COLLARS AND CUFFS, Manufacture of. The collar trade, a distinct and important branch of the °gent's furnishing" industry, originated at Troy, N. Y., about 1825, when the wife of a blacksmith conceive.d the idea of making the first detachable collar. Prior to that time shirts had always been made with the collars and cuffs attached to them. The de tachable collar soon became extremely popular, and, in 1829, Rev. Ebenezer Brown, who had retired from the Methodist ministry to estab lish a dry goods store in Troy, opened a small collar factory.
As this branch of Mr. Brown's business in creased very rapidly it was not long before he had several imitators. Somewhat prior to 1834 Montague & Granger erected a still larger fac tory and devoted it to this industry. About a year later Independence Stark began to make collars in quantities, and, about 1837, he opened an establishment for the laundering of collars, both his own and other manufacturer's make. This was the first "Troy Laundry," a name which is now known from one end of the land to the other. In these days, collars were known as "String Collars," because they were then tied around the neck by means of a string at tached to each end. They were worn with the old-fashioned stock tie.
The manufacture of detachable cuffs began in 1845. When in 1851 Nathaniel Wheeler, of the firm of Wheeler & Wilson, attempted to introduce his new sewing machine into the col lar and cuff business, the makers laughed at him for his presumption in declaring that his invention would enable them to produce as good collars and cuffs at a cheaper cost than any human agency could sew them. Among all the Troy- manufacturers only one, Jefferson Gardner, was willing to give the machine a trial. His experience was so satisfactory that within 12 months the other factories were supplied with similar machines, and one of the manufacturers, W. O. Edson, of the firm of Bennett & Edson, was operating them by means of steam power.
The second great invention to which the amazing growth of the collar.and cuff industry is so largely due was the introduction of the button-hole sewing machine, in 1875.
A single collar will often pass through 25 different operations, each of which requires the attention of an expert in his particular line of the trade. The designing of patterns is also ex pert work and there are sometimes many pat terns for a single collar, each ply being cut to a different measure.
It is an extremely difficult matter to secure anything like reliable statistics relating to the collar and cuff industry, because, as an Industry, i it is of such recent origin that it was not hon ored with a separate classification in any United State census report prior to that of 1900. More over, as the making of collars and cuffs is carried on conjointly with the making of shirts by many of the big manufacturers, it is not easy to make a satisfactory arrangement of such data as may be obtainable. Of the sta tistics published, however, those of the cen sus bureau have met with the most favorable reception.
According to these figures, the total value of the collar and cuff product of the United States for the year ending June 1910 was $17,230,450. In the last census year no less than 22,000,000 dozen collars and cuffs were made in the United States, of which more than 17,000,000 dozen were made in Troy, while of the 12,421 workmen who depended upon this in dustry for their support, those who resided in Troy received over $4,000,000 in wages out of the total amount of wages paid in this industry in the United States, $4,912,316. The importance of the industry to the city of Troy is further indicated by the fact that, according to the same census reports, the collar and cuff fac tories located there represent more than 31 per cent of the combined industrial interests of the city.