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Trade profiles (3): textiles & footwear (1)
Introduction
Trade profiles (3) shows the proportion of all Bournemouth commercial listings taken by textile & footwear businesses as reported by directories published during the period 1859-1898. Listings used appear within the entire Greater Westover area.
Trade profiles (3): tables
| Textiles & footwear: share of all enterprises | 1859 | 1871 | 1880 | 1889 | 1898 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Textiles & Footwear | 7% | 11% | 11% | 9% | 7% |
| Rest | 93% | 89% | 89% | 91% | 93% |
| Split between footwear & textile types | 1859 | 1871 | 1880 | 1889 | 1898 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tailor/Clothier/Costumier/Outiftter | 18% | 29% | 19% | 26% | 23% |
| Draper | 18% | 29% | 18% | 22% | 18% |
| Hatter/milliner/hosier | 18% | 15% | 20% | 10% | 7% |
| Dressmaker | 9% | 0% | 17% | 13% | 22% |
| Footwear | 36% | 26% | 26% | 28% | 29% |
| Indexed growth rates | 1859 | 1871 | 1880 | 1889 | 1898 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tailor/Clothier/Costumier/Outiftter | 1.00 | 5.00 | 10.50 | 25.50 | 38.50 |
| Draper | 1.00 | 5.00 | 10.00 | 21.00 | 29.50 |
| Hatter/milliner/hosier | 1.00 | 2.50 | 11.00 | 10.00 | 11.50 |
| Dressmaker | 1.00 | 0.00 | 18.00 | 25.00 | 73.00 |
| Footwear | 1.00 | 2.25 | 7.00 | 13.75 | 24.00 |
| Total category | 1.00 | 3.09 | 9.91 | 17.55 | 29.82 |
| All categories | 1.00 | 1.99 | 6.35 | 13.64 | 19.65 |
| Geographic distribution across Greater Westover | 1859 | 1871 | 1880 | 1889 | 1898 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | 82% | 85% | 73% | 49% | 38% |
| Boscombe Pokesdown | 0% | 0% | 12% | 17% | 33% |
| Springbourne | 0% | 12% | 13% | 19% | 19% |
| Southbourne | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% |
| Westbourne | 0% | 0% | 0% | 7% | 4% |
| Winton Moordown | 0% | 0% | 2% | 6% | 6% |
| Rural Greater Westover | 18% | 3% | 1% | 1% | 0% |
Trade profiles (3): discussion
The textile and footwear category includes those enterprises listed by directories as selling footwear or different types of textiles, both for household and personal use. Thus, textiles includes tailors of various sorts, dressmakers, hatters/milliners/hosiers, and drapers. This category represents more of a consumer sector than, for example, building or hospitality. Furthermore, it includes enterprises managed or even owned by women. Table 1 shows how its importance grew during the middle period, but it appeared to fall away in the later part. Table 2 shows how the different sub-divisions fared. Apart from headwear (and hosiery) suppliers the others varied from decade to decade. Footwear had dominated, but fell away, although it appears to have increased towards the end.
Throughout the period, the growth rate of all enterprises came to almost twenty times the level of 1859. Compared to this respectable rate, however, footwear and textiles grew at almost half as much again. Thus, in 1898, across Greater Westover, almost thirty times the number of enterprises traded in comparison to 1859. Different rates of growth applied to each of the sub-divisions. These reflect the changes in share shown above. Hence, headwear experienced little growth, running at below the level for all enterprises. In comparison tailors and dressmakers encompassed substantial growth. Footwear showed steady growth, although below the total category. The 1898 figure for dressmaking looks extreme, but if included with tailoring it reduces to around fifty times. Nevertheless, this shows the healthy consumer demand for clothing.
As in other trade categories, considerable growth in this category occurred in the the sector of ‘Bournemouth East’: Springbourne-Boscombe-Pokesdown. Springbourne showed steady growth, but massive increases occurred in the area consisting of Boscombe and Pokesdown. By 1898, this whole area contained more footwear and textile businesses than Bournemouth.
References
For references and engagement, please get in touch. For a starting point on directories please go here and here.