On the Job: A History of American Work Uniforms - Softcover

Akou, Heather

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1350349429 ISBN 13: 9781350349421

Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2025

Synopsis

Through a variety of archival documents, artefacts, illustrations, and references to primary and secondary literature, On the Job explores the changing styles, business practices, and lived experiences of the people who make, sell, and wear service-industry uniforms in the United States. It highlights how the uniform business is distinct from the fashion business, including how manufacturing developed outside of the typical fashion hubs such as New York City; and gives attention to the ways that various types of employers (small business, corporate, government and others) differ in their ambitions and regulations surrounding uniforms. On the Job sheds new light on an understudied yet important field of dress and clothing within everyday life, and is an essential addition to any fashion historian’s library, appealing to all those interested in material culture, the service industry, heritage and history.

About this title

About the Author

Heather Akou is Associate Professor of Fashion Design at Indiana University and a historian of fashion, dress, and the body. Her work has overlapped with African Studies, Islamic Studies, and American Studies, with recent publications on working-class histories of dress including prison uniforms, political t-shirts, secret society regalia, and work uniforms.

From the Back Cover

Through a variety of archival documents, artefacts, illustrations, and references to primary and secondary literature, On the Job explores the changing styles, business practices, and lived experiences of the people who make, sell, and wear service-industry uniforms in the United States. It highlights how the uniform business is distinct from the fashion business, including how manufacturing developed outside of the typical fashion hubs such as New York City; and gives attention to the ways that various ty

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350349429
• ISBN 13: 9781350349421
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304