In preparation for tomorrow, International Workers' Day, let's briefly look at industrial workwear from the early 20th century with this image showing shinglers at Brindley Ford.
The process of working a mass of white-hot iron and slag under a steam hammer, shingling was quite dangerous and the workers needed therefore special protection from the molten slag and sparks that would fly around when the power hammer hit the ball.
Over their ordinary clothes - rough working trousers, a woollen vest, a sweat rag around the neck and a cotton skull cap with a wire gauze face screen - they would therefore wear a heavy apron and sheet-iron shin guards with boot covers (see the man on the further right side of the picture to get a better idea).
Shingling was replaced throughout the years by other processes that employed mechanical means and jaws that squeezed the puddled ball into shape, yet to look back at this job and at some of the early protective gear donned by the workers is educational and fascinating, especially when vintage photographs may show improvised protective gear.
The focus of many contemporary collections has been dynamic and active wear with an emphasis on sports and while that's exciting, it would be more interesting to design clothes collections that, apart from looking aesthetically pleasing, would also protect the wearers from new hazards (including pollution) while allowing us to develop further researchers into innovative materials and textiles.
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