How much stuff did these 40's guys own?

[Jovan]

Re: Fabrics

I think the main difference was the type of looms that they used back then, as opposed to what's readily available today. [huh] I have a pair of selvage jeans where the fabric was made on a vintage loom... it's a lot different from jeans made today. IMO, a lot better. Yeah, they are 14 oz, but I can wear them just fine in 70-80 degree weather here. The weave is also a lot more substantial and they just somehow feel a lot tougher being worn.

Now, clothiers need to work on tracking down (or at least replicating) vintage suiting looms.

 

[John in Covina]

Clothes Horse

I am fairly sure that the average person at an average wage with the average lifestyle probably has more clothes today than their 40's counterpart.
From a personal standpoint, not counting dress clothes these days I have a ton of clothes, mostly gifts from Christmas and birthdays.

However, I do think that the intricacies of personal life an attitudes would be a big part of how one would approach the clothes issue. We know that if clothing is important to a person for apperance and to display a fashion sense they would be more likely to set aside the disposable part of their income to acquiring perhaps the latest fashions.

(Wow, I just thought about when I was a youngster, it seemed like everyone got a banlon shirt. Those would get some weird pulls in the fabric.)

The more money one had the greater the opportunity or allowance for spending. If you were a lawyer or in the right type of business you might be expected a certain level of dress and a need to be a bit more up to date.

So within levels of society there were expectations.

 

[pgoat]

My dad (born in Europe during the 1910s) had one or two good suits and a nice pair of shoes for church. He wore his old church shoes for work (6 days a week, 12-14 hour days) with short sleeve white shirts and charcoal grey pants (he had maybe two pairs) and a sport coat when it got cold (I believe he had one - I never saw my dad wear an overcoat, even in the coldest NY Winters and he NEVER got sick!). On weekends he pulled a Mr. Rogers and wore his white shirts with khakis and blue sperry cvo sneakers.

I remember when he died he left this behind - and not much more. I actually discovered a rain coat and two wool overcoats buried deep in a closet; I had never seen them before and I have never found a single photo of him in a hat (other than a serviceman's cap from WWII).....

 

[Lincsong]

Just on Christmas Eve, I was visiting with my freind over at his mom's house. She's been living there since the house was new in 1955 and she was complaining about the lack of electrical outlets now. So I told her; "well, in 1955 what did you have in your living room? Maybe a television, and a phonograph/radio combo?" And she said; "good point".