← Dressed: The History of Fashion
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- [00:04]
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- [00:33]
Cassidy
The history of fashion is a production of dress media. With over 8 billion people in the
- [00:43]
April Callahan
world, we all have one thing in common.
- [00:45]
Cassidy
Every day, we all get dressed.
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Adam Cassidy
Welcome to Dressed the History of Fashion, a podcast where we explore the who, what, when of why we wear. We are fashion historians and your hosts, April Callahan, Adam Cassidy, Zachary.
- [01:00]
Cassidy
Dress listeners, for the entirety of our lives, we've all done it. But have you ever thought about why you do it? And if you're wondering what the heck is Kassity talking about, today's episode is dedicated to the curious history of closing clothes, something we all have experience with, but perhaps have never really taken a moment to consider. So today we are going to explore some of the origin stories of the apparati that allow us to fasten the clothes we wear to our bodies. And let's just say that perhaps fasteners. April, put the f. Fasten into fascinating because these stories are incredibly interesting.
- [01:36]
Adam Cassidy
Yes, and. And. And some of them surprised me, even though I knew just a little bit here and there about them. But obviously this is a huge subject. It covers thousands of years of fashion and dress history. So we had to narrow down our focus today to three specific types of fasteners. We're going to cover zippers, Velcro, and magnets of all things such. So in the vast history of fasteners, there are of the more recent innovations, and thus their origin stories are easier for us to pinpoint, mainly thanks to the fact that as products of the Industrial revolution, they were patented and advertised.
- [02:15]
Cassidy
Yes, and the idea for today's episode actually comes to us thanks to my father, who loving. Yeah. Who lovingly requested an episode on the History of the Button quite a while ago. I must say, I think it was something he had explored with his students when he was a teacher. But fasteners are, of course, part of the minutiae of our everyday lives that we don't often think twice about. And yet, without them, getting dressed today would look a whole lot different for many of us. And I say many of us, because it is by no means all of us. With over 8 billion people in the world, we do not all use fasteners to secure our Clothing?
- [02:50]
Adam Cassidy
Nope. And the fasteners that we will specifically discuss today were patented to use with clothing that was tailored to closely fit the body in a way that it required fasteners to secure it. But as we know, undressed, not all clothing is tailored. And there are innumerable cultures around the world in which clothing is secured to the body by strategic draping mechanisms. You can think of the Indian sari or the Japanese obi. The examples are innumerable and come with an incredibly rich history, because for thousands of years, drape clothing was overwhelmingly the norm for both men and women in a myriad of cultures around the world, from ancient Rome and Greece to Egypt and to the Philippines.
- [03:32]
Cassidy
Yes, and the history of fasteners actually dovetails quite nicely with this history, because while draped cloth was often self secure to the body, and when I say that, I mean that you wrapped and tucked the cloth around itself to keep it in place. Some of the earliest fasteners were clasps that would secure, say, something like a mantle to your shoulder. There were also drawstrings, such as those found sewn into the waist of the Turfin Man's trousers, which, at 3,200 years old, are the oldest known surviving pants in the world. They were actually discovered in China's Tarim Basin and are really representative of the advanced horse riding culture and sophisticated weaving and construction techniques of that area.
- [04:15]
Adam Cassidy
People also use ties made of various materials to secure their clothing to their bodies, as evidenced by the rest of Turban Man's extant ensemble, which experts have actually reconstructed. And the ensemble included a poncho that came with a woven belt tied to the waist, as well as braided leg fasteners which would have secured the bulk of the pants to the wearer's legs while riding, and another to fasten his leather boots around the ankle. Lacing was another early form of fastening, as lacing could be used to mold swaths of fabric to the wearer's body. And cass, you know this. But laces were widely used in fashions of the Renaissance, when things like sleeves, for instance, might be entirely separate pieces from the bodice of one's ensemble. And they were kind of laced on in lieu of having a permanently inset sleeve. And if you want to come with me on one of my tours of the Met, I point out some examples of this in some of the paintings that we look at. So there's that.
