were provided free of charge when the .... “Flapper” in the 1920s was a term
applied to a .... Pattern and sewing machine com- ..... and famous pillbox hats.
1962.
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1812 | 2012
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Ferguslie Mill
The story of the cotton thread industry began in the town of Paisley, Scotland where weavers had begun to reproduce the rare Kashmir shawls [left] of India at greatly reduced prices. s
Portrait of a Lady (i.e., unknown) ca. 1810 by Henri François Mulard
1800
1803
1804
Napolean blockaded Great Britain, stopping imported supplies including silk which was necessary for the shawl industry in Paisley.
Matthew Murray of Leeds, England invents a steam locomotive which runs on timber rails.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1800), by Jacques-Louis David
The Stourbridge Lion, the first commercial steam locomotive in the U.S. Honesdale, PA; 1829
1806 James and Patrick Clark operated a mill supply business in Paisley, Scotland. Patrick Clark created a
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Portrait of Madame Rivière, Oil on canvas, 1806 Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres; Louvre, Paris, France t
1800-1811
The Beginnings
method of twisting cotton yarns together to produce a thread that
was smooth and strong as silk that could be used by the weavers, but it was soon discovered that it was strong enough to replace linen and silk thread for hand sewing.
1812-1839
Seeing the success of the Clark mill, another Paisley man started a similar enterprize in 1826. James Coats, a weaver, brought a sound knowledge of fine yarn twisting to the thread business, He prospered and built a small factory. Upon his retirement in 1830, his two sons, James and Peter, took over the company, which became J. & P. Coats. Thomas Coats, another brother, joined the firm shortly after.
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Coats Gets Into the Business
Ackermann’s Repository Series 3 Vol 7 April Issue
1808 t
Paisley, Scotland became the epicentre for weaving shawls and, as a result, “Paisley” became the generic term for the pattern. The first shawls woven in Paisley were made around 1808, and by 1850 there were over 7000 weavers in the town.
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American fashions of 1826 were influenced by Clark’s thread as it was introduced to the United States, imported by British sailing captains.
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1820s
1830
Patrick Clark and his brother James opened the first factory for making cotton sewing thread.
Town of Paisley
J&P Coats
Ferguslie Mill construction. Photo donated by R Vassie of the Paisley Thread Mill Museum and were supplied by Mr Kenneth McMaster.
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1812
Engraved by Robert Havell after a picture by J H Clark. Originally published in the 1820s
s Sir
James Coats
Sir Peter Coats
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s
George Aitken Clark
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1846
1851
John Clark of Glasgow, Scotland invented the spooling machine which wound thread on wooden spools
The Singer Sewing Machine, August 12, 1851. Earliest model filed in Patent Office. t
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George Clark developed a six-cord, soft finished thread dubbed the ONT for “Our New Thread.”
1860 Elias Howe’s first sewing machine.’
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1840-1859
Before the invention of the sewing machine by Elias Howe in 1846, all thread was for hand sewing. It had a glazed finish and was too wiry and stiff for machine sewing. George Clark developed a six-cord, soft finished thread, the first suitable for the sewing machine which revolutionized the thread industry. He called it “Our New Thread” which became known as O.N.T., the famous trademark for the Clark Thread company.
Reproduced from the Scientific American of November 1, 1851.
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Influencial Inventions
The sewing machine was not widely available for home use until around 1889.
Coming to America
1874
Early Machine Made Garment
Both Coats and Clark firms sent members of their families to America to act as selling agents. Under the direction of these men, exports to the United States continued to grow until the outbreak of the “War between the States,” when, because of the transportation difficulties and high tariffs, plans were made to manufacture in America. The Clark Thread Company opened its first plant in Newark, NJ in 1864.
The Delineator, May, 1891
1873
1873
Butterick created The Delineator magazine. By 1876, E. Butterick & Co. had become a worldwide enterprise selling patterns as far away as Paris, London, Vienna and Berlin, with 100 branch offices and 1,000 agencies throughout the United States and Canada.
The Clark Mile End Spool cotton company, headed by John Clark, Jr. & Co of Glasgow started manufacturing in the US as well. They were the “Glasgow” Clarks as opposed to the “Paisley” Clarks. they joined forces in 1882.
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Outbreak of the American Civil War.
