A quality product of British Empire

[Impey]

Hi All

I picked up a lovely little 60s style dress and jacket combo today (see photos). It had a somewhat hand sewn feel to it (although still very nice), but when I looked inside it had a care / sizing label describing it as a 'Quality Product of British Empire'.

Has anyone seen this before? Any ideas about where the clothing is likely to have come from?

Many thanks

Impey

 

[retro ruth]

Interesting! I have never seen that wording before. That's a lot of different countries' sizing, so whereever it was made they must have been hoping to export it far and wide.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

What an odd label. It makes me wonder if it was actually made in Britain...or if this was a manufacturer elsewhere who was using that only as a trade name "British Empire"?

The styling looks 1960s but the label looks like it might be later than that.

 

[retro ruth]

If I'd seen only the label, I'd have said 70s for sure. The dress does look a little earlier, but is perhaps simply slightly 'fashion backwards'. I also wondered if British Empire might be a trade name, rather than referring to the actual British Empire.

Most labels from this era say Made in England or similar, so I suspect this wasn't actually made in Britain.

 

[Midge]

Yes, the "British Empire" thing sounds like something much older - the label looks 70s to me as well. May I ask what the bust measurement is on the dress? Just thinking this may be another indicator since the dress sizes given.

 

[lkranieri]

I found three ads for clothing (men’s shirts and women’s slacks) that all say “A top quality product of the British Empire.” All three ads were from the same store and all three were from 1962. They are the only ones I found with that exact wording, but I also found a 1911 ad for bread in an English newspaper and that ad states “A Product of the Empire; It is gratifying to us at this time, when all things British are so much in the eye of the people, to know that we can be proud of the fact that we supply to hundreds of thousands of His Majesty’s subjects daily bread of absolute purity and such exceptional nourishing properties...”

EDITED TO ADD: I posted before I finished my thought. I added the bread thing because of the comment about “all things British...so much in the eye of the people.” I wonder if there was something going on in the early 60’s that brought the British to everyone’s attention. The Twiggy/Carnaby Street/Beatles sort of thing? I don’t remember when that all hut the media.

 

[retro ruth]

I found three ads for clothing (men’s shirts and women’s slacks) that all say “A top quality product of the British Empire.” All three ads were from the same store and all three were from 1962.

Was it a British store and British newspaper? Or somewhere else?

 

[lkranieri]

Was it a British store and British newspaper?

Yes to both your questions, Ruth.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

So the words "top" and "the" don't appear on this label.
What still has me wondering is why the wording on the label above is in poor English.

“A top quality product of the British Empire.”

'Quality Product of British Empire'

Perhaps shortened due to the sizing of the label?

 

[Impey]

Hi all

thanks for all your responses - it seems like either it’s poor English, or a company called ‘British Empire’.

The only other thing I wondered was was there ever a point at which U.K. and US sizing were the same - or is this just a mistake?

thanks!