- [05:15]
Cassidy
Yes. And if you are a costumer or a sewist, then you know that the. That sleeve insets continue to haunt us all to this very, very day. So it is not something, I guess, that. Ha. It has been mastered by the masters.
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Adam Cassidy
Balenciaga.
- [05:30]
Cassidy
Yeah, exactly. But that lacing was something that would have made something that was admittedly hard a little bit easier. So buttons actually are another form of fastenings that date back thousands of years and are found in cultures around the world like ancient Egypt, Greece and China, where it appears that they were actually used first as decorations and signifiers of things like wealth and status. But in Western Europe, the shift from decorative to functional fasteners began around the 14th century. And this was at the same time that we see men's and women's clothing start to shift toward more tailored silhouettes. But regardless of that, buttons and ties will remain the predominant means of closures in Euro American fashion until the 19th century. So that's a long time when the Industrial Revolution will provide the infrastructure and materials to push fastening technology into a new age of innovation.
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Adam Cassidy
And it is thanks to this period that we have a series of inventions that will forever alter how we get dressed. And that of course, includes things like the hanger and the sewing machine, which actually has something to do with our first fastener that we are going to talk about in depth today. The zipper. American inventor Elias Howe is of course considered to be one of the founding fathers of the modern lock stitch sewing machine. He patented his design in 1845 before he was essentially knocked off by the man who we perhaps know better as being synonymous with the modern sewing machine, Isaac Singer.
- [06:55]
Cassidy
Yes, and this is actually a legal battle that played out in the press. It was very dramatic and it certainly could be its own podcast episode. So perhaps we will get into that in the future, but we're not going to go into those details today. But what we will expand upon, however, is one of Elias's lesser known contributions to fashion history, at least. April. I certainly had no idea before researching for this episode that he is not only one of the founding fathers of the modern sewing machine, he is also a founding father of the modern zipper. One of several founding fathers, in fact, because the history of the zipper, as it turns out, is a very multi person international affair, as are a lot
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Adam Cassidy
of these inventions of the 19th century.
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Cassidy
Right.
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Adam Cassidy
There's just something in the cultural zeitgeist. A lot of people are trying to solve the same problem at the same
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Cassidy
time by way of technology.
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Adam Cassidy
So in 1851, how received a patent for an automatic continuous clothing closure. As he writes in the patent quote, my invention consists of a series of clasps united by a connecting cord, the said clasps running or sliding upon ribs formed of any suitable material. The advantage of this manner of fastening garments consisted the ease and quickness which they can be opened or closed while there is no liability of their getting out of order. I'm a little confused about what this means, but okay, yes.
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Cassidy
And you're not alone. And it's not exactly the modern day zipper we know and love, but the idea is there. Right. So we are all, of course, familiar with the zipper design of today that consists of two separate strips of metal, or more commonly today, plastic teeth that join together. Right. These teeth are connected to like a strip of material on either side and they interlock when you pull or quote, unquote, zip that slider up and thus you join together these disparate pieces of fabric, which were once two strips are now one. So in houzz design, and I'm going to try to explain this and I'll post an image because I don't do it very well, but. So the teeth are already joined at the bottom of the opening you want to close, and you close that opening by pulling on a cord which then pulls the device up along the ribs and closes the garment, if that makes sense.
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Adam Cassidy
So it's the closure that moves.
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Cassidy
Yes, the closure already exists, but it moves so it doesn't join together. Essentially it's already closed. So it's. Like I said, it's a little hard to explain, but we will post images.
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Adam Cassidy
Yes, and, and needless to say, how never marketed this particular design, which it has been speculated might have to do with the success of his sewing machine. He didn't want to sacrifice one to the other, I suppose. But regardless, he missed out on an opportunity to, to continue this idea's development and thus reap the benefits of the remarkable success the zipper would enjoy during the 20th and 21st centuries. And thus the next step towards the modern day zipper comes to us via one Mr. Whitcomb Judson, I love that name by the way, who in 1893, 42 years after Howe patented a shoe fastening which was comprised of a, quote, series of clasps securable to the flaps of the shoes or other corresponding parts to be fastened, end quote. And this was done by a hand device that automatically engaged or disengaged the clasp by a single continuous movement. So unlike how Judson would actually manufacture his new design, launching the Universal Fastener Company and debuting his new clasp locker at the 1893 Chicago's World Fair. Although it must be said, this does not seem to have ended up being a commercially successful venture.
