Civil War Clothing Research Paper

Clothing styles have been constantly changing as time goes one. A major factor for this has been the process at which these clothes have been made. Just like the style of our clothing, the creation process for garments has been constantly been evolving. From the handmade past, to the mass produced future, clothing itself has been altered by the means of its creation. Before the Industrial Revolution, the creation of clothing was a time consuming and expensive process. In order for quality clothing to be created, it had to be done by a tailor, which in itself was costly. On top of that, the creation and obtaining of fabrics was significantly more expensive than actually creating the garments. Because of this, most people could not afford

Before the war, ready-made clothing existed, but was limited in variety and made in predetermined sizes, which would not fit every person. Either a tailor or family still made the clothing as well. At the start of the Civil War, workers under government contract would make uniforms in their homes. Later on in the war, this method was replaced with factories, which could quickly create uniforms for soldiers at a fraction of the cost. The mass production of these garments is what led to the notice of a pattern within the body measurements taken, leading to the invention of the first commercial sizing scale for men, which is still used today. The Mass production of women clothing progressed more slowly and was moved forward by a combination of new techniques, advertising, and the rising urban professional class, along with its convenience and affordability. The issue, however, was that these outfits did not fit well and there were multiple (often poor) sizing scales created for women. Today, there is still no standard sizing scale, but the body measurements used to create garments for women have been standardized. Because of this all a woman need to know if they want to order clothing from almost anywhere are three measurements. (Source