The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-15
COLLAR WAS ONCE
 DEEMED VULGAR Cuffs Also Comparatively Re- cent in Development GREAT AMERICAN INDUSTRY More Than 17,ooo Wsge-Earners of Whom 15,ooo Are Women, Are
 Employed in Making Col
 lars and Cuffs.


 and cuffs nowadays. these important ac- cessories to gentlemans wearing ap- parel were at one time considered "a vul- gar expedient not In keeping with true
 gentility." When detached collars and cuffs first came into use, about a half century ago, they were considered by many to be lazy mans invention. Up to this time they were made on to the shirt and could be changed only by changing the shirt As these were the most exposed portions of the shirt 1t fer auently happened that they became soied much sooner than the rest of Inc gar meni, ano as no real gentleman would be seen wearing a soiled collar, this ne- cessitated complete change of linea. A gentleman, to be always presentab,e
 was therefore compelled to have on hand several shirts. It undoubtedly cc- cured to some inventive genius that .t w.ulc be cheaper to have only ] few shirts and a number of collars and cuffs a thing possible only by ha vlng the cellar and cuffs separate from the shirt. Hence the detached collar of today
 The history of the colhir has never been written, and ls de from an ooca- sional paragraph in heoks dealing with the industries, but little has been printed concerning this essential piece ef wear ing apparel. The exact date upon which the first detaehsu collar was made or worn is not known, but It could rot have been earlier thd tie latter part CT the first half century The wife or Troy, N. Y. blacksmith according to an undisputed statemen., made the first de- tached collar. A Methodist minister rec ognizing the selling qualities of this nov city" started a factory and began to turn out collars. This wks in ls2a, twenty years before the wing machine.
 The neck dress of the men of the rev.
 olutionary period conssred of n large cravat wound about the neck and tied Tn front The ends of the cravat were usu-
 ally trimmed with Il rufne or ,aee, and these soft ends of the crcvat mingled with the bosom frills of the shirt.
 Fashion Takes Hold.
 The beginning of tn, eighteenth cen
 tury brought the high eollar but the vol
 luminous cravats remained in style. ard ] being wound about the neck in the usual manner they hid much of the collar. Later on the size If the cravnt was re- 1 duced considerably, which made the col | lar more conspicuous. Then tha freaKs or l fashion began to appear in the style or | collars. the collar. tho points of which
 
 becoming the most popular.
 The cuff was considerably later in
 making its appearance. ani years after the collar had been ndopte1, gentlemen
 wore lace at the wrist. Like the collar the cuff was merely an extension or the shirt and it was sometimes turned up out of the wey,
 While not of recent origin, the collar l is of quite modern development; little progress having been made in their man ufacture until after the invention or the | sewing machine In 1Sf6.
 :, Today, however, more than 17,0o0 wage | earners are employed in collar and cuff | factories Of this number about 1b,00o are women. There is no "child labor In this great American industry, less than 200 l children being employed, and, although
 much of the work is done under the piece l system there are no sweat shops. Troy, N Y, may well be called the home
 of the collar, since all but 15 per cent. | of the total production in the United l States comes from that city.
 Factories Small.
 Although the output Is enormous. the | factories are comparatively small, much | of the work being done at home, There l is not town within thirty miles of | Troy wherein portion of the female | population is not engaged in some branch
 
 l Is carried back and forth by regular car riers. employed for that purpose. The l industry was started in a small way by | one or two men. but grew very rapidly | until today 1t is one of Americas prin- | clpal industries.
 The size of the collar, 1t might be inter | esting to know means the number of | inches from the outside edge of one | front buttonhole to the outside edge or the other front buttonhole, measured across the collar band. thus number l 15 collar is just l5 inches from the out side edge of one front buttonhole to l the outside edge of tho other front but | tonhole. Tho same rules applies to the size of shirts, measuring around the neck band. From this it will be seen that a number 15H collar should be worn with a number 15 shirt. The collar however, being half an inch larger than the neck | band of the shirt does not always give a | good fit hence the quarter size, or 15N | collar. which is the very newest thing | fin collars.