INVENTOR OF THE COLLAR.

Matamata Record, Volume VI, Issue 475, 27 September 1923, Page 1

INVENTOR OF THE COLLAR.

THU WIFE OF A BLACKSMITH. The evolution' the collar through the stages of “ ruffs ” and “ cravats ” is an interesting story. Paradoxically, too, wc owe the introduction of the separate linen collar not to anyone connected with the textile industry. Just as we owe the linen spinning frame to a maker, of spectacles, the shuttle to a watchmaker,, and the loom to a barber, the first linen collar was made by the wife of a blacksmith in Troy, New York' State. This happened in 1825. Aside from inventing, this woman did the family washing (says Linen). She .found that the collar soiled much more quickly than the rest of the shirt", so she devised a removable collar, which could be re-, placed by another attached to the same shirt. At first she made collars only for her husband’s shirts. Then she began making them to sell outside of her home. The innovation attracted the attention of the Rev. Ebenezer Brown, a retired minister, and he, with the aid of the womenfolk of his family, went about selling collars. This was in 1829. All the work on these early collars was done by hand, for the sewing machine had not yet been invented. In those days not more than a dozen collars a day were sold. Their name " string collars,” was especially appropriate, for tljey were tied around the neck with a string of tape attached to eacli end of the collar. Except for the bands, the first separate collars were generally all linen, and of two thickneses. As a matter of fact, the linen was actually woven in the United States in those days, nvhen almost every farmer grew his own field of flax and prepared the fibre, which the family spun and wove into- the household linens. Even in dross fabrics, the celebrated “ Linsey-woolsey,” made from flax and wool, was the .stylish material before cotton came into use, about 1830. These primitive collars were highly starched, and had high points, extending above the chin on either side, somewhat akin to the collars which have been so long associated with all portraits of W. E. Gladstone in more recent years.

So much for the evolution of the linen collar; and so greatly did the wearing extend that it was estimated a few years ago that there were in Ireland ahout 60 shirt and collar factories in Londonderry, Coleraine, Belfast and other towns, engaging an aggregate of • between 10,000 and 15,000 workers. •