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Cassidy
And when you look at the patent for this design, you can actually kind of see why it might not have been super successful. It's a little complicated unnecessarily. So it's essentially a series of hooks and eyes. And it's still really not the design we're going to recognize as the modern zipper. But that is going to come to us thanks to another person at Judson's Universal Fastener company. Actually, his head designer, one Gideon Sundback.
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Adam Cassidy
Awesome name is all around today.
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Cassidy
Yes, and I will say, I hope I am pronouncing that correctly because he is Swedish American and he's an electrical engineer who's the head designer at Universal Fastener company. He actually will take out a series of patents in 1913 and 1917 that drastically improve on the fastener's design by streamlining the materials and the process by which it works. So much so that when you look at his patent for his separable fastener from 1917, it has two rows of interlocking metal teeth, you recognize the modern
- [11:41]
Adam Cassidy
zipper in design, Cass, but not in the name. Because while Gideon's quote unquote new hookless fastener was heralded at the time as the device quote the world had been waiting for, it would surprisingly be the American rubber manufacturing company B.F. goodrich, who's really known for tires, I guess, exactly who would give the zipper its name. Starting in 1923, the company began using the innovative new product in a new rubber boot that they are promoting. And as it turns out, zipper was the name given to these boots and not the hookless fastener which they utilized. But zipper as a term quickly became the go to name for the innovative closure adopted by the many manufacturers that began implementing this same type of closure in a whole host of products. So it's not surprising that this term zipper quickly replaced hookless fastener cast. Because the phrase hookless fastener does not exactly excite the senses.
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Cassidy
No, but zipper certainly does, literally. Because, April, I don't know if you've ever considered this. I certainly hadn't. But zipper is something known as a onoma. Onomatopoetic, which is a word I have never heard of, and I'm guessing you probably have because your vocabulary is onomatopoeia exponentially better than mine. But I had never heard of this word. This word means, in general that something is named for the sound it makes. So the zipper is named for the sound it makes when it zips, which I just think is so fascinating as Is this history in general, especially the fact that Goodrich is making women's galoshes or rubber boots at the dawn of the 20th century. So, as you mentioned, looking at Goodrich's early ads, zippers was the name initially given to the boots that used the hookless fastener. And once that name was out there, it really stuck. The zipper becomes quite a sensation, and the excitement around it is really evidenced in a 1926 menswear magazine article. I'd never even heard of this Fairchild publication, Menswear magazine. And this article is entitled tobacco Pouch Panties Boon to Button Chasers. April, let's try and illuminate what tobacco pouch panties are and button chasers for our audience, shall we?
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Adam Cassidy
Okay. I have lots of questions about what tobacco pouch panties might be. Maybe we will or will not get to the bottom of that, but this article begins, quote, God made pearl, but man made buttons. And only a personal devil could conceive some of the profanity that buttons inspire. Like all of mankind's undertakings, buttons fall just a little short of performing the perfect function. A few months ago, makers were predicting a pearl button shortage. Statisticians were busy compiling figures to show that if all the lost buttons were piled up in a heap, that it would look like the Woolworth Building bachelors were hoping for the best and banging their heads on the iron rods under single beds as they pursued buttons that had torn loose. End quote. I mean, who knew that losing your buttons was such a huge problem and so vexing?
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Cassidy
Yes, but problem no more, because as the article tells us, quote, now zipper underwear has come along and tobacco pouch panties are available. Recent entries also include zipper luggage, zipper overshoes, zipper golf bags, zipper work clothes, and other mesh chain miracles. Man's clothes now operate like a mechanical toy. A few well timed gestures strip the mail, pull the wrong string, and shock an entire neighborhood.
