NewHavenBIZ

50 n e w h a v e n B I Z | M a r c h / A p r i l 2 0 1 9 n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m T H E L O O P Laying the foundation (garment) By Michael C. Bingham A R C H I V E E ons before body-slenderiz- ing Spanx was a twinkle in some marketer's eye, there were foundation garments, or (more honestly) girdles, implements of torture with names like the Incredible Shaper, Skinny Waist, the igh Tamer and the Tummy Termina- tor, which promised to give a lady a 19-inch waist that even a wasp would, well, sting for. Today a smoothie is a fruity frozen potable. But back in the day Smooth- ie was a top- of-the-line girdle man- ufactured by New Haven's Strouse, Adler Co. e company was founded in 1861 as J.H. Smith & Co., and was the nation's first manufacturer of corsets. e busi- ness was purchased the following year by Isaac Strouse, who took on Max Adler, a local dry goods retailer, as a partner. e company adopted the name Strouse, Adler in 1899. e production of corsets and undergarments was a major indus- try in Connecticut for a century — from the time of the Civil War until the 1960s, when second-wave feminism began to change societal attitudes and cultural norms about women's fashion and bodies. e industry's growth was fueled by the availability of mass-pro- duced textiles developed during the Industrial Revolution as well as the development of practical sewing machines. By the 1890s New Haven was the nation's largest producer of the garments. Strouse, Adler's corsets were in high demand among women who wanted to achieve the hourglass figure so popular from the mid- 19th century to the early 20th century. e famous C/B corset a la Spirite was able to give most women a waist measuring between 18 and 22 inches. e company's foundation garments sold for $1.25 to $2.50, which made them affordable for most women. e 150,000-square-foot factory at Olive and Court streets hummed with activity for most of its history. But it was not exactly Valhalla for those who worked there. Stitchers earned about $5 a week, and the company required them to supply their own needles and thread from the company store — at a cost of about $2 a week. Strouse, Adler remained finan- cially successful through most of the 20th century, despite a decline in popularity of corsets, by introducing lighter-weight fabrics and materials, and manufacturing other types of foundation garments. Strouse Adler was acquired in 1998 by Sara Lee, and the plant was shuttered. A final irony is that the corset king was in the end taken over by a company whose products are the mortal enemy of the 19-inch waist. n That's gotta hurt: A mid-20th-century Smoothie girdle. For nearly a century Strouse, Adler was one of the largest corset and girdle manufacturers in the world.

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