Button

In modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, now most commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, or seashell, that joins two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact. In the applied arts and in craft, a button can be an example of folk art, studio craft, or even a miniature work of art.

Brass buttons from the uniform of a Danish World War I artillery lieutenant
Modern buttons made from vegetable ivory

Buttons are most often attached to articles of clothing but can also be used on containers such as wallets and bags. However, buttons may be sewn onto garments and similar items exclusively for purposes of ornamentation. Buttons serving as fasteners work by slipping through a fabric or thread loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. Other types of fastenings include zippers, Velcro, and magnets.

History
Spanish button from ca. 1650-1675 (about 12 mm).

Buttons and button-like objects used as ornaments or seals rather than fasteners have been discovered in the Indus Valley Civilization during its Kot Diji phase (c. 2800–2600 BC)[1] as well as Bronze Age sites in China (c. 2000–1500 BC) and Ancient Rome.

Buttons made from seashell were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BC.[2] Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pierced into them so that they could be attached to clothing with thread.[2] Ian McNeil (1990) holds that "the button, in fact, was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley. It is made of a curved shell and about 5000 years old."[3]

Functional buttons with buttonholes for fastening or closing clothes appeared first in Germany in the 13th century.[4] They soon became widespread with the rise of snug-fitting garments in 13th- and 14th-century Europe.

As containers

Since at least the seventeenth century, when box-like metal buttons were constructed especially for the purpose,[5] buttons have been one of the items in which drug smugglers have attempted to hide and transport illegal substances. At least one modern smuggler has tried to use this method.[6]

Also making use of the storage possibilities of metal buttons, during the World Wars, British and U.S. military locket buttons were made, containing miniature working compasses.[7]

Materials and manufacture
Button stamping machine,
Henri Jamorski Button Factory,
Paris, France, 1919

Because buttons have been manufactured from almost every possible material, both natural and synthetic, and combinations of both, the history of the material composition of buttons reflects the timeline of materials technology.

Buttons can be individually crafted by artisans, craftspeople or artists from raw materials or found objects (for example fossils), or a combination of both. Alternatively, they can be the product of low-tech cottage industry or can be mass-produced in high-tech factories. Buttons made by artists are art objects, known to button collectors as "studio buttons" (or simply "studios", from studio craft).[8]

In 1918, the US government made an extensive survey of the international button market, which listed buttons made of vegetable ivory, metal, glass, galalith, silk, linen, cotton-covered crochet, lead, snap fasteners, enamel, rubber, buckhorn, wood, horn, bone, leather, paper, pressed cardboard, mother-of-pearl, celluloid, porcelain, composition, tin, zinc, xylonite, stone, cloth-covered wooden forms, and papier-mâché. Vegetable ivory was said to be the most popular for suits and shirts, and papier-mâché far and away the commonest sort of shoe button.[9]

Nowadays, hard plastic, seashell, metals, and wood are the most common materials used in button-making; the others tending to be used only in premium or antique apparel, or found in collections.

Over 60% of the world's button supply comes from Qiaotou, Yongjia County, China.[10][11]

Decoration and coating techniques

Historically, fashions in buttons have also reflected trends in applied aesthetics and the applied visual arts, with buttonmakers using techniques from jewellery making, ceramics, sculpture, painting, printmaking, metalworking, weaving and others. The following are just a few of the construction and decoration techniques that have been used in button-making:

Styles of attachment
Three plastic sew-through buttons (left) and one shank, fabric-covered button (right)
Different examples of shirt studs
Plastic studs for bedclothes
  • Shank buttons have a hollow protrusion on the back through which thread is sewn to attach the button.[19] Button shanks may be made from a separate piece of the same or a different substance as the button itself, and added to the back of the button, or be carved or moulded directly onto the back of the button, in which latter case the button is referred to by collectors as having a 'self-shank'.
  • Flat or sew-through buttons have holes through which thread is sewn to attach the button.[20] Flat buttons may be attached by sewing machine rather than by hand, and may be used with heavy fabrics by working a thread shank to extend the height of the button above the fabric.
  • Stud buttons (also push-through buttons or just studs) are composed from an actual button, connected to a second, button-like element by a narrow metal or plastic bar. Pushed through two opposing holes within what is meant to be kept together, the actual button and its counterpart press it together, keeping it joined. Popular examples of such buttons are shirt studs and cufflinks.
  • Snap fasteners (also pressure buttons or press studs) are metal (usually brass) round discs pinched through the fabric. They are often found on clothing, in particular on denim pieces such as pants and jackets. They are more securely fastened to the material. As they rely on a metal rivet attached securely to the fabric, pressure buttons are difficult to remove without compromising the fabric's integrity. They are made of two couples: the male stud couple and the female stud couple. Each couple has one front (or top) and rear (or bottom) side (the fabric goes in the middle).