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Adam Cassidy
So this article was obviously quite fun and also surprisingly insightful into gender dynamics of the period as these social anxieties about the modern working woman of the era arise a little bit here. Apparently, the zipper was an incredibly important addition to the aforementioned button chaser, the men, because women in his life were no longer available to sew his fallen buttons back onto his car. Quote, the modern woman has lost her thimble and doesn't know where to find it. The finger that formerly wore a silver crown and is now punching a noiseless typewriter, wearing a long, triangle shaped and highly decorated fingernail, or manipulating an orange stick. And for anybody who doesn't know what that term is, it's a nail file. Essentially, a typist or a manicurist is born every minute hom sores as rare as men who wear darned socks. Making two salaries do the work of one has pretty well wiped out the thrift instinct among Eve's nieces. End quote. Wow, that's a lot.
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Cassidy
I actually love this so much because it just gives insights into this new generation of working women and what they're doing and how they're doing it. So it was perhaps unexpected to get into that in this article, but not entirely surprising to find these sorts of anxieties laid out here.
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Adam Cassidy
Right?
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Cassidy
April I mean, considering the fears of women leaving the domestic sphere and their domestic duties behind. And that, of course, includes mending Men's clothes have been playing out in satiric representations since at least the 19th century, when women dare to fight for the right to vote. Luckily, the zipper has appeared to save the distraught male sex who, quote, equipped with zippers, could probably cut down his waist motion about half. He could stay in bed 10 minutes longer in the morning. So the zipper was really a lifesaver in more ways than one. April Although, dress listeners, I will have to say I'm the one who researched this part portion of the episode and I could not get to the bottom of what tobacco pouch panties were, although I do know that Goodrich also used zippers on tobacco pouches. So maybe panties is some sort of pouch and as we know in etymology, the meanings of words change. So maybe that's what it was. Or maybe it was a pouch that was stuffed in someone's panties. We are not going to get to the bottom of that today.
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Adam Cassidy
Be sure, though, when I, I feel the need to go down a rabbit hole, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tinker.
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Cassidy
This will be it.
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Adam Cassidy
Maybe I'll be watching a movie and researching for you guys what tobacco pouch panties are. So maybe zipper undershirts and zipper underwear perhaps didn't quite translate into mainstream culture, but the zipper certainly did. By the 1930s, it was being used in everything from men's trousers to women's high fashion. And the latter was the subject of a 1937 Life magazine article which says, quote, now everything's zippers. And it talks about how at the Paris fashion openings of that year, quote, Malagneux, the English captain, who is now a leading French dressmaker, showed a winter coat which zipped from head to neck. The buyers and fashion reporters were accustomed to zippers on underwear, sports clothes, housecoats, but a full length zipper on a dressy fox Trimmed coat was sensational. Overnight, the zipper, which since 1913 had been an accepted functional gadget for smooth, secure clothing, became an important style element. And it must be said here, for those of you who know I'm a big Schiaparelli fan, that Molyneux was not the only couturier at this time who was using zippers in their ensembles as, as the form of adornment. Actually, Elsa Schiaparelli did this quite frequently and, and sometimes quite blatantly. She wasn't just using them like as a back closure, but she was intentionally adding them along the sleeve to some of her 1930s evening gowns. And Schiaparelli is one of those designers who's very much known for pursuing and using novelties in her designs in terms of textiles and some of these other things, like the zipper.
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Cassidy
I love it. So is this really considered to be the beginning of using hardware and fashion then as a decorative element?
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Adam Cassidy
Yeah, and it will just continue on in the 1940s as we transition into the American new look, which again, starts using these closures as forms of embellishment rather than embroidery or other things like that.
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Cassidy
Yeah. And famously, perhaps most famously by one Bonnie Cashin. And we've done a two part episode. Yes, two part episodes on all of those designers, including Schiaparelli. So if you're interested in learning more, head on into the dressed archive. Okay, so this article really gives us insights into all the different ways zippers and just a short 20 years were being applied to everything from ballet costumes to rain gear. One model featured in this article had no less than 11 zipper fastened articles on her attire, which included a zipper, panty. Again, there's that word, panty. Shoes, raincoat, gloves, bag, cigarette case, a snuggle robe for football games. There's another fashion history mystery inquiry for you all. And a hat, which they demonstrate unwinds like an apple peel. So they have her holding it and it's this long strip of fabric that you zip up and it becomes a hat. So people are super, super excited about the zipper.
