When and where was 'off-the-peg' clothing in standard sizes (if only of overcoats in the first instance) first produced and sold, and is the identity of the entrepreneur (or inventor) in question known?

lanfranco

Bloomsby, this site may answer some of your questions, though it concerns the U.S. and not the U.K. I might add that hired seamstresses were making blouses in sweatshops in both countries prior to and up through the Edwardian era, at least, so there must have been some form of standardization during that period, however primitive, before industry guidelines were established. http://museum.nist.gov/exhibits/apparel/history.htm Jun 06 05, 8:07 AM

bloomsby

Many thanks, lanfranco. In the meantime I've done some more searching on the web, and it seems that Berlin claims it as a Berlin invention dating from the late 1830s. This link is to a much longer article in German, but see the last two paragraphs: http://www.berlinstreet.de/geschichte/konfektion.shtml Here's another link: http://www.luise-berlin.de/lexikon/mitte/k/Konfektionsviertel.htm Jun 06 05, 12:35 PM