Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

In Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, author David Von Drehle traces the symbiotic relationship between industrial growth, social change, and progressive reform. New York’s garment industry underwent explosive growth in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In Chapter 2, Von Drehle points out that in the very late 18th century, as much as 75-80 % of all clothing in America was homemade, but the ratio was completely reversed by the mid-19th century (39). Two innovations that led to this reversal were the lock-stitch sewing machine in the 1840s and the cutter’s knife in the 1870s. With these two innovations, the garment industry’s capacity “to produce clothes quickly and cheaply rose exponentially” (39).

Another aspect of industrial growth that affected the garment industry concerns where the clothing was manufactured. In the late 1800s, very few manufacturers assembled their own garments. Instead, they farmed out their work to independent contractors, who typically crammed workers into tiny tenement rooms to complete only one aspect of the production process. The garments would then be moved to another sweatshop for the next step. Von Drehle argues that “manufacturers loved this system because it saved them the trouble of dealing with workers,” and contractors accepted the system because the association with well-known brands granted them greater economic stability (41).