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1861
1870 and 1883 J & P Coats built mills in the USA at Pawtucket and Central Falls, RI.
s Between
1860-1875
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This christening gown was constructed by machine in 1874 using Clark’s ONT thread, only 14 years after Elias Howe’s first machine was patented.
» s The Clark Thread Company was the first to supply fast black thread that was actually fast to boiling.
1876-1878
Thread Cabinets J & P Coats company began to utilize the by-products of their spool factory to make cases which could be placed on counters in stores. In 1877 a special box factory was erected in Pawtucket, RI to turn out thousands of boxes for country–store counters.
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Mr. Charles Tollner has a very large contract with one of the heaviest thread companies in the world to furnish thousands of large and handsome thread cabinets. They are fine enough to be worth seven or eight dollars each.
Alexander Graham Bell’s experiments with assistant Thomas Watson finally proved successful on March 10, 1876, when the first complete sentence was transmitted.
1877
1877
The Lion & Eagle Trademark was used by J & P Coats in the U.S.
Thread cabinets today are highly treasured collectibles. There were many styles of cabinets as each selling agent had a cabinet for his customers. The cabinets were provided free of charge when the merchant purchased an assortment of thread.
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1876
“Watson, come here; I want you.”
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—Newspaper excerpt about Charles Tollner, one of the manufacturers of spool cabinets
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Let There Be Light Edison exerted a tremendous influence on modern life, contributing inventions such as the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, as well as improving the telegraph and telephone.
Edison Uses Coats Thread
••
1882
The bustle was a fashion trend of the 1880s but began to fade in the 1890s when the hour-glass figure was emphasized and voluminous sleeves including the new “leg of mutton” were the rage.
During that time there were designated selling agents in different geographic areas. Names such as Thomas Russell & Co, George A. Clark & Brother, the Auchincloss Brothers are often seen on the Victorian trade cards that were a form of advertising for the day.
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1880
1886 t
Clark Thread Company “ONT” calendar for 1888. Calendars and the sucessful Clark trading cards were produced using the Victorian art of the time.
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s The
Edison tried a carbonized thread, his notebook read...“No. 9 ordinary thread Coats Co. Cord No. 29, came up to one half candle and was put on 18 cells battery permanently at 1:30 am. This bulb burned for thirteen and one half hours and was the sign that at last they are on the right track.”
The Statue of Liberty, designed by French sculptor, FrédéricAuguste Bartholdi was constructed as a gift to the United States from the people of France. She was erected in New York Harbor October 28, 1886, when she was officially inaugurated by President Grover Cleveland.
1879-1889
t Thomas Alva
1879
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Unveiling of the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World (1886) by Edward Moran.
1896
The Spool Cotton Company The Coats’ and Clarks’ interests were combined, although both companies retained their separate identities. Two years later, The Spool Cotton Company became the sole selling agent for both companies. The merchandising association continued until 1952.
1894
1900
Whitcomb L. Judson patented his “clasplocker” on Aug. 29, 1893; later in 1893, he exhibited this new invention at the Chicago World’s Fair. Judson died in 1909, before his device became commonly used and well known as the zipper.
Elwood Haynes was the designer of America’s first commercially successful gasoline-powered horseless carriage in 1894 and was also the inventor of stainless steel in 1912, among many other notable achievements.
The “Gibson Girl” was the personification of a feminine ideal as created by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period spanning the late 19th and early 2oth century in the U.S. Some people argue that the “Gibson Girl” was the first national standard for feminine beauty.
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1893 t
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1890-1900
Consolidation
1910-1939
Embroidery floss and darning cotton were among the products introduced in this period that saw a downturn in home sewing. t
Introduction of other thread products
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Home sewing decreased as bulk production of women’s garments increased, especially in New York City. The Clark thread company supplemented their products with crochet and embroidery cottons whose supply had been disrupted by World War I.
1920 Color Card Binder used by salesmen to present thread to stores. The book contained all of the products with a winding of thread to show the colors available. s
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Ellen H. Richards founded the American Home Economics Association (now known as American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences) in Lake Placid, NY.
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The Wright Brothers from Dayton, OH traveled to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the constant winds that would aid their experimental flights. Air travel has come a long way since their first powered flight, however the basic mechanisms of flight control invented by the brothers are still in use today.
