Passementerie (Trim)

Description

This ruffled silk trim is part of a collection of objects from New York dress trimming manufacturer C. E. Hertlein & Co. At the turn of the century, New York City had a rapidly growing textile industry consisting of many small, and often immigrant-owned, factories. These factories either specialized in making a specific clothing part or pieced together finished garments from the parts produced at other factories. C. E. Hertlein & Co. was one such factory, founded in 1877 by German immigrants Christopher E. Hertlein and Charles Schlatter and specializing in silk dress trimmings. In the early 1870s, prior to founding his own factory, Hertlein had a business importing goods from his relatives in Europe. The label on this trim is different from others in the collection; it may be an earlier label used by C. E. Hertlein & Co. or could be from Hertlein’s earlier import business. This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.