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Adam Cassidy
Just a few years earlier in 1934, another important landmark in zipper history took place. And this is when Tadao Yoshida launched his zipper company, Sana's Shokai, in Tokyo, Japan, opening a manufacturing plant in Tokyo in 1938, which unfortunately burned down during the great Tokyo air raids during World War II. However, after the war, Yoshida started over, reopening his business as Yoshida Kyogo Kabushiki Kaisha.
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Cassidy
And why you might not recognize the name, dress listeners, you might just recognize the acronym ykk, which remains the world's leader in the mass production of zippers and of course appears on probably every single zipper in your wardrobe.
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Adam Cassidy
Pretty much.
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Cassidy
And is really responsible for the technological advances that brought the zipper into the 21st century and the present day, where it is now a $15 billion industry.
- [21:48]
Adam Cassidy
Whoa. That's wild. This is another fascinating history, dress listeners. Da dump dumpch. And we are only getting started. More Closing of Clothes After a brief sponsor break, Dress listeners, spring is in the air and this week I'm about to embark on a major wardrobe clean out. And every time I do this, it becomes quite obvious to me that I do need to replace some basics like T shirts, maybe a few pair of everyday pants, and dare I say it, unmentionables.
- [22:22]
April Callahan
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- [22:44]
Adam Cassidy
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April Callahan
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- [23:19]
Adam Cassidy
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April Callahan
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Adam Cassidy
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- [25:03]
Cassidy
welcome back.
- [25:04]
Adam Cassidy
Okay, Cass, I have to say, when I started tugging get it on the tail of our next type of fastener, I have to say I was surprised and rather charmed by its origin story. Because who knew that the inspiration for Velcro has something to do with our canine friends.
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Cassidy
I did not. No idea.
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Adam Cassidy
Yeah, so apparently the inspiration for the hook and loop style of fastener that we commonly refer to as Velcro came to one Georges de Mestreau one day when he was out walking his dog in the woods in Switzerland. And he came home and he got very vexed and upset about all of these hard to remove burrs that had been caught in his dog's coat. And then he became actually curious at how Mother Nature had created this rather tenacious connection to his dog's fur in order to spread seeds, essentially.
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Cassidy
And De Mestrel was an electrical engineer, so this burr research becomes his pet project. See, I did it there too. Dress listeners. We love a good pun. I don't know, April, if you saw a listener tagged us or sent us a message that they were doing a drinking game during your pajama episode where every time you guys said bifurcated garments, they took a drink. You could do the same thing with our puns.
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Adam Cassidy
I completely missed that. That is hilarious. It has to go into like a listener mail episode.
- [26:28]
Cassidy
I know, and I'm sorry to the person who sent it because I did not jot down your name immediately, but we will find it and give you a shout out in a future episode. But you could certainly do that with our puns as well. You know we love a good pun. So it becomes his pet project for the next eight to 10 years, depending on the source you read, as he really spent A lot of time investigating how the bur clung to fur, but also fibers. And eventually he comes up with a configuration that mimics the bur in what is known as a hook and loop system, where there is a loop that has a brief break in it and when a fiber or hair comes in contact with that break in the loop and it frequently gets entangled, making it hard to remove.
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Adam Cassidy
And this is the part where some interesting patent and trademark action comes into play. Demistrel's innovation of a two part nylon tape employing this hook and loop system was first patented in Switzerland as velcro in either 1954 or 1955 and then trademarked there in 1956. In 1958, it was trademarked in the US and according to Velcro, the company's website, it has now more than 1300 registered trademarks in 130 countries worldwide. And I just want to stress here that Velcro is the name of the brand founded by this hook and loop fasteners inventor. It is not the name of the product.