1911
1909 t
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1903
17, 1903 The Wright Brothers First Flight at Kitty Hawk, NC
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of New York City. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers. Most victims were recent immigrant women. The fire helped spur the growth of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
1901-1911
Brand Reinvention
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1917 | The War to End All Wars?
RMS Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City on April 12, 1912. “The unsinkable” vessel sank on April 15, 1912, after she struck an iceberg resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.
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1923
The word zipper was coined by B.F. Goodrich in 1923, whose company sold rubber galoshes equipped with zippers. Goodrich is said to have named them zippers because he liked the zipping sound they made when opened and closed.
1920 The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified. Its victory accomplished, National American Woman Suffrage Association ceases to exist, but its organization becomes the nucleus of the League of Women Voters.
The “Doughboys are coming” was a WWI war cry as the Americans entered “The Great War” fighting for the Allied Forces with trench warfare in France in 1917.
1920 t
“Women and children first.”
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Americans had a strong feeling of isolationism and found it difficult to “choose sides” as the U.S. population included many people of English, French, and German ancestry. Woodrow Wilson made the decision to join the conflict in 1917.
The zipper was improved by the Swedish-American engineer, Gideon Sundbach, in 1913. Sundbach was also successful at selling his “Hookless 2.” Sundbach sold these fasteners to the US Army, which put zippers on soldiers’ clothing and gear during World War I.
1912 t
the book The Yanks Are Coming! by Tom Laemlein
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1913
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1912-1920
The Great War
Prohibition in the U.S. was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol [1920 to 1933]. Dubbed as “The Noble Experiment” Prohibition was repealed by the 21st Ammendment as cities like Chicago became haven for thousands of speakeasies and notorious gangsters, including Al Capone.
Boom | Summer 1922
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F Scott Fitgerald’s literary classic The Great Gatsby. t Cover of Life Magazine, How to do the Charleston, 2/18/1926 Illustration: John Held.
F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the phrase, “The Jazz Age” in The Great Gatsby to describe the flamboyant—“anything goes”—era that emerged in America after World War I.
s “The
1920s
1924
“Flapper” in the 1920s was a term applied to a “new breed” of progressive young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz and dropped their interest in sewing. Coco Chanel’s loose-fitting, garçonne look became “the much wanted” fashion of the day, which subsequently became known as the flapper look.
When radio became popular in the middle of the 1920s, the world changed. Staid marketers like Sears, Roebuck latched onto the new trend and remade themselves as the foremost purveyors of the new fad. This catalog was the first radiospecific catalog, family and socially oriented.
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The “Great Crash” of 1929 was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the U.S. The crash signaled the beginning of an over 15-year Depression.
1924 s ‘Modern’
Mary Brooks Pickens
Sewing techniques are still described today under the title “Sewing Secrets”. Mary Brooks Pickens, a sewing authority of the day contributed to this publication.
1927 t
Bust | October 1929
Crash” brought on “The Great Depression” that affected all Western industrialized countries and did not end in the U.S. until after WWII. Anyone who bought stocks in mid-1929 and held onto them saw most of his or her adult life pass by before getting back to even.
Simplicity Pattern company formed and offered 15 cent patterns. In the early 1940s, Simplicity embarked on a major sewing education program, by which traveling representatives, fashion shows, and educational literature were presented and disseminated across the country and their dress patterns soon found their way into many homes!
1921-1929
Boom &Bust
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Manufacturing Moves to the South
1932
s
1937
The structure in Austell [above left] has been preserved and converted into a mixed use space for government and private enterprise.
The first mill constructed in the southern U.S. was in Austell, Georgia. In honor of the Clark family, the Town of Austell was changed to Clarkdale. Mills were also added in Toccoa (1937 above right), Pelham (1943), Albany (1947), Thomasville (1947). The mill in Toccoa is still in operation in 2012.
1930s
The Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. Coupled with severe drought in the prairie region of the U.S. and Canada known as “The Dust Bowl,” a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage.
B
C
[A] The Dust Bowl was a phenomenon caused by severe drought coupled with decades of extensive farming without crop rotation. [B] “Migrant Mother” by Dorthea Lange. February 1936. [C] Feed sack dresses on schoolgirls, 1937. [D] A modern take on the feed sack [or flour sack] dress.
