United States Clothing Advertisements: Nazareth Children's Underwear (1920)


Figure 1.--This advertisement here is not actually from a dated catalog or magazine advertisement, but rather from a shipping box in which the underwear was sent out to various distribution points (retail stores). The image advertisement shows three different styles of Nazareth children's underwear.

This advertisement here is not actually from a dated catalog or magazine advertisement, but rather from a shipping box in which the underwear was sent out to various distribution points (retail stores). The image advertisement shows three different styles of Nazareth children's underwear. The boy (about 10 years old) is wearing a trunk-length, short-sleeved waist union suit. You can see the reinforcement straps and waist buttons--two reinforcement tapes on each side. The buttons were for outer clothing such as short pants or skirts.

Nazareth

We notice the Nazareth Waist Company active in the 1920s. We do not know when they were founded and how long they operated. The company had offices in New York City and mills in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. We notice waist suits they offered. We do not know if they offered any other items. They often advertized in magazines like Parents An example of a Nazareth ad can be found in a 1929 issue od Parents.

Item

This advertisement here is not actually from a dated catalog or magazine advertisement, but rather from a shipping box in which the underwear was sent out to various distribution points (retail stores). Thus it is a type of promotional literature.

Chronology

As the item here is not from a catalog or periodical publication, is it not possible to date it with precession. A HBC reader believes that it was probably distributed in the early 1920s. A good guess is 1920, but it may have been used over a year or more, perhaps even as late as 1922.

Underwear Style

The promotional sheet shows three different styles of Nazareth children's underwear.

Boy model

The boy (about 10 years old) is wearing a trunk-length, short-sleeved waist union suit. You can see the reinforcement straps and waist buttons--two reinforcement tapes on each side. The buttons were for outer clothing such as short pants or skirts. There are also garter tabs (hard to see) at the sides under the arm pits for the attachment of pin-on hose supporters. These are probably just cloth loops rather than the metal pinning tubes that were developed a bit later (as shown for instance in the 1929 HBC Nazareth waist suit for boys from Parents' Magazine).

Girl model

The girl's model (she is about 8 or 9 years old)is similar but is sleevless and buttons down the front only about half-way. It doesn't appear to be a waist suit because the reinforcement straps and garter tabs are apparently missing, though it is hard to be absolutely certain of this. Both the above suits would have drop seats in the rear closed by three buttons.

Little girl model

The little girl at the right (perhaps only 3 or 4 years old) wears a two-piece undergarment consisting of a short-sleeved undershirt with buttons down the front and panties what seem to button on to the undershirt. This style of undershirt and button-on panties could be worn by either boys or girls, but were obvbiously for children no older than 5-6 years.

Lengtth

It is interesting to note the leg lengths of these union suits. Boys by the 1920 were beginning to wear short pants and girls shorter skirts. Thisc mean that shorter lengths of underwear were needed. The Nazareth waists suits here, for example, are shorter than in the 1915 E-Z Waists. Knee pants had given way for the most part to short pants, the long stockings had become longer, and the new waist union suits were manufactured with trunk-length legs so that underwear and garters wouldn't show underneath the new shorter clothes (both short pants or skirts). Of course, if knickers were worn, the leg length of the underwear wouldn't matter as much, although it could affect a boy's appearance, giving a heavy or lumpy look to his long stockings or kneesocks.






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Created: 5:29 AM 12/14/2004
Last updated: 5:29 AM 12/14/2004