Clothing Industry
In Canada, the clothing industry consists of companies that make consumer and industrial clothing as well as uniforms. These companies cut and sew fabrics, process the fibres into garments and finish them for sale.
In Canada, the apparel industry consists of companies that make consumer and industrial clothing as well as uniforms. These companies cut and sew fabrics, process the fibres into garments and finish them for sale.
Clothing industry
In Canada, the apparel industry consists of companies that make consumer and industrial clothing as well as uniforms. These companies cut and sew fabrics, process the fibres into garments and finish them for sale. The main branches of this industry include men's, women's and children's clothing, FUR articles, underwear, gloves, hats and caps, hosiery and knitted goods.
The mechanisation of the garment industry began in 1775 with the invention of the sewing machine. In 1846, Elias Howe obtained the patents in the United States. Mass production began during the American Civil War, when large numbers of blue or grey military uniforms were needed to distinguish between allies and enemies. In Canada, the new production industry took shape with the increasing improvement of machinery and the arrival of skilled American workers.
Tailors and seamstresses had been making clothing in Canada since the time of Samuel de Champlain, but when mass production methods were developed in the United States, they quickly adopted them, and local artisans became entrepreneurs. Their factories were located in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg, where IMMIGRANT LABOUR and local women's labour were plentiful.
The first garment company in the country to do everything from cutting to sewing in-house was the men's high fashion house of Livingstone and Johnston (founded in Toronto in 1868), later known as W.R. Johnston & Co. It became a subsidiary of Tip Top Tailors, which later became part of Dylex Ltd. a Toronto-based conglomerate that operated across Canada in MANUFACTURING and RETAIL TRADE.