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We note an interesting illustrated catalogue from Warner Brothers, the largest manufacturer of corsets in America in the 1880s and, according to their claim, the largest in the entire
world. They exported corsets to England, Belgium, Germany, and other countries as well. Their headquarters was at 359 Broadway in New York and 257-259 State Street in Chicago. They also made underwear for men,
women and children featuring "camel's hair" (for warmth obviously). They were very much into the production of "health underwear" for the entire family. The catalogue seems to be designed for retailers because
they sell their products in dozens and in larger quantitites. The name of the firm seems to be named after a "Dr. Warner" whose credentials as an expert on health seem to have been promoted by the company. Their
factory was located at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and they employed 1,200 workers and produced 7,000 corsets daily. Like several other corset companies, they also made stocking suporters for children.
We have limited informnation on the company's corporayte history at this time. We are not sure when Warner Brothers was founded, but believe it was the 1880s, perhapseven the 70s. we note that it was a major corset company in the late-19th century. We note an interesting illustrated catalogue from Warner Brothers, the largest manufacturer of corsets in America in the 1880s and, according to their claim, the largest in the entire
world. They exported corsets to England, Belgium, Germany, and other countries as well.
Their headquarters was at 359 Broadway in New York and 257-259 State Street in Chicago.
The principal product made by Warner Brothers was corsets. They also made underwear for men,
women and children featuring "camel's hair" (for warmth obviously). hey were very much into the production of "health underwear" for the entire family. Like several other corset companies, they also made underwaists used as stocking and other support functions for children. Warnedrs used the term corset waists in their advertising. If it is not clear if this was just a term used to mean underwaist or if there sas some form shping stiffening. as in a true corset. Warners was a very important brand. Warner's was fundamentally a firm for the manufacture of women's corsets. They also made a famous waist for boys and girls called "Warner's Perfection Waists" (slightly different versions for boys and girls but fulfilling the same function). The making of Unionettes or Waist Union Suits was a sideline. Many od the same materials used in corsetys were used in waists nd ogher stocking supporters for children
We note a catalog published by Warner Brothers. It is not dated, but we believe was relesed in the 1880s. The catalogue seems to be a wholesale catalog designed for retailers because they sell their products in dozens and in larger quantitites. The catalogue has no actual date on it, but we can gauge
the date quite accurately from the date of the latest patent cited (which is 1881), so the catalogue must be around 1882-83. We note what looks like an advertisement. The quality of the illustration suggests the 1880s. We note an ad Dry Goods Economist (April 1, 1899). We have archived Warner's Perfection Waists in 1905. This is obviously a later version of the "Wilson Waist" also
manufactured by Warner's. So this tells us that Warner Bros was still in business in 1905. And we also see Warner producrs in the 1920s, such as the Warner's Perfection Unionettes in 1922.
The name of the firm seems to be named after a "Dr. Warner" whose credentials as an expert on health seem to have been promoted by the company. (At the time there were no legal penalties fo entirely fictional presentations.)
Their factory was located at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and they employed 1,200 workers and produced 7,000 corsets daily.
The factory at Bridgeport overlooking Long Island Sound also operated a "Seaside Institute" "for
the use of the 1,100 girls in their employ". Most of these girls would have been immigrant girls. And in the 1880s this would have included many very young girls, perhaps even some pre-teen girls.
The institute included "a large reading-room, library, parlor, music room, bath rooms, restaurant,
large public hall, and rooms for evening classes."
The corsets and other products manufactured by Warner's featured a fabric called "Coraline" manufactured from the fibre of the Istle plant that grows in Mexico and some parts of South America. Warner's also used celluloid in their corsets and manufactured their own steel fittings because they
were unsatisfied with the fittings then available commercially from other sources.
This garment is specifically called a "corset waist". Another company, Ferris Brothrs, also made corset waists. Companoies were not consistent with the names they used for their product line. Some campanoes did use the trm corset waists for these garments. This dod not prove very popular with boys. Companoies focused primarily on corsets and women's wair were not as atuned as some other companies as to how boys might react tothe term corset, even with waists added. So by the early-20th century, the more common term became underwaists.
Corset waists are really just underwaists. The term is early (19th century), but boys didn't like
the concept of course because of the association with women's corsets,
and the term corset waist became exclusively used for girls'
underwaists in later catalogues. The generic term for corset waists,
especially those worn by boys, was gradually changed to "underwaist"
because this term didn't have negative gender connotations for boys. If
you look in the older Sears and Wards catalog indexes under "corset
waist," you are usually directed to the pages for underwaists. In the
body of the catalogs the term corset waist is used only for girls'
uderwaists, although, functionally, there isn't much difference between
a girl's and a boy's underwaist. The same support function applies to
both genders.
One of their most popular products was a "corset waist" for children (both boys and girls) from "two years old and upwards." The text for this product reads: "Wilson's Corset Waist, Unequalled for Elegance,
Convenience, and Perfection of Fit. This Waist is made of two thicknesses of the best quality of satin jean, strengthened by forty-four rows of cable cord, stitched into six groups, as shown in
the engraving. The Corset Waist is adapated to children of two years old and upwards {both boys and girls]. Price, in White or Colored [="Drab" or natural, unbleached color]. $4.50 per dozen, net."
As shown in the illustration, these corset waists were sleeveless
jackets worn on top of the child's underwear with shoulder straps that
were apparently adjustable by buttons. There are reinforcement straps
to support the weight of additional clothing, especially hose
supporters for long stockings. Notice that there is a little extension
over the hips with a button for fastening on the garters. Here we see
a single eslastic strap, not the y-shaped hose supporter that become
more common at later points. Manufacturrs and retailers did not have consiset terms for many of their products. The garment here looks rather like an underwaist to us.
Interestingly, the boy and girl in the
illustration are shown wearing striped long stockings over long
underdrawers. The children's underwear shown elsewhere in the
catalogue consists of shirts and underdrawers but no union suits, which
marks the catalogue as fairly early. Union suits became almost
universal for children by the 1910s, but this is several decades
earlier.
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