1931
1933
Art deco is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and jewelry, as well as the visual arts such as painting, graphic arts and film.
New York City’s 102-story landmark skyscraper Empire State Building opens to the public on May 1. It stood as the world’s tallest building for 40 years, from its completion in 1931. The Empire State Building is designed in the distinctive Art Deco style and has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
By the late 1920s, zippers on women’s clothing were already a fixture, but not until 1933 did they become common place as zippers began replacing buttons on men’s clothing, giving rise to the legion of jokes about the zipper. The embarrassing tendency of the zipper opening under pressure gave rise to the expression “your barn door is open” which means that your zip is open.
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1930s t
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1930-1939
The Great Depression
A
D
Sewing Returns 1930s
Back to Basics Market conditions were reversed by textile requirements of World War II. American women began to sew again to have garments, as well as for the therapeutic value during the trying times of war. The popularity of home sewing continued until the 1980’s when lower priced clothing was readily available and more women worked outside the home. t
Coats & Clark’s Education Bureau (today known as the Consumer & Education Department) produced many books and leaflets on sewing
Pattern and sewing machine companies encouraged women to sew fashion not just feed-sack aprons and dresses. Patterns brought the latest fashions to the masses and were part of the sewing renaissance.
1937
1939
Amelia Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer. She was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, among other awards. She disappeared in July of 1937 over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe.
Mary Brooks Picken publishes The Language of Fashion. Mary Brooks Picken was the American authority on domestic arts in her day. She wrote nearly 100 books on sewing, dressmaking, needle arts, and fashion, and wrote for many companies such as Singer and Coats & Clark.
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The Hindenburg disaster took place on May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. The disaster was the subject of Herbert Morrison’s recorded radio eyewitness report from the landing field, which was broadcast the next day.
were 35 fatalities of the 97 people on board, as well as one death among the ground crew.
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1937
t There
1933 t
1936
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1939-1945
Hope for Tomorrow America Hosts the World... The 1939 New York World’s Fair was billed as “Building the World of Tomorrow.” The fair emphasized new ideas especially in consumer goods such as the television [RCA Pavillion]. Like many other companies of the time, Coats & Clark commemorated the event. s Coats
& Clark becomes a national sponsor for the 4-H Club program. The John B. Clark “Get Acquainted Dance” was the highlight of National 4-H Club Congress for many years. Coats & Clark sponsored the Clothing & Textile project and also the national poster contest.
the New York World’s Fair, “Building The World of Tomorrow,” opened.
t The Grapes of Wrath [Released
1940] starring a young Henry Fonda directed by John Ford.
1941 t
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The film industry recognized the incredible connections it had with the American public. The cinema provided Americans “escape” from the realities of “The Great Depression” and during this time period, one half of Americans went to see movies on a weekly basis. This period is often called Hollywood’s Golden Age.
4-H Sponsor
1939-1940
s In April of 1939
1930s and 1940s
1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia.
“...a date which will live in infamy.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt December 7, 1941
Reality of War 1940s
...then America Fights in Another World Conflict In 1941 zippers went to war and were used in everything from Eisehower jackets to jungle hammocks, sleeping bags and airplane flaps. s In 1934 Crown
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The Army-Navy Production Award for Excellence in War Production was extended to embrace those plants and organizations which showed excellence in producing ships, weapons, and equipment. It was presented to the Spool Cotton Company as a distributor of Crown Zippers.
Fastener Company began manufacturing zippers. Zippers were seen as a natural adjunct to the thread industry and were distributed by the Spool Cotton Company along with Clark’s ONT and J & P Coats Thread. Crown became a division of Coats & Clark.
The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) was a pioneering organization of civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. The female pilots of the WASP would number 1,074, each freeing a male pilot for combat service and duties. The WASP flew over 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft.
Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. The term “Rosie the Riveter” was first used in 1942 in a song of the same name written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. The song became a national hit.
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1942 t
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1942
s The
upbeat, three-part harmony of the Andrews Sisters brightened the spirits of Americans at home and abroad.
1944
»
After being formed in 1941 in response to World War II, The United Service Organization centers were quickly established. Most centers offered recreational activities, such as holding dances and showing movies. The USO became mostly known for its live performances, and at its high point in 1944, the USO had more than 3,000 clubs, and curtains were rising on USO shows 700 times a day.
