Garment Industry

Compositon of theGarment Industry
Even before the invention of the sewing machine, the ready-made garment industry relied on a system of "putting-out." As early as the 1820s, clothing manufacturers contracted work to female workers who would do the job for wages 25% to 50% less then that of male tailors. Rather than working in the clothing shop, the women seamstresses would complete their assigned sewing tasks in their homes. The ethnic composition of the seamstresses mirrored the general trend of immigration to New York City. Prior to 1850, most seamstresses were German immigrants or native born, poor Americans who had come to New York from rural areas, while from 1850 until the 1880s Irish immigrants dominated the industry.

In the 1880s the nature of the garment industry experienced another significant change. Immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe replaced seamstresses, who often worked alone or in very small groups, with contractors. Under the new arrangement, factories produced the fabric and the designs, which were then distributed to contractors on credit. The contractor was responsible that the fabric that he had acquired on credit be made into clothing, and then sold to stores and other retail outlets. He (it was almost always a "he") hired neighbors and other women in the area to do the job. The contractor paid by the piece, though he could refuse to pay for work he considered shoddy. As factory machinery became more sophisticated in the 1870s and 1880s, parts of a piece of clothing could be mass produced and women working at home did finishing work rather than making whole pieces of clothing from scratch.

Female homework satisfied the desire of most husbands for their wives to remain at home and allowed the women to supervise their children. Working at home also eliminated commuting time and left more time for household chores. Women from different apartments would often work together in one of their kitchens or best rooms (the room fronting the street or rear yard and therefore receiving the most sunlight) to keep each other company. In warmer weather women often moved into the hallways or onto the roofs and fire escapes (when they existed).

By the end of the nineteenth century and on into the twentieth century the putting-out system gave way, for the most part, to "sweat-shops." In this system, manufacturers provided the raw materials, designed the clothes, and marketed the final product, but the work of making the clothes was again handed over to contractors. The contractors would now secure a workspace, sewing machines, and ten to twenty workers, usually female immigrants. Each worker had a specific task to perform but was paid on the basis of how many garments the whole group was able to produce. By the turn of the century, most ready-to-wear clothing came from such shops. (See Sweatshops)