2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

kiwisavings

Sarahspangles said:
As it’s about the amount of fabric, that sounds right. But I’m not sure what you do about jeggings!

I geeked out on this and went and weighed some of my clothes:
leggings 200g
jeggings 350g
jeans 500g

As jeggings are midway in the amount (weight) of the fabric, perhaps they could be 4 coupons? This would be halfway between leggings (2 coupons) and jeans (6 coupons).  

Thanks Cherry Fudge for the cat hair/dog hair knitting thread

Nelliegrace

Perhaps jeggings could count as wool stockings?

kiwisavings

Nelliegrace: That's interesting about how early on in the war that silk stockings were no longer able to be sold.

On Youtube, I've found some clips on rationing and make do and mend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9wNJ78S2GY&t=443s
An American commentator (who sounds surprisingly British to my Kiwi ears)  looks at the effects of rationing on the people of England in 1944. Both food and clothes rationing. As it is 1944 there is a mention of 24 clothing coupons for 6 months and the daughter said that 2 coupons went for towels.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4S4Yx7p3NI  
British Pathe 1941 on clothes rationing - a bit quirky. Not sure what the reference to margarine coupons is about.

Has anyone else found any other similar videos?

diminua

@kiwisavings - clothes rationing was announced and brought in very quickly and over a public holiday, I imagine to stop people stockpiling. But that meant people didn't have coupon books for clothes, so they were told to use the margarine ones in their food ration books instead. 

Edited to add: I think that narrator in the first clip is speaking what was called the mid-atlantic accent. Not anyone's natural accent, but specifically for broadcasting. 

kiwisavings

diminua said:

@kiwisavings - clothes rationing was announced and brought in very quickly and over a public holiday, I imagine to stop people stockpiling. But that meant people didn't have coupon books for clothes, so they were told to use the margarine ones in their food ration books instead. 

Edited to add: I think that narrator in the first clip is speaking what was called the mid-atlantic accent. Not anyone's natural accent, but specifically for broadcasting. 

Thanks for explaining the margarine coupons being used for clothes, makes sense if the rollout was quick!

The info about the accent is interesting, in New Zealand all broadcasters spoke in Received Pronunciation (Queen's English) until the 1980s - broadcasters now sound like Kiwis

Cherryfudge

If you look at the top film about 7 mins 6 secs in, it gives a coupon value for bras of just 1 coupon... have we perhaps been overcharging, or did the coupon value of some items vary over the war?

Really interesting films, thanks.

kiwisavings

Cherryfudge said:

If you look at the top film about 7 mins 6 secs in, it gives a coupon value for bras of just 1 coupon... have we perhaps been overcharging, or did the coupon value of some items vary over the war?

Really interesting films, thanks.

The top film from 1944 cited coupons values that are mostly different from the values that the 1941 clothing rationing announcement had. So not sure if they had changed by then or were misstated in the film???

The 1941 film matched up with the values that we use on this forum (and I can pretend that I didn't see that they have bras as 3 coupons) 

PipneyJane

Excellent videos @kiwisavings

The first video is definitely made for an American audience. (Saying “candy” - not “sweets” - and pricing everything in cents is the give-away re the audience). The narrator is either American or Canadian, not British.  The way she says Birmingham, with the emphasis on the last syllable, is her giveaway sign.  (Brits say Birmingham, with the emphasis on the first syllable.).  If she’d been British, her accent would definitely have been Received Pronunciation (RP)

The 2 coupons towards towels was the choice of that particular household, not compulsory.  Obviously they’d worn out a lot of their towels during the war and needed to replace them.

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

The IWM states that in 1944, for a period covering 8 months only 24 coupons were issued, equivalent to 36 per annum, in lieu of our 66 coupons in our '1942'. 
Annoyingly, there doesn't seem to be a definitive list anywhere of exactly what was issued when and whether coupon amounts changed but my understanding has always been that only ONE list was issued, in 1941, and that remained right through until clothes rationing was lifted in, iirc, 1949. After all, it's not as if the amount of materials, time and labour required to make a bra or pyjamas changed significantly! Prices may have changed, but the clothing still needed materials, time and labour, which could more usefully be used for the war effort. 

I think it's interesting to see how we consider things, individually and as a group, such as free coupons for nylons, or jeggings being between jeans and stockings, or making plastic-fibres the same coupon-cost as natural fibres when originally they were less- but I also think we need to be wary of creating too many work-around tricks and tips... for one thing, immensely confusing for anyone joining new! But also, I think part of the charm of the group is the group effort, derived from the real wartime situation. 
As I always say, everyone has their own lines and their own reasons for not crossing those lines (or trying not to...!)- for me, a big factor is pollution, so I won't take any free coupons because for me, the point is to try to manage on an allowance that actually people did manage on for almost a decade... for others, it's about money (which is the purpose of the entire MSE forum!), and for others it's about space and storage in their overfull homes... 


https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/8-facts-about-clothes-rationing-in-britain-during-the-second-world-war#:~:text=The rationing scheme worked by,about the complex rationing system.

Nelliegrace

There were people who could afford to stock up on clothes and household linens before purchase tax was introduced in February 1941, the old stock was sold off at pretax prices. There were already shortages as fabric for making items for sale to the public was reduced to a third of 1939 amounts as it was needed for the war effort. 
Clothes rationing started on 1st June 1941.

“After all, it's not as if the amount of materials, time and labour required to make a bra or pyjamas changed significantly! Prices may have changed, but the clothing still needed materials, time and labour, which could more usefully be used for the war effort.”
@Laura_Elsewhere, Utility clothing was introduced in 1942, to use less material, less trimming, and fewer designs for more efficient production. The clothes still needed coupons, but importantly, they were free from Purchase Tax.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-clothes-rationing-affected-fashion-in-the-second-world-war#:~:text=The%20government%20intervened%20in%20the,summer%20and%20autumn%20and%20winter.

I wonder if young women were keen to volunteer for the uniformed services, (before Conscription in December 1941,) not just to do their bit, and to leave home, but because they were clothed and fed. It was preferable to being sent into munitions factories.