Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Clothing trade
(825 words)

In most late medieval and early modern European towns, the clothing trade, measured by employment, was the second largest sector after the building trade. A large number of tailors, knitters, weavers, hatmakers and capmakers, ribbon weavers (cf. Ribbon weaving), secondhand dealers, seamstresses, etcetera, served the needs of consumers. The extent and structure of the clothing trade varied according to place and time. While the late medieval sources on the countryside still hardly mention tailors at all, the change in rural living standards in the 17th/18th centurie…

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Deceulaer, Harald, “Clothing trade”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_017465>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



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