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Cassidy
So much so that Velcro, the company actually has an entire page devoted to don't say Velcro on their website. Quote. Our Velcro company's legal team decided to clear a few things up about using the Velcro trademark correctly because they're lawyers and that's what they do. When you use Velcro as a noun or verb, eg, Velcro shoes, you diminish the importance of our brand and our lawyers lose their inserting fastening sound here. So please do not say Velcro shoes or Velcro wallet or Velcro gloves. We repeat, Velcro is not a noun or a verb. Velcro is our brand hashtag. Don't say Velcro. I actually had to clarify with April. I was like, are they really just joking? And you did clarify that they are joking.
- [28:41]
Adam Cassidy
I mean, I think it's a little bit of both. But there is a very funny video that's on this page and it's definitely humorous. So I think they're being a little bit serious, but they're doing it with humor.
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Cassidy
Yeah, I feel like if that came up in a lawsuit or something, they'd have a really hard time proving that point. It's like the red high heel. Right. Because it's such a common part of our parlance today. Same with zipper. I didn't come across anything with Goodrich being PO'd that people were using zipper, but that was their name. So I don't know how that Translated as well.
- [29:15]
Adam Cassidy
Well, Velcro is very insistent that they are Velcro brand products and that that hook and loop fastening system is to be credited as such.
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Cassidy
Interesting. Mm.
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Adam Cassidy
But back on the point of the name, Velcro actually takes, and this was fascinating to learn, takes its name from the Vel in velvet and the crow in crochet. So hook and loop. So even the term Velcro roots itself in fashion terms, which I thought was really interesting. And while today Velcro and other hook and loop products are used widely in a variety of products, the fashion trades were an early adopter of the product when it was known specifically as Velcro, as it exploded onto the market following its patent in the US in 1958. Time magazine described it in September of that year as, quote, two strips of fabric, one with thousands of tiny nylon hooks, the other with thousands of equally tiny nylon loops. When the strips are pressed together, the hooks catch the loops and hold fast. And when the strips are peeled apart, hook and loop easily disengage. Velcro is not only jamless and washable, but can be manufactured in any width or color. This fall, Velcro fasteners will appear on everything from women's mink sweater collars to men's slacks.
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Cassidy
After a 1959 fashion show in New York City's Waldorf Astoria hotel displayed everything from Velcro diapers to Velcro golf jackets to Velcro closures on ensembles for stylish society matrons. The New York Times declared it as, quote, the end of buttons, toggles, hooks, zippers, snaps, and even safety pins. However, despite the novelty, the bulky nature of Velcro didn't necessarily enmesh itself into high fashion. It really never has, if you think about did, however, find its place in sportswear and outer space. In 1961, NASA used Velcro for a variety of uses, including closures on astronauts, spacesuits and boots, watch straps, and most curiously, quote, nose scratching sticks inside helmets.
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Adam Cassidy
There's another rabbit hole for you. Just add that to tobacco pouch panties.
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Cassidy
It's also making me very claustrophobic just even thinking about that fact that you need a nose scratcher inside your helmet.
- [31:38]
Adam Cassidy
In 1968, Puma began using Velcro in its sneakers. And this is something that really took off in footwear design in the early 1980s. Yes. Do we all remember K Swiss? The closures? They were the it shoe for those of us who grew up in the 80s. But this explosion of the use of hook and loop closures in shoe design in the early 1980s actually has to do with the fact that Dumestrel's original patent for VELCRO expired on April 2, 1978. So this opens up the market for competitors who then went on to engineer their own versions of his hook and loop system, which do not go by the Velcro trademark. So you might be using a generic version of Velcro that uses the same idea, but it's not technically Velcro.
- [32:27]
Cassidy
No, it is not. It was genuine Velcro. However, if you happen to be using or if you were swathed in Velcro's 1992 collaboration with Huggies Supreme Diapers, which was yet another charming piece of the Velcro story that we uncovered today. Demetra's original idea has a myriad of applications under the Velcro brand, including a hook to hook variant which is an appearance more akin to a zipper.