Fabric buttons
  • Covered buttons are fabric-covered forms with a separate back piece that secures the fabric over the knob.
  • Mandarin buttons or frogs are knobs made of intricately knotted strings. Mandarin buttons are a key element in Mandarin dress (Qi Pao and cheongsam in Chinese), where they are closed with loops. Pairs of mandarin buttons worn as cuff links are called silk knots.
  • Worked or cloth buttons are created by embroidering or crocheting tight stitches (usually with linen thread) over a knob or ring called a form. Dorset buttons, handmade from the 17th century to 1750, are of this type.

Button sizes

The size of the button depends on its use. Shirt buttons are generally small, and spaced close together, whereas coat buttons are larger and spaced further apart. Buttons are commonly measured in lignes (also called lines and abbreviated L), with 40 lignes equal to 1 inch. For example, some standard sizes of buttons are 16 lignes (10.16 mm, standard button of men's shirts) and 32 lignes (20.32 mm, typical button on suit jackets).

The American National Button Society (NBS)[21] has its own button sizing system which divides button sizes into 'small', 'medium' and 'large'.

In museums and galleries
Peter Carl Fabergé buttons in the Cleveland Museum of Art

Some museums and art galleries hold culturally, historically, politically, and/or artistically significant buttons in their collections. The Victoria & Albert Museum has many buttons,[22] particularly in its jewellery collection, as does the Smithsonian Institution.[23][24][25][26]

Hammond Turner & Sons, a button-making company in Birmingham, hosts an online museum with an image gallery and historical button-related articles,[27] including an 1852 article on button-making by Charles Dickens.[28] In the US, large button collections are on public display at the Waterbury Button Museum of Waterbury, Connecticut,[29] the Keep Homestead Museum of Monson, Massachusetts,[30] which also hosts an extensive button archive,[31] and in Gurnee, Illinois at The Button Room.[32]

  • Clam shells used for making buttons
  • Hand-painted Satsuma ware self-shank button
  • Wedgwood button with Boulton cut steels, depicting a mermaid & family, England, circa 1760. Actual diameter: just over 32mm (1​1⁄4")

In politics
Stud buttons of Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, Marcelo Museum, Philippines

The mainly American tradition of politically significant clothing buttons appears to have begun with the first presidential inauguration of George Washington in 1789. Known to collectors as "Washington Inaugurals",[33] they were made of copper, brass or Sheffield plate, in large sizes for coats and smaller sizes for breeches.[34] Made in twenty-two patterns and hand-stamped, they are now extremely valuable cultural artifacts.

Between about 1840 and 1916, clothing buttons were used in American political campaigns, and still exist in collections today. Initially, these buttons were predominantly made of brass (though horn and rubber buttons with stamped or moulded designs also exist) and had loop shanks. Around 1860 the badge or pin-back style of construction, which replaced the shanks with long pins, probably for use on lapels and ties, began to appear.[35]

One common practice that survived until recent times on campaign buttons and badges was to include the image of George Washington with that of the candidate in question.

Some of the most famous campaign buttons are those made for Abraham Lincoln. Memorial buttons commemorating Lincoln's inaugurations and other life events, including his birth and death, were also made, and are also considered highly collectible.[36]

Phobia

Koumpounophobia, the fear of buttons, is a surprisingly common phobia. Sufferers frequently report being repulsed by the sight of buttons, even on other people, and being unable to wear clothing with them. Sufferers also report buttons being dirty and smelling.[37][38] The phobia may bear some passing resemblance to trypophobia and obsessive–compulsive disorder, but is separate and distinct.