1945-1954
Post War Prosperity
1952
Official Name Change Complete integration was achieved in late 1952, when J. & P. Coats (The Spool Cotton Company) and The Clark Thread Co. merged and Coats & Clark, Inc. was formed.
famous Life magazine photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt [August 14, 1945]
August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allied forces, effectively ending World War II. Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day) was celebrated “as if joy had been rationed and saved up for the three years, eight months and seven days since Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941.”
1946
1951
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) was the first general-purpose electronic computer. When ENIAC was announced in 1946 it was heralded in the press as a “Giant Brain.” It was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory.
American television sitcom, I Love Lucy starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley bowed on October 15, 1951 on CBS. I Love Lucy was the most watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons, and was the first to end its run at the top of the Nielsen ratings.
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1945
t
t The
s Gloria
Ruth Gordon [Bolotsky] and Ester Gerston, two early programmers at work on the ENIAC.
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Your dresses should be tight enough to show you’re a woman and loose enough to show you’re a lady. —Edith Head 1950s
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Form and Fashion Coats & Clark followed trends in style and fashion as well as directions for making clothing and accessories to keep color ranges of thread and other sewing products up-to-date. With a Park Avenue office, the company had easy access to the latest fashion information.
Edith Head was the most famous costume designer in Hollywood. Head’s most influential creations included Bette Davis’ evening gown in ‘All About Eve’ and Audrey Hepburn’s shoulder-tied boatneck in ‘Sabrina’ [right]. Throughout her long career, she was nominated for 35 Academy Awards, including every year from 1948 through 1966, and won eight times – more Oscars than any other woman.
1954
1950s
Frank Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s. The idol of the “bobby soxers” had a comeback in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity.
Little films about believable characters begins the shift away from the big Hollywood Studio system. The rebel theme is prevalent in these movies. Examples include On the Waterfront (1954), The Wild One (1954), Rebel Without a Cause (1954) and Marty (1955).
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1954
t James
Edith Head and her 1954 Oscar Winner for Best Costume Design; Sabrina [below] t
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In the 1950s, women dressed to flatter their figures emphasizing their waists with fitted bodices and full skirts or snug fitting pencil skirts—all requiring advanced sewing skills.
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Dean [left] represents the alienated teen who is sickened by the hypocrisy and shallowness of the s1950s in Rebel Without a Cause starring Natalie Wood.
Winds of Change t
from the Education Bureau traveled to shows and educational events and taught consumer groups about Coats & Clark products. Georgia Textile Seminar; November, 1957
The Toccoa Mill, which covered 10 acres of land and 350,000 square feet was featured in Textile Age in February 1955
1955
Modernization A thread-finishing plant is constructed in Toccoa, Georgia in 1954 housing the world’s largest mercerizer machine. Mercerization is the process of passing a cotton thread throgh a caustic soda bath under controlled tension, passing through several rinses. This process increases the strength, luster, and dye affinity of cotton thread as well as improving its colorfastness.
1956
1957
Ray Kroc believed that the McDonalds’ formula was a ticket to success. He volunteered to franchise their restaurants for the owners. He returned to his home outside of Chicago with rights to set up McDonald’s restaurants throughout much of the U.S.
Elvis Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. He is often referred to as the “King of Rock and Roll.” Elvis appeared on television performing his chart-topping hits. His “provocative interpretations” of songs made him enormously popular—and controversial. He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956.
A poodle skirt is a wide swing felt skirt of a solid bold color displaying a design appliquéd to the fabric. The design was often a coiffed French poodle. Designed by Juli Lynne Charlot, it quickly became very popular with teenage girls, who wore them to sock hops. The poodle skirt remains one of the most memorable symbols of 1950s.
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McDonald’s restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, near Chicago, on April 15, 1955
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1955 t
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1955-1960
t Representatives
1954
J&P Coats and the Clark Thread Company officially became Coats & Clark. Prior to this, both companies sales functions had operated separately under the Spool Cotton Company. The partnership capitalized on the well known brands of the firm.
