SIC 2342
BRASSIERES, GIRDLES, AND ALLIED GARMENTS

Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing brassieres, girdles, corsets, corset accessories, and allied garments are included in this industry.

NAICS Code(s)

315212 (Women's and Girls' Cut and Sew Apparel Contractors)

315231 (Women's and Girls' Cut and Sew Lingerie, Loungewear, and Nightwear Manufacturing)

Industry Snapshot

As the twentieth century came to a close, U.S. sales of brassieres, girdles, and allied garments far exceeded apparel sales. 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 2000 were reflected in the value of total lingerie and nightwear shipments, which fell from $4.07 billion to $3.68 billion. The number of industry employees declined from 20,348 to 17,651.

Background and Development

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 an ideal 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 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 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...

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