The Iowa Stater
September1996
Made in the USA
he first brassiere may have been made in the USA, not France as was
originally thought, according to textiles and clothing professor Jane
Farrell-Beck. Frenchwoman Herminie Cadolle has long been credited with
patenting the first brassiere in 1889.
Farrell-Beck, who has done extensive research on the history of the
bra, has discovered that by the time Cadolle's patent was established in
France, Americans had been producing breast supporters for nearly 25 years.
Farrell-Beck has found more than 550 patents for breast supporters between
1863 and 1940. (The word brassiere was not common in the English language
until the turn of the century.)
Because many U.S. patent holders did not produce or market their bras, few people knew of their inventions. Farrell-Beck believes that the first to market and produce her version of the bra was Olivia Flynt, who held the third U.S. patent for the garment. She called her bra the Flynt. There is no record of a patent filed in America by Herminie Cadolle or any proof that her innovation ever got here, Farrell-Beck said.
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Revised 9/24/96