Fashion beyond gloves
MAY 2023
This Pinkham blouse made in the early 1960s turned up in a charity shop in Huddersfield and then laid in a bedroom drawer in Harrogate for ten years before finding its way home to the Pinkham collection earlier this year. Given its ‘camouflage’ look, for a sixty-year-old garment it could be said to have been ahead of its time.
This is a rare find and stands out for many reasons: It is a salesman’s sample which would have been shown to prospective buyers by a travelling Pinkham salesman or agent. This is why it has a paper label sewn into the inside of the front placket and has various details written on it in pencil. It has never been worn or washed and is in ‘as new’ condition.
A separate label on the inside of the collar attached to the Pinkham label highlights the trade name of the ‘new’ acrylic yarn Courtelle that the fabric that it is made from and ‘with cool iron’.
It also has a retailer’s label Tall Girl Piccadilly which would have shown off the company’s ability to provide an additional feature for a prospective buyer.
Blouses were made between 1962 and 1964 as the company attempted to diversify in the face of a shrinking glove market and competition from the Far East.
An advert for a Pinkham blouse can be seen at pinkhamgloves.co.uk/media-adverts