- [32:54]
Adam Cassidy
And since 2020, Velcro Eco Products have become widely available which employ a significant percentage of recycled materials. And in 2022, Velcro brand sponsored the Runway of Dreams adaptive apparel fashion show during New York Fashion Week which underscores Velcro's products widespread use in adaptive fashions intended for persons with disabilities.
- [33:18]
Cassidy
Which is a perfect introduction to the final type of closure that we will discuss today as it is also one of the most common types of closures for adaptive fashions and we are talking about magnetic snaps. So for from being only used by adaptive brands like Tommy Hilfiger's Tommy Adaptive. The fashion industry's use of magnetic snaps dates to the late 1960s. In 1967, the September 29 issue of Womenswear Daily touts quote a new type of snap fastener that will provide the thrust into new markets for Scoville Manufacturing Company. A new magnetic snap fastener for outerwear and children's wear is currently being tested and refined to make it smaller. Plans are to have it reach production next year and unfortunately snaps fell on the cutting room floor of this episode as we are not including those in today's episode. But obviously we are moving on from that innovation as well.
- [34:13]
Adam Cassidy
Yes. Okay. So cast listeners, I hope you will permit me to go on an ever so brief tangent here for just a moment because while I was looking to this history of magnetic clothing closures, I realized that I didn't even know the very basics of the history of magnets. So I looked into this and here comes my 30 second cliff notes version. The term magnet stems from an ancient Greek discovery of lodestone in the Magnesia region of Thessaly in Greece. And at the time, the Greeks noted lodestone's ability to attract iron. And also the stone's unusual properties were also picked up upon by the Chinese, who, around 200 BCE, began using lodestone to align with the Earth's natural magnetic forces for the purposes of maritime exploration. So, fast forward a few millennia and we cut to Michael Faraday's studies of electromagnetism in the early 19th century and his many, many discoveries that led to the development later on of electric motors, generators and transformers which power our modern world today. So that is my, my Cliff Notes elevator pitch on the history of magnets. Back to fashion.
- [35:26]
Cassidy
So, so fascinating. While certainly not a new discovery, magnets found themselves as a fashion novelty in the 1960s. So you have the French couturier, and it should be said, Christian Dior's former apprentice, Ted Lapidus, using magnetic snaps for his closures for women's wool suits in a 1969 haute couture collection. And what we can believe to be the first reference to magnetic closures in the American fashion press. At least we don't see another mention of magnetic snaps in the fashion press again until the 1980s, when the use of magnetic closures became widespread in the handbag industry, where, of course, it remains to this very day as a very, very common closure.
- [36:05]
Adam Cassidy
And who knew that it was sometimes controversial, because in 2010, the magnetic closure manufacturer Romag sued the American fashion brand Fossil in a counterfeit dispute. And this is because Romag had been contracted in 2002 to supply fossil with any of its magnetic closures that they used in their handbags. And apparently, Romag turned litigious for understandable reasons when they discovered that counterfeit Romag products were being used on Fossil bags. How did this happen? Well, apparently the Chinese manufacturer of the fossil bags was using and incorporating fake Romag closures. And in the 2014 resulting lawsuit and trial, basically, Romag was awarded $6.8 million in damages for various violations, including trademark infringement.
- [37:01]
Cassidy
And that does not end there, dress listeners, because there were subsequent appeals in the case centered around the fact that Fossil claimed they had no knowledge of the Chinese manufacturer's use of counterfeit products. Therefore, they did not willfully infringe on Romax trademark. This actually made it all the way up to the Supreme Court in 2019. And in 2020, the court's decision remanded the decision to one of the previous courts it had passed through. But it still, alas, remains unclear to us if Fossil ever had to pay this $6.8 million or not.
