Any info on Made By The Hygienic ? Phila PA
- Thread starter Ken Clark
- Start date
lkranieri
VFG Member
I strongly suspect your label is from the Hygienic Fleeced Underwear Company, which was in Philadelphia in the early 1900s. In addition to underwear, I assume, they made knit bathing suits, as you can see in the early 1920s images here.
I also Googled "The Hygienic" and "Philadelphia," but got no hits for any apparel companies except Hygienic Fleeced Underwear. BTW, you can see the two ads below refer to their "Hygienic Line," which may be exactly what your label refers to.
The ca. 1924 bathing suits below are not noted to be from Hygienic, but you can see the similarity of the tops to your item:
I also Googled "The Hygienic" and "Philadelphia," but got no hits for any apparel companies except Hygienic Fleeced Underwear. BTW, you can see the two ads below refer to their "Hygienic Line," which may be exactly what your label refers to.
The ca. 1924 bathing suits below are not noted to be from Hygienic, but you can see the similarity of the tops to your item:
Vintagiality
VFG Treasurer
It’s definitely the top part of a bathing suit. Here is another example from the Met
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/86459?pos=163&rpp=30&pg=6&ft=bathing+suit
I did find another museum listing which attributed the label to “The Hygienic Corporation” but I found no evidence of such a company and do think that Lynne’s research above is pointing you to the correct company
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/86459?pos=163&rpp=30&pg=6&ft=bathing+suit
I did find another museum listing which attributed the label to “The Hygienic Corporation” but I found no evidence of such a company and do think that Lynne’s research above is pointing you to the correct company
lkranieri
VFG Member
Victoria, can you share the museum link you found that attributed the other label to The Hygienic Corporation?
Vintagiality
VFG Treasurer
Actually looks like a university library but here it is
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1727842/
lkranieri
VFG Member
Thanks, Victoria! That top looks like the one on the figure in the OP's label, doesn't it...
lkranieri
VFG Member
The only Hygienic Corporation I found was based in Ohio and that was in the 1990s, so I agree that that attribution seems to be incorrect.
Vintagiality
VFG Treasurer
I did find an earlier Hygienic Corporation (1943) but it had to do with medical supplies so definitely not it and I am certain this is a 20s bathing suit top so your original research definitely appears spot on.
Definitely a strange name for a clothing company.
lkranieri
VFG Member
>I'm thinking the company may have been trying to align swimming and exercise in general with health promotion and hygeine.<
I have seen the most bizarre things described as hygienic in the first quarter of the 1900s and always assumed this came out of the 1918-1919 worldwide influenza epidemic. A search for "hygienic" things mentioned in early newspapers, however, saw a increase in the appearance of the term in about the late 1880s, rising from 9,000 mentions to a significant peak of about 40,000+ in about 1911. These are just a tiny sample of the use of the term in a two-week period in early 1884:
Hygienic soap
Hygienic boots
Hygienic hypnotism
Hygienic flannel
Hygienic shoe soles
Hygienic cocoa
Hygienic dentifrice
Hygienic complexion stimulant
Hygienic cement
Hygienic corsets
Hygienic horse currying
Hygienic underwear
Hygienic common sense
Hygienic learning
Hygienic gymnastics
Hygienic wood wool
Hygienic engineers
Hygienic gas
Hygienic wool
Hygienic kalsomine (calcimine)
Hygienic exercises
Hygienic residence
I have seen the most bizarre things described as hygienic in the first quarter of the 1900s and always assumed this came out of the 1918-1919 worldwide influenza epidemic. A search for "hygienic" things mentioned in early newspapers, however, saw a increase in the appearance of the term in about the late 1880s, rising from 9,000 mentions to a significant peak of about 40,000+ in about 1911. These are just a tiny sample of the use of the term in a two-week period in early 1884:
Hygienic soap
Hygienic boots
Hygienic hypnotism
Hygienic flannel
Hygienic shoe soles
Hygienic cocoa
Hygienic dentifrice
Hygienic complexion stimulant
Hygienic cement
Hygienic corsets
Hygienic horse currying
Hygienic underwear
Hygienic common sense
Hygienic learning
Hygienic gymnastics
Hygienic wood wool
Hygienic engineers
Hygienic gas
Hygienic wool
Hygienic kalsomine (calcimine)
Hygienic exercises
Hygienic residence
I think it might be one of those words whose meaning has morphed over time. The origin of the word is about healthy living in general, rather than specifically cleanliness and sanitation as it tends to mean today.
Vintagiality
VFG Treasurer
Now I want to know what THAT is
lkranieri
VFG Member
I can believe that, but...hygienic cement?
lkranieri
VFG Member
There was also the whole health spa and Clean Living movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Has anyone else seen the movie The Road to Wellville? An offkilter movie, with Matthew Broderick & Antony Hopkins.The novel by the same name was loosely based on the history the Battle Creek Sanitarium (as opposed to Sanitorium) founded by JH Kellogg - lots of eccentric "methods", and lots of famous clients. His brother made millions bringing Kellogg's corn flakes to the masses, but the two of them had a falling out over the addition of sugar to the recipe. Among other things. JH was also a leading voice in the Eugenics movement. I have a feeling that some of these movements and belief systems were adjacent.
I have seen it, it was an interesting film. You are right I think, about the connection between Eugenics and certain aspects of health movements. I've heard something similar about the pre WW2 German Naturist movement being connected with Nazism.
yeah, heaven knows! Maybe there used to be unhygienic cement?
