two buttons at the top that
fasten onto an underwaist.
We suspect that these stockings were no more popular in 1901 than they proved to be almost 40 years later because they were
made by a minor manufacturer in a small Ohio town and were not widely
advertised.
Note that the stockings are the standard color in
1901--black.
The ad copy read, "Fay Stockings For Ladies and Children
Tried and Not Found Wanbting. The idea stocking for summer or winter. Hygienic, Satisfactory and economical. Two separate parts. Buttons to waist. No garters. Try them the next you buy and be pleased. Sent on approval where not kept by dealers. Write for circulars. The Fay Stocking Co., 21 T Street, Elyria, Ohio."
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