Inadequate supply and increasing demand for textiles and clothing: second‐hand trade at auctions as an alternative source of consumer goods in Sweden, 1830–1900

Abstract

Drawing on a study of historical national accounts and statistics, this article shows that a growing supply of mass-consumption textiles and clothing in Sweden during industrialization did not fully meet increasing demand. As a result, high demand for second-hand items remained even at the turn of the twentieth century. Records from a local auction house from 1830 to 1900 show that, even in the 1880s, more affluent urban consumers were still active on the second-hand market. Thereafter, they turned to the market for new goods, while potential demand from labourers and servants continued to be provided for by the second-hand market. Mechanization meant that more items entered this market. It changed the range and quality of objects available, consequently affecting the attractiveness of second-hand textiles and clothing. After the 1870s, falling and converging prices can be discerned, while more durable fabrics largely retained their value. We conclude that the consumer revolution (in a broader sense) had by this stage gained a foothold among ordinary Swedish urban households. The auction trade was part of a democratization of consumption. The general lesson is that understanding mass consumption requires research not only into second-hand consumption, but also into different regional settings.B efore low-cost cotton textiles and industrial production of ready-made clothes paved the way for mass consumption, textiles and clothes accounted for a large part of household budgets. 1 Making textiles and clothes and taking care of them were time-consuming and often trying tasks for households. These objects were also expensive to acquire on the market. As a consequence, objects were passed on, altered, or remade, and, when threadbare, turned into rags and recycled as paper, blankets, or rag rugs. 2 This meant that textiles and clothing had second-hand value.Mechanization of production, together with expanding distribution networks and marketplaces, resulted in falling prices. This made textiles and clothing more affordable and easier to buy for a majority of the population. Over time, home * Authors' Affiliations: Kristina Lilja, Uppsala University; Pernilla Jonsson, Stockholm University. † We are grateful to the editors, three anonymous referees, Dan Bäcklund, and Ylva Sjöstrand for excellent comments. The article was written as part of the project 'Savings in the wardrobe-changes in the value and life cycle of clothes, 1790-1910' (P2014-0034) financed by the Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation.

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“…The demand for second-hand items was still high even in the early 20th century. Prices fell and converged from the 1870s onwards, with more durable fabrics retaining their value [12]. Sheilagh.…”