Clothing Before The American Civil War

Technology brought the “ready-to-wear revolution” to the people. The spinning jenny and the power loom makes mass production of clothing effortless. Various clothing and sizes were now available to everyone. The value of clothing and jewelry declined due to overproduction.

The Civil War was not “Civil”, it was one if the worst wars in history. The United States of America suffered so many deaths. The Civil War happened from April of 1861 to April of 1865, about 620,000 people died during the Civil War. With the growth of the Industrial revolution, also came new technology, this new technology increased transportation, communication, and weaponry, which eventually helped the Union win the war.

People indulge in clothes shopping every day and often do not consider the changes that occurred throughout time that led to the development of mass produced clothing for both men and women. As a result of the Civil War, the production of clothing shifted from homemade clothing to clothing mass produced in factories. After the Civil War, Urbanization along with new developments, such as advertising and the new, wealthy urban class, increased the demand for mass produced women’s clothing and clothing stores that made clothing readily available.

Clothing has existed for many centuries and has evolved over time. At one time, clothes were made very simple; over time the stages of developing clothes has drastically changed. The design and style of clothes changed as well.

The Southern Colonies were the first to imitate Europe in their fashion sense, this especially was true in the Virginia Colonies. The Southerners chose silk over the cotton that they could have grown and wove in the plantation farms. They imported the silk from Europe and Britain. Silk can either be a really cool or hot fabric. A women had a lot to wear on top of her undergarments, these could add up to at least 3-4 layers. The main thing that women wore then were hoop skirts. These skirts could reach up to 4 feet away from the woman's legs. One of the main purposes for hoop skirts was to accentuate the woman's hips or sides. No lady could go barefoot because of the diseases that existed in the dirt and the worms that could be stepped on. On top

The Civil War, a defining time in the development of ready made clothing, brought about standardized sizes for men, and what drove this trend was the demand for uniforms. Each side in this war had tailors who would make them, but that was time consuming; therefore, a mass production of uniforms was needed. The author stated in paragraph one: “As the war continued […] manufacturers started to build factories that could quickly and efficiently meet the growing demands of the military.” And so, the people’s NEED for clothing that fit decently, was sturdy, and was available fairly quickly caused a demand for clothing production on a mass scale. This example of the relationship between supply and demand proves that what the people need has a direct influence on what kind of clothing is created, and HOW it is created.

80 billion clothing items are produced every year. About two million tons of clothes is thrown away every year. The clothes often cannot be resold due to lack of quality. Only about 10% of clothes are resold. ¾ of the clothing’s manifested from fast fashion labels will end up in a land fill after a year after it is put out for consumers to buy.

The high demand for clothing meant that the textile industry had to increase production. Its output increased from 40 million to 2 billion in 65

The American Civil War raged on between 1861 and 1864, pitting the Northern States against the Southern States. There was great tension that had been building up for several reasons, and the biggest issue was slavery in the South. Southerners fought to keep their slaves, while Northerners wanted to eliminate the spread of slavery. These letters show the shift in gender roles, feelings toward the enemy, and the experiences the soldiers had during the war.

The North was more industrialized, they had more resources. They had more gun factories up in the north, so they were supplied with guns and knives to fight the war. The north had a greater percentage of factory production then the south, the north had ninety-one percent of factory production and the south only had nine percent. They north also had a better wool production. They were able to keep making clothes for the men without them ever running out. The south did not have much wool because most of the war took place in the south making it hard for them to get any. At this point the south was super poor, besides not being able to get

The Civil War (1861-1865) was a time of great technology change. There was a very large amount of deaths during this time as well. The Union deaths amounted to about 360,000 men and the Confederate losses were avergerd to about 258,000. The main reason for this many deaths was because of the small amount of weapons both sides had. The Civil War was the time that very many military inventions were thought of or made. The telegraph and railroad are two of the biggest things that were invented during the Civil War. The telegraph made it easier for comunication and the railroad was a quicker way for the troups to transfer from one place to another. There were many other weapons that were made during this war, such as the submarine and the repeating

Technology has had a major impact on the progress of fashion between the 1945’s and 1960’s and beyond. People used to have busy lifestyles before the growth of technology to help them. During WW2, there was a shortage of fabrics and people needed to preserve them. However, once the world got into a stable post-war time which were the 50s, there were more intricate outfits which used large amounts of fabric. Technology also allowed more different varieties of dyes and fibers to be made which added more of a personal touch to fashion and gave a feeling of wellbeing and comfort.

2. Richard M. Johns (2006). The Apparel Industry. 2nd ed. UK, London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 1-124.

‘Fashion industry is characterised by short product life cycles, volatile and unpredictable demand, tremendous product variety, long and inflexible supply processes and a complex supply chain.’

A lot has changed and evolved in the history of fashion since the 1900s. As the century dawned, fashion was an exclusive enterprise, the pursuit of wealth. The average person in society settled for garments that were usually stitched at home. With time, however, networks of neighborhood tailors began to evolve into a retail history and the boom was followed by boutique selling.