Wartime Fashions- Utility Clothing, 1942 D10727

Utility Clothes- Fashion Restrictions in Wartime Britain, 1943 D14837

Utility Clothing Display at Bury Art Museum

The Utility Clothing Scheme was a

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

scheme introduced in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. In response to the shortage of clothing materials and labour due to wartime austerity, the Board of Trade sponsored the creation of ranges of "utility clothing" meeting tight regulations regarding the amount of material and labour allowed to be used in their construction. Utility clothing, and later

utility furniture Utility furniture was furniture produced in the United Kingdom during and directly after World War II. The furniture was produced under a government scheme which was designed to cope with raw material shortages and Rationing in the United Kingdom, ...

, was marked with the CC41 tag. In spite of its austere specifications, utility clothing designs were commissioned from leading fashion designers including

Hardy Amies Sir Edwin Hardy Amies KCVO (17 July 1909 – 5 March 2003) was an English fashion designer, founder of the Hardy Amies label and a Royal Warrant holder as designer to the Queen. Early life Hardy Amies was born Edwin Amies on 17 July 1909 in ...

Norman Hartnell Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell, KCVO (12 June 1901 – 8 June 1979) was a leading British fashion designer, best known for his work for the ladies of the royal family. Hartnell gained the Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth in 1940, and ...

and other members of the

Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers The Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers (also known as IncSoc, Inc Soc and ISFLD) was a membership organisation founded in 1942 to promote the British fashion and textile industry and create luxury couture to sell abroad for the war ...

Utility clothing

During the war, the government took control of supplies of raw materials for manufacturing utility garments. They imposed regulations that took into consideration the economic condition of the country. Conserving raw materials such as

cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...

etc. was advisable because of limited supplies. Manufacturers had their quota to produce utility clothing which was 85% of the total production. The Board of Trade allowed the 15% left for the garment industry to create non-utility clothing by meeting the style required in the regulations. The

garment Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

industry was encouraged to produce limited stocks in order to sustain the needs of civilians and reduce the choices available to buyers and to maintain an essential quantity of garments. Utility garments were liable to price control to be sold at low prices so that civilians could afford an outfit of reasonable quality. Utility clothing continued into children's wear, which also had the same CC41 label. In spite of regulations and the limitation of raw materials, manufacturers and the garment industry created a variety of styles and colours of Utility clothing of satisfactory quality.

Utility shoes

Utility women's shoes were chunky and solid. They had wedges or low, heels. Open-toed shoes were prohibited as impractical and unsafe.

Details of CC41

Examples of details of restriction orders when making utility dresses: a dress could have no more than two pockets, five buttons, six

seams Seam may refer to: Science and technology * Seam (geology), a stratum of coal or mineral that is economically viable; a bed or a distinct layer of vein of rock in other layers of rock * Seam (metallurgy), a metalworking process the joins the en ...

in the skirt, two inverted or box pleats or four knife pleats, and of stitching. No superfluous decoration was allowed. It should be simple, practical, agreeable-looking, inexpensive and made of good material.

References

External links

* *{{cite web , url=https://www.candysays.co.uk/blogs/vintage-blog/6678856-cc41-utility-clothing-of-the-1940s , title=CC41 - Utility Clothing of the 1940s , last=Crawford , first=Dawn , date=23 August 2012 , website=Candysays.co.uk
A brief history of CC41 - The Utility Clothing Scheme with examples.
It's Beyond My Control Austerity in the United Kingdom (1939–1954) United Kingdom home front during World War II 1940s fashion