SIC 2342 Brassieres, Girdles, and Allied Garments
SIC 2342
Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing brassieres, girdles, corsets, corset accessories, and allied garments are included in this industry.
315212
Women's and Girls' Cut and Sew Apparel Contractors
315231
Women's and Girls' Cut and Sew Lingerie, Loungewear, and Nightwear Manufacturing
After a nice stretch of years with steady gains, U.S. sales of brassieres, girdles, and allied garments reached a plateau in the early 2000s. Prior to this stale period, bra sales rose by 50 percent in the last half of the 1990s, compared with 20 percent for the apparel industry as a whole. The introduction of new lines of sports bras contributed to this increase. However, the weakened economic conditions of the early 2000s reversed the modest gains and steadied the market. By 2005 the intimate apparel industry was worth $9.6 billion (based on a report by The NPD Group) representing an increase from 2003 sales of $8.5 billion per an annual industry report from DSN Retailing Today. Based on several factors, none with a dispositive effect, this industry seemed to weather the 2005 quota eliminations with more ease than other apparel industries and appears to be in the early stages of an upswing.
In the early years of the twenty-first century, increasing bra sales made this segment one of the most dynamic in the apparel industry. Although traditional styles remained the strongest seller, the sales of sports bras were growing at a fast clip. Innovation in fabrics and the creation of styles and sizes to fit individual women was one of the reasons for the increase.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 6,476 establishments operated in this category for part or all of 2004. Industry-wide employment totaled approximately 83,448 workers receiving a payroll of more than $1.5 billion. Companies in this industry tended to be smaller in size with nearly 83 percent employing less than 20 workers while only about 3 percent have greater than 500 employees. The Annual Survey of Manufactures reported that for the industry—which is included under the larger heading of women's and girls' cut and sew apparel manufacturing along with the cut and sew apparel contractors—the 2005 value was at nearly $12.0 billion, an decrease from the 2004 total of nearly $12.9 billion. Additionally, for the overall industry a total of 87,482 employees worked in production in 2005 (of 115,655 employees), putting in nearly 165 million hours to earn wages of more than $1.6 billion. The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics showed significant losses (140,000 jobs) in expected employment for the cut and sew apparel manufacturing industry as a whole by 2014 after enormous losses (484,000 jobs) were experienced from 1994 to 2004; a minimal decrease (2.9 percent average annual rate of change) is anticipated in output between 2004 to 2014.
Dun & Bradstreet reported in 2006 that the industry's estimated 179 establishments posted annual sales of nearly $1.9 billion with about 7,461 employees. New York led with nearly $827 million in sales followed by New Jersey with nearly $229 million in sales and Connecticut with nearly $225 million in sales. Comprised of seven different specialties, the primary segment was brassieres (nearly $973 million in sales) with bras, girdles, and allied garments trailing with nearly $704 million in sales.
The first bra was developed in France in 1889 by the corset maker Herminie Cadolle. Designed to replace the restrictive whalebone corsets that stylish women of the time were forced to wear, the bra supported a woman's breasts without constricting her diaphragm. Americans were introduced to the bra during the 1910s, the Flapper Era, when the ideal woman's silhouette was slim and boyish. An undergarment that would flatten a woman's breasts was a perfect accompaniment to the straight-cut, form-fitting flapper dress preferred by suffragettes and stylish debutantes in Europe.
The style was brought back to America, and in 1913 New York socialite Caresse Crosby (actual name Mary Phelps-Jacobs) designed a brassiere out of two handkerchiefs and silk ribbons. The patent for her design was registered in 1914. Shortly thereafter, it was purchased by the Connecticut-based Warner's Brothers Corset Company for $1,500. Warner's, previously a corset company, became one of the first American manufacturers of the bra. Other companies followed, including the now-defunct Boyshform, whose name encompassed everything the new bra was supposed to do.
Until the 1930s, the bra was more or less a one-size-fits-all product. Because of the manly styles of the 1920s, women did not want to emphasize the size or shape of their breasts; rather, they tried to conceal them. In the Depression era, however, fashion designers began to emphasize women's feminine form once again. Warner's introduced bras with fitted cups, ranging from A (small) to D (large) size, in 1935; other manufacturers quickly followed suit.
The rages of fashion shifted all the way from the World War I boyish look epitomized by the flappers, to the very womanly figure of such pinup girls as Betty Grable and Jane Russell during World War II. Even though the fabrics used to make bras and girdles—silk, cotton, and rubber—were reserved for the war effort, designers still found ways to manufacture bras and girdles that emphasized the curvaceous look favored by sweater girls and soldier boys.
Anecdotal evidence claimed that Howard Hughes's aeronautics firm once designed a bra for Jane Russell, star of the 1943 movie classic The Outlaw....
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