1950s and 1960s
1960s
“Barbie” Millicent Roberts is a fashion doll manufactured by Mattel, Inc. She made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959, Barbie’s Birthday. The original Barbie sold for $3. Fashions were sold separately priced from $1 to $5.
America’s love affair with the automobile continued as Drivein Theater’s peak popularity came in the late 1950s and early 1960s with some 4,000 drive-ins spreading across the United States. Among its advantages was the fact that a family with a baby could take care of their child while watching a movie, while teenagers with access to autos found drive-ins ideal for dates.
In 1960, nearly half of America’s population is under 18 years old. It’s a young society and the most affluent generation in U.S. history. The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called “The Sixties,” denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe. This “cultural decade” is more loosely defined than the actual decade, beginning around 1963 and ending around 1974.
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1959 t
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A fun promotional item was this spool holding one mile of thread.
» s Commercial
artist Harvey Ball is recognized as the earliest known designer of the smiley, which became an enduring and notable international icon of “The Sixties.”
Dual Duty Plus New fibers, fabrics and finishes, created a demand for a new thread. Coats & Clark, known for its reseach and development, created a new thread, Dual Duty Plus, which combined Polyester and cotton fibers. It was revolutionary in that unlike cotton thread, it could be used on natural or synthetic, knit or woven fabrics.
1962
The embodiment of the dashing bon vivant with a penchant for stiff drinks, pretty women and fast cars was the James Bond character first made famous by Sean Connery in the 1962 film Dr. No. The fictional British Spy was an icon during the Cold War years.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba on one side and the U.S. on the other. For thirteen days in October 1962 the world waited— seemingly on the brink of nuclear war. As a result, the two leaders set up a telephone ‘hotline’ between Moscow and Washington to talk directly in a crisis.
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Sean Connery as James Bond
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This British cartoon of October 29, 1962 shows Kennedy and Khrushchev arm-wrestling for power with the caption ‘OK Mr president, let’s talk.’
1963 t
1962 t
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1961-1964
The Turbulent Sixties
Jacqueline Kennedy became a symbol of fashion for women all over the world during JFK’s presidency and beyond. She retained fashion designer Oleg Cassini in the fall of 1960 to create an original wardrobe for her as First Lady. Cassini dressed her in many of her most iconic ensembles, including her Inauguration Day fawn coat and famous pillbox hats.
s Jackie Kennedy
inspired patterns
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s Coats
& Clark thread and zippers shared a color numbering system that helped easily match up notions when purchasing supplies for a sewing project [above]. As women entered the work force, Coats & Clark produced educational leaflets like “Time Saving Sewing” to help women keep sewing [right].
“...I have a dream”
1963
1964
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, . Kennedy was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Governor Connally and his wife in a Presidential motorcade. The event left a lasting impression on many Americans as “Where were you when you heard about Kennedy’s assassination” became a common topic of discussion.
The arrival of The Beatles in the U.S. marked the start of the British Invasion, February 7, 1964. The mop-topped ‘Fab Four’ ruled the 1960s known as ‘Beatlemania’ and was one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music.They came to be perceived as the embodiment of ideals of the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.
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“I Have a Dream” is a 17-minute speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on August 28, 1963. He called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. The speech, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.
known for her androgynous looks, large eyes, long eyelashes, thin build, and short hair. In 1966, she was named “The Face of 1966” by the Daily Express and voted British Woman of the Year.
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1963
s Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as “Twiggy” is an English model
s John Jr., on his third
birthday, rendered a final salute to his father.
1964 was the first model year of one the most famous automobiles ever built. On April 17, 1964, Ford premiered the Mustang at New York’s World Fair. Ford sold a groundbreaking 22,000 in the first day of sales. Mustang created the “pony car” class of
American automobiles—sports car-like coupes with long hoods and short rear decks— and gave rise to competitors such as GM’s Chevrolet Camaro, and Chrysler’s revamped Plymouth Barracuda.
t The Beatles February 9,
1965 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
»
1965-1969
Jet Age to Space Race
was the first US airline to begin jet service with the Boeing 707 from New York to Paris.
t Yves
Saint Laurent “Mondrian” inspired day dress, autumn 1965
Modern Mod is a subculture that originated in London, in the late 1950s and peaked in the early-tomid 1960s inspiring fashion, music and art.
