ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the costs of clothes, both in cash terms and in terms of family budgets. It presents the ongoing debate on the cost of living conducted by economic and social historians. The chapter makes a detailed analysis of typical boys’ garment prices, both in cash terms and as a percentage of family incomes, to clarify how they relate to changes in the cost of living. The sources used were those based on census data or on extensive social surveys. These have some flaws, but present information on family incomes in a format that can be compared across time. The clusters of prices, especially at the lower end of the scale, suggest that retailers had common price points for particular groups of garments. Finally, the consensus over sale prices suggests that the supply of garments in the 1890s was controlled by large-scale manufacturers and wholesalers with similar operating costs.