References
  1. Khan, Omar (1999). "Fired steatite button". The Indus Civilization. San Francisco, USA: harrapa.com. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  2. Hesse, Rayner W. & Hesse (Jr.), Rayner W. (2007). Jewelrymaking Through History: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. 35. ISBN 0-313-33507-9.
  3. McNeil, Ian (1990). An encyclopaedia of the history of technology. Taylor & Francis. 852. ISBN 0-415-01306-2.
  4. Lynn White: "The Act of Invention: Causes, Contexts, Continuities and Consequences", Technology and Culture, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Autumn, 1962), pp. 486–500 (497f. & 500)
  5. Dahl, Liz (June 5, 2008). "For a collector hooked on history, every button tells a story". The Oregonian: Homes & Gardens. Oregon, USA: Oregon Live LLC. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  6. Australian Government (12 November 2009). "heroin concealed in dress buttons". Australia: Customs and Border Protection Communication and Media. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  7. (Luscomb 2003, p. 126)
  8. Peach State Button Club (2010). "Studios (Section 23-11)". Button Country. Georgia, USA: Peach State Button Club. Archived from the original on 6 June 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  9. The United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Paper and Stationery Trade of the World, Government Printing Office, 1918
  10. "A look at China's "Button Town", by Seth Doane, CBS News
  11. "Chinese 'Button Town' Struggles with Success", by Louisa Lim, NPR
  12. (Luscomb 2003, p. 53)
  13. Victoria & Albert museum. "Man's suit, Coat and breeches". London, UK: V&A Images. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
  14. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Elements of a German filigree button, made ca 1880". V&A Jewellery collection. London, UK: V&A Images. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
  15. (Luscomb 2003, p. 104)
  16. (Luscomb 2003, pp. 123–124)
  17. Victoria & Albert museum. "Jacket from bridegroom's outfit". V&A Jewellery collection. London, UK: V&A Images. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
  18. "Coat - Victoria & Albert museum". London, UK: V&A Images. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
  19. Button Country (2010). "Back Types/Shanks (23-3)". GA, USA: Peach State Button Club. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  20. Colton, Virginia, ed. (1978). Complete Guide to Sewing. Reader's Digest. p. 352. ISBN 0-89577-026-1.
  21. "Home". Nationalbuttonsociety.org. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
  22. buttons
  23. American Indian Buttons made with ivory, whalebone and ink at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
  24. Domestic button collection, circa 1935, from Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
  25. Uniform buttons of the United States Postal Service at 'Arago', the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
  26. Silver buttons held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery
  27. Hammond Turner & Sons
  28. Dickens article
  29. The Waterbury Button Museum
  30. Keep Homestead Museum
  31. online button archive
  32. The Button Room
  33. Cobb, J. Harold; Kirk Mitchell (Feb 2, 2005). "J. Harold Cobb's George Washington Inaugural Button Collection". USA: Kirk Mitchell. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
  34. (Luscomb 2003, pp. 214–218)
  35. (Luscomb 2003, pp. 33–34)
  36. (Luscomb 2003, pp. 119–120)
  37. https://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/11/steve-jobss-button-phobia-has-shaped-the-modern-world/#
  38. http://gregology.net/reference/koumpounophobia/

Bibliography
  • Bunch, Bryan (2004). The History of Science and Technology. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. p. 784. ISBN 978-0-618-22123-3.
  • Edwards, Nina (2012) (2012). On the Button: The Significance of an Ordinary Item. London, UK: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84885-584-7. ASIN 1848855842.
  • Kohler, Carl (1963). A History of Costume. USA: Dover. p. 464. ISBN 978-0-486-21030-8.
  • Luscomb, Sally C. (2003). The Collector's Encyclopedia of Buttons (5th ed.). Atglen, PA: Schiffer. ISBN 0-7643-1815-2. LCCN 2003101645.
  • Osborne, Peggy A. (1997). Button, button : identification and price guide. Atglen, PA: Schiffer. p. 167. ISBN 0-7643-0082-2. LCCN 92063104.
  • Peacock, Primrose (1978). Discovering old buttons. Discovering series ; no. 213. Rosemary Godsell (illus.). Aylesbury, UK: Shire Publications. p. 76. ISBN 0-85263-445-5.
  • Wisniewski, Debra J. (1997). Antique & collectible buttons : identification & values. Charley Lynch. Paducah, KY: Collector Books. p. 168. ISBN 0-89145-711-9. LCCN 97122120.
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