Garment Industry Oral History Collection

Interview with DeSaix Gernes
Title
Interview with DeSaix Gernes
Description
Interview with DeSaix Gernes about her life and involvement in Kansas City's garment industry. She describes her family background and childhood, and recalls her father founding Gernes Garment Company based on reception to a full-skirted dress his wife designed and sewed for DeSaix and neighborhood girls. She discusses the company's success through the Great Depression, the fun of visiting the factory as a child, and details of the business and its different lines including sizing and pricing. She also shares stories about the company's production of WAC uniforms during World War II, her husband and mother taking over the company after her father's death in 1947, and the popularity of the Gay Gibson line, and ultimately the company's bankruptcy filing in 1978.
Date
2005-01-14
Object Type
Video Recording
Interview with Mary Lou Chalmers
Title
Interview with Mary Lou Chalmers
Description
Interview with Mary Lou Chalmers about her experience working in Kansas City's garment industry from the late 1950s through late 1970s.. She discusses enrolling in the fashion design program at Kansas City Art Institute, as well as taking courses at Fanny Fern Fitzwater School of Fashion Illustration and the Isabelle Boldin School of Fashion, and then working in design and pattern-making at area garment companies such as Nelly Don and Gay Gibson. She describes the process of designing and making clothing, her experiences at numerous companies, the perks of working at Nelly Don, and times that her designs were featured in national magazines. She also discusses the decline of the garment fashion industry in the 1970s, the homogenization of shopping, and the shift to manufacturing in Asia.
Date
2010-05-07
Object Type
Video Recording