History of American Fashion Statistics
By the Numbers
Overview and Just-for-Fun
Number of patents issued in the United States for sewing-related machines and accessories between 1840 and 1875: over 7,00055
The average annual income of an American family with one child during World War I: $1,50568
Average portion of that income spent on clothing for the family: $23869
Percentage of American companies that allowed business casual dress for all employees in 1998: 97%82
Percentage of American companies that allowed business casual dress by employees in 2000: 87%83
Women Workers
Number of American Women Employed for Wages
1880: 2,647,15756
1890: 4,005,53258
1910: 8,075,77260
Proportion of All Females Over Age Ten Employed for Wages
1880: 14.69%57
1890: 17.40%59
1910: 18.10%61
Percentage of Women with Annual Incomes (1939)
Below $100: 23%71
Between $100 and $999: 56%72
Between $1,000 and $4,999: 17.4%73
Number of Women Employed in U.S. Clothing Factories
1890: 237,27062
1920: 265,64363
The Rise of the American Fashion Industry
The Undergarment Industry
Cost of a breast supporter in the Sears, Roebuck catalog in 1917: 98¢64
Cost of brassieres from the G. M. Poix Company in the 1910s: $1.50 to $4.5065
Cost of brassieres from the Model Brassiere Company of New York in 1915: 50¢ to $7.5066
Number of brassiere brands on the U.S. market in 1918: 5267
Fixed wages for brassiere and corset industry workers, as fixed by the National Recovery Act in 1933: $14 per week, or 35¢ per hour for 40 hours70
Total intimate apparel retail sales in the United States in 1954: $828 million76
Percentage of intimate apparel sales produced by New York-based companies in 1954: over 60%77
Number of U.S. undergarment workers in 1954: 112,23478
Percentage of undergarment workers employed in New York in 1954: 35%79
Number of U.S. undergarment workers in 2002: 11,85680
Total intimate apparel retail sales in the United States in 2002: $12 billion81
American Jeans Market
Percentage of the American jeans market absorbed by Wrangler, Lee, Rider and Rustler brands in 1996: 30%94
Percentage absorbed by Levi Strauss in 1996: 19%95
Percentage absorbed by high-end, designer jeans made by Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and others in 1996: 15%96
Decline in Levi's sales after the designer jean boom, from 1996 to 2007: over 40%97
Levi Strauss & Co.
Gross revenue in 1995: $6.7 billion87
Net revenue in 1995: over $700 million88
2002 hourly salary of an American factory worker who sewed zippers in Levi's jeans: $1489
The Fashion Industry on a Global Scale
2002 Hourly Salary of Apparel Workers
In Guatemala: 37¢90
In China: 28¢91
In Nicaragua: 23¢92
In Bangladesh: 13-20¢93
Total U.S. Apparel Imports
1989: $24.5 billion84
2001: $63.8 billion85
Percentage of all apparel sold in the U.S. during the last quarter of 2001 that was imported: 83%86
Americans Employed in Apparel Manufacturing
1950: 1.2 million74
2001: 566,00075
Free Trade
Percentage increase in dressing-gown imports to the U.S. from China from 2000 to 2003: 1,484%100
Percentage increase in cotton knit shirts, blouses and cotton trouser imports to the U.S. from China from 2004 to 2005: more than 1,000%101
Percentage increase in man-made fiber underwear imports to the U.S. from China from 2004 to 2005: more than 300%102