1960s - 1970s
New Sewing Boom
Sewing was huge. In 1963 American women spent a record $1 billion on sewing. By 1974, 44 million women were sewing.
s “Edie” Sedgwick
was an American actress, socialite, and model. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol’s superstars. “The Girl of the Year” in 1965 and was dubbed an “It Girl.”
1967
1968
Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. He coined the widely used expression “15 minutes of fame.” It was during the 1960s that Warhol began his iconic works such as Campbell’s Soup Cans as well as paintings of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe.
“Flower Power” captured the iconic image of a young Vietnam War protester placing a flower in the barrel of a rifle held by a National Guardsman. The photo, shot by photojournalist Bernie Boston was taken during the Oct. 22, 1967, antiwar march on the Pentagon and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
The assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [April 4, 1968] in Memphis, TN, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy [June 5, 1968] in Los Angeles, CA, shocked the nation and the world.
s Andy Warhol‘s
1962 silkscreen print of movie star Marilyn Monroe.
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1960s t
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s Pan Am
1960s
s Dr. Martin Luther King [left] and
Senator Robert Kennedy at The White House [1963].
In 1958, British artist Gerald Holtom drew a circle with three lines inside, intending the design to be a symbol for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC). He then introduced it to the public at a DAC march on April 4. In Britain, the symbol became the emblem for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). In the 1960s, the symbol migrated to the United States and began to be used as a symbol for the peace movement.
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home sewing in its hayday in the 1960s, women sewed “goovy” clothes for the entire family
of Apollo 11. July 16, 1969
1969
1969
The number of American soldiers in Vietnam rose from 23,300 in 1963 to 184,000 in 1966. In January 1969 the total number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam reached its peak of 542,000. Despite this the U.S. Army was unable to subdue Vietnam. This was the first time in history that the USA has been defeated in a war (Korea was a draw).
“Woodstock” was a music festival, billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music.” The festival was held at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors in front of 500,000 concertgoers. It is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history.
The United States’s Apollo 11 space mission, manned by Buzz Aldrin [pictured] and Neil Armstrong, made their historic moonwalk on July 20,1969. There have been six manned landings (between 1969 and 1972) and numerous unmanned landings.
s The ‘Three Soldiers’ statue
at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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1969 t
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Coats & Clark’s mill in Toccoa, Georgia covered 360,000 square feet and possessed an outstanding package dye installation and state-of-the-art equipment for gassing, warping, mercerizing, winding and general engineering equipment. It included a cafeteria for employees, and a first aid department complete with a registered nurse on duty. Much of the facility was also airconditioned.
t Launch
“One small step for man...one giant leap for mankind”
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Hippies to Yuppies wooden spool was abandoned for a new metal spool. Dual Duty Plus became known as “the thread on the golden spool” to further emphasize its superior quality.
s The variety of fabrics
“Snuggie” was the 1970s Warm Sack
1970
Earth Day Earth Day was founded April 22, 1970. Many consider this date the birth of the modern environmental movement. The height of flowerchild culture and an energy crisis brought attention to more responsible treatment of the planet.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was an American TV sitcom that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. The program was a television breakthrough, with the first never-married, independent career woman as the central character. TIME stated that the show “liberated TV for adults—of both sexes” by being “a sophisticated show about grownups among other grownups, having grownup conversations.”
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1970 t
for home sewing in the 1970s included the “new” synthetics - polyester and double knit requiring new sewing techniques. The feminist movement and women entering the workforce meant not as many women were sewing clothing at home.
s The pre-cursor to the ever-popular
1970s
1974
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre’s popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia.
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, he gives his farewell speech [right] to members of his cabinet and staff in the East Room of the White House, following his resignation August 9, 1974.
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1970-1983
t To distinguish new Dual Duty Plus, the old
(Photo: REUTERS/STR New)
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1987
Sponsored Nascar Driver Dale Jarrett
Supermodels of the early 1980s: [from left to right] Paulina Porizkova, Renee Simonsen, Carol Alt, Nancy de weir, Joan Severance.
s
Hummel figurines are a series of highly collectable porcelain figurines based on the drawings of Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, O.S.F.
Original Hummel t
Coats & Clark created a commemorative racing thread pack in honor of the NASCAR Dale Jarrett sponsorship. He had hoped to have a trip to Victory Lane “all sewn up.”
