June 1, 1941 – Beginning of Clothing Rationing During WWII

The British Imperial War Museum website points out that when Britain entered WWII, about a quarter of the population needed to be in uniform:

This increased demand for uniforms put enormous pressure on Britain’s textile and clothing industries. Both raw materials and labour had to be directed away from civilian production to ensure that the demand could be met for uniforms and the many other military uses of fabric, from tarpaulin to tyre components.”

Thus the British government decided to put a check on the production and consumption of civilian clothes to reserve raw materials, workers, and factory space for war production. In 1939 the British Government passed the Price of Goods Act, giving the Board of Trade the power to fix maximum prices on a number of items including clothing. In so doing, it laid the foundation for what would eventually become the extensive system of price and quality control that was “the Utility scheme.”

As Amanda Durfee reports in “Utility Futility: Why the Board of Trade’s Second World War Clothing Scheme Failed to Become a Fashion Statement,” Penn History Review, Vol 25, Issue 2, 2019, online here, in 1941, the announcement of the decision to ration clothes on June 1, 1941 came as a complete surprise both to the press and to the public:

The launch of clothes rationing occurred so suddenly, however, that shoppers initially had to use margarine coupons in place of those designated specifically for clothes because the clothing coupon booklets had not yet been printed. Eventually, each citizen received sixty-six annual ration coupons (a figure that fluctuated dramatically throughout the war), along with a booklet explaining the uses and restrictions of those coupons.”

A British Imperial War Museum history of WWII clothing rationing explains that the rationing scheme worked by allocating each type of clothing item a ‘points’ value which varied according to how much material and labor went into its manufacture. For example, 11 coupons were needed for a dress, two needed for a pair of stockings, and eight coupons required for a man’s shirt or a pair of trousers. Every adult was initially given an allocation of 66 points to last one year, but this allocation shrank as the war progressed. 

Via Imperial War Museum website

The U.S. also had a clothing rationing program, because of the need for some materials deemed necessary for military success, including wool and nylon.

The Library of Congress records that “General Limitation Order L-85” issued on April 8, 1942, placed limitations on feminine apparel. The order specified the amount of fabric that could be used to create a garment and listed the measurements for feminine apparel items. Interestingly, what seemed to hit women the hardest was the rationing of nylon:

Throughout the 1930s, silk stockings were a staple in women’s fashion. With the outbreak of World War II and growing animosity with Japan, however, citizens wanted to reduce their reliance on silk as 90 percent of silk used in the United States was imported from Japan. Nylon became the new stocking material of choice and was quickly loved by women throughout the country. When the new stockings were released in stores in May 1940, four million pairs sold out in two days and thousands of women flocked to their nearest department store.

Unfortunately, nylon was soon reallocated into parachutes, ropes, and netting manufacturing for the war. Shorter hemlines under Regulation L-85 meant that women had to cover up, but without their beloved nylon stockings, women had to get creative. Instead, they turned to the next best thing: makeup. Women would paint their legs with foundation to give the illusion of nylon stockings, including drawing a ‘seam’ on the back of their legs to complete the deception. Special devices were created to simplify the process and department stores even had ‘leg makeup bars’ where women could have their nylons painted on by a professional makeup artist.”

Women did not lose affection for nylon stockings over the course of the war. The Library of Congress reports:

By the time rationing was over, women could not wait to get their hands on real nylon stockings once again. 1946 saw intense “Nylon Riots” in cities such as Pittsburgh, where more than 30,000 women rushed to buy their favorite accessory.”

In this picture, David H. Young, Agriculture Department fabric technician, is shown examining one of the cotton stockings which they are trying to popularize. Harris & Ewing, photographer. July 26, 1941. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.