- [37:33]
Adam Cassidy
Yeah. And I even asked a friend who is an IP attorney about the Supreme Court's decision, and he couldn't really tell how everything had been written up, which court the decision had been returned or remanded to. So which court was it decision that ended up sticking anyway? We don't know. Who knew that there was also so much at stake. Just over like snapping your clutch shut, Right? Fashion is a big business, friends. Let's not forget this. This lawsuit was obviously over the use of magnetic snaps as used in the handbag industry. But the use of magnetic closures has also been on the rise in recent decades in the jewelry industry. And I mean, think about this. Who hasn't struggled with teeny tiny clasps on necklaces, especially if you have long nails? So there are a lot of jewelry brands out there that are using magnetic closures and market their products to seniors who face dexterity challenges.
- [38:28]
Cassidy
Yeah. And this ease of opening and closing magnetic snaps also makes the closure system a favorite for adaptive fashion brands, as April mentioned earlier. So there are several companies that create magnetic fashions, including Magna Ready, which was founded by a woman who launched the company after her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's at a young age. So these companies really serve the needs of those in the community with mobility issues because they include these magnetic closures so it makes it easier to get dressed. And then you have brands like Tommy Adaptive, which employ both Velcro brand closures, Velcro brand closures and magnetic snaps for the front fly closure for their jeans, pants and shorts.
- [39:10]
Adam Cassidy
And get this, there are also now magnetic zippers on the market. Cass. And this was something that's entirely new to me, how when you zip something up, you have to put the end points of one half of the zipper into the other endpoint slot. Well, magnetic zippers bring the two ends together automatically when they are placed in proximity to each other and they're just ready to zip. And this makes them great for children and anyone else requiring assistance with fine motor skills. So when I saw these, I was like, what is this? The future dress listeners, now that we have come full circle or full zipper, I think that does it for us today. We hope that you have enjoyed this brief overview of the history of some of the most common types of clothing closures used in contemporary fashion today. And may you ponder the various ways you get in and out of your clothing next time you get dressed.
- [40:06]
April Callahan
Make sure you're signed up for our newsletter. If you're not already, head to our website@dressedhistory.com Sign up for that newsletter where
- [40:13]
Cassidy
April and I once a month share things from April's armoire and Cassidy's closet,
- [40:17]
April Callahan
things we're working on behind the scenes, interesting research we're doing, or objects we're studying. But that's also where you become the first to know about our online classroom
- [40:26]
Cassidy
and in person tours.
- [40:28]
April Callahan
And that includes my what Women Wore to the Revolution 1850s-1920s live online course coming your way in June and then also our seven Day Fashion History Fueled Adventure in the World Fashion Capital Paris coming your way August 30th through September 6th.
- [40:45]
Adam Cassidy
Some of you have already signed up, but we do still have more slots and we are very excited I will be there now on more or less a permanent basis. I have new Parisian treasures up my sleeve for this year's tour. So yeah, again you can head over to dresshistory.com to look at that full itinerary. And we'll be up to this year starting August 30th and then into the very first week of September.
- [41:11]
April Callahan
And we get so many questions from all of you about our recommendations for fashion history books. So if you're interested, you can always find a link in our show Notes
- [41:18]
Cassidy
to our Bookshop Bookshelf.
- [41:20]
April Callahan
So that address is bookshop.org shop dressed and there you can find over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles.
- [41:28]
Adam Cassidy
Do you love dress but you would like to skip the ads? You can now sign up for ad free listening on our Dressed History Patreon. We are also excited to now be part of the Airwave Network and their premium ad free history subscription, Airwave History plus, which is available on Apple Podcast. This subscription brings dress and also 27 other popular history podcasts all together ad free for just $5.99 per month. More information on Patreon and Airwave is available at the link in our bio. Thank you as always for tuning in and more Dressed coming your way very soon. Dressed the history of Fashion is a production of dressed media.
- [42:09]
Avery Trufelman
In a time when the United States military is being sent into American cities, when civilians and soldiers are being pitted against each other, it's strange that we've never dressed more alike. We all wear performance clothes. We all wear outdoor clothes, whether or not we're outside civilians and soldiers. I'm Avery Trufelman. I make a podcast about clothing called Articles of Interest and in this new season I trace the interwoven histories of the military and the outdoor industry and how they built each other. Find Articles of interest wherever you get your podcasts and the season is called Gear.