The Quilting Bee, an original Hummel was created for Coats & Clark. Elements of the figurine include a J. & P. Coats thread cabinet, and skeins of Red Heart Yarn.
1982
1983
The 1979 (or second) oil crisis in the U.S. occurred in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Amid massive protests, the Shah of Iran fled his country and the Ayatollah Khomeini became the new leader of Iran. Protests severely disrupted the Iranian oil sector, with production being greatly curtailed. Long lines once again appeared at gas stations, just as they did in 1973.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed September as National Sewing Month “in recognition of the importance of home sewing to our nation.” This is the perfect month to get back to sewing and share your talents. Teach a child to sew, make a special gift for a friend or make a quilt for a favorite charity.
MTV is an American cable network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs. Madonna burst on the scene with her “self titled” debut album in 1983. She followed it with a series of albums that attained immense popularity by pushing the boundaries of imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV.
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1979 t
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t Music industry sales of Compact Discs [CDs] started to take off in 1983.
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Singer Stylist II Sewing Machine & Serger Set
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Simplicity Pattern [1990s]
1989
Dual Duty Plus became the most popular thread for sewing projects due to its quality and color range, which was continually updated based on fashion and home decorating trends.
1980s - 1990s
Innovative Inventions
May 3, 1984, Apple Computer announces that 70,000 “Macintosh 128K” computers shipped in the first 100 days since its announcement.
s Due
to the popularity of the 1980s prime time soap opera, McCalls released Nolan Miller’s Dynasty TV Collection, featuring stars Joan Collins [top] and Linda Evans.
1990s
The first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing around 1 kg. and in 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first to be commercially available. The personal computer, the Apple Macintosh was introduced with the TV commercial by Ridley Scott, “1984”, that aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII.
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the northwest American city of Seattle. Grunge became commercially successful in the first half of the 1990s, due mainly to the release of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” and Pearl Jam’s “Ten” which also influenced fashion of the day.
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1980s
s The
Motorola DynaTac 8000X.
t Dr. Martens
were the footwear choice of the Gen X Grungers.
1990s t
In the 1980s the Overlock Sewing machine introduced the home sewer to a new concept in sewing. These machines stitched, trimmed, and overcast all in one operation. Suddenly, the home sewer needed larger cones of thread for the new Sergers.
t s On
Simplicity Pattern [1985]
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1984-2012
Late 20th Century
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The World Wide Web enabled the spread of information over the Internet through an easy-to-use and flexible format. It thus played an important role in the creation of “social networking” that would become popular in the next decade.
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Simplicity Pattern [2000s]
Millenium and Beyond 2008
Coats & Clark ...now and for the next 200 years
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Dual Duty XP was launched in 2008. It is this ability to diversify and adapt to modern needs of the times that makes Coats & Clark an innovator . The sense of pride in quality that has endured for the Coats & Clark name has secured its position as the thread industry leader.
2012
rah Sperber has used over 300,000 spools of Coats & Clark Dual Duty Threads in her thread works. When she began in 1999, she chose Coats & Clark in order to get just the right color for her masterpieces and continues to use Coats & Clark today.
Over 200 years of commitment to quality, selection and innovation has made Coats & Clark the thread company to trust for generations. Share your sewing story to pass along to the next generation of sewers and quilters.
2011
The Y2K issue was a major topic of discussion in the late 1990s and, predictably, showed up in most popular media. A number of “Y2K disaster” books were published such as Deadline Y2K by Mark Joseph. Movies such as Y2K: Year to Kill capitalized on the currency of Y2K, as did numerous TV shows, comic strips, and computer games.
The September 11 attacks in 2001 ultimately led to the United States, United Kingdom and other nations invading and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as implementing various anti-terrorist measures at home and abroad in what was known as the War on Terror.
Lady Gaga is certainly known for her eyepopping, always-evolving style, and she has shown her passion for fashion at numerous high-profile events. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Diane von Fürstenberg [CFDA President] presented the pop star with the Fashion Icon Award.
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2001
s President Obama and President Bush visit the
national 9/11 Memorial on September 11, 2011 to honor those killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993.
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s Mona Lisa 8
Devorah Sperber, 2012
2012
2000 t
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