The Fabric Makes the Uniform

Abstract

WOMEN everywhere are finding life a little easier these days because of the variety of new fabrics now on the market-and the nurse is no exception to this rule. Thanks to the many lightweight, laborsaving materials now available -wrinkle-resistant, easy to launder. needing little or no ironing, and adaptable to many types of stylingshe can now be as attractively dressed in uniform as out of it. These new fabrics have come close to revolutionizing the uniform industry. Before their advent, uniforms for nurses, particularly, had always been of the workclothes variety in a few basic styles; professional and trim-looking, it's true, but also overly practical and invariably made of cotton in a sturdy weave. In fact, the Dan Rivers Dictionary of Textile Terms still carries this definition of Nurse's Cloth: A stiff, firm, white cotton cloth with a linen-like finish. Used for nurses' uniforms. With the introduction of rayon, nylon, polyester fiber, and blends of these fibers with each other and cotton, fabrics were developed which were just as durable as the former ones and, even more significant, so adaptable to styling and so easy to care for that, for the first time, fashion became possible in the uniform field. Manufacturers added more and more styles in more and more fabrics until, in a very few years, uniform manufacturing became a highly competitive business. One needs only to refer to the uniform advertisements in magazines, newspapers, and catalogues to become aware of the wide variety of styles and fabrics now available. Styles range from the plain tailored uniform to the sack and chemise, and labels carry seemingly unlimited names and descriptions of the fabrics from which the uniforms are made. Here, for example, are a few that are seen frequently: Dacron taffeta; Sanforized poplin; disci-