This year marks the 95th anniversary of Black Thursday, the largest stock market crash in the history of the United States, followed by a long economic crisis that swept the world. The consequences of the economic crisis were so severe that many people were deprived of access to basic necessities, from food to clothing. The creativity, spirit of sacrifice, and resourcefulness of American women played a significant role in the survival of families during that time.
As early as the 19th century, households in North America sporadically repurposed textile packaging, in which various processed agricultural products were supplied, into various linens or clothing items. Inspired by this occasional practice, Asa T. Bales, a worker from Missouri, patented in 1924 the idea of packaging specifically designed to be later used for creating clothing. In 1925, he sold the patent to a mill, George P. Plant Milling, in St. Louis, Missouri, which packaged flour in Gingham Girl sacks. Gingham Girl is still a recognized brand in the United States today, primarily known for clothing production rather than flour.
As the economic crisis of the 1930s intensified, the phenomenon of reusing flour sacks for clothing and linens production became so widespread that even American millers competed to offer customers flour in cotton sacks printed with a wide variety of patterns.
It reached the point where flour sacks had specific instructions on how to remove the label with product details and the manufacturer. Descriptions from that time state that four flour sacks were enough to make a dress for an adult woman. According to a fashion historian of that era, “In 1927, three yards of printed cotton percale (the typical amount of fabric needed for an average-sized adult dress) cost sixty cents if purchased from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Three yards of Gingham clothing articles cost forty cents. Three yards of high-quality gingham packaging used for Gingham Girl Flour sacks from the George P. Plant Milling Company could be reclaimed after using two or three one-hundred-pound flour sacks.”
Instructions for removing the specific flour manufacturer’s inscriptions for packaging reuse.
Sources from that time say that you could recognize members of a family on the street based on the cut and fabric of their clothes.
Today’s DIY magazines grandmothers were competing to publish tips on how to transform a flour sack into the most unusual things: from handbags to bedsheets and pillowcases.
It reached such extremes that certain customers, probably encouraged by very enthusiastic spouses, were no longer even interested in the quality of the merchandise but rather sought specific characteristics of the packaging. “Years ago, customers used to ask for all kinds of special brands… now they come and ask if I have a product in packaging that matches a mashed potato on a floral percale. It’s not natural,” complained a store owner from that era.
The trend persisted throughout the 1930s and disappeared during World War II when American millers began packaging their products in paper sacks due to the cotton rationing necessary to support the country’s war effort. In 1946, 1,200,000 kilometers of cotton fabric were used for packaging agricultural goods in sacks, representing 8.0% of cotton goods production and 4.5% of total cotton consumption in the USA.
As mentioned above, the repurposing of packaging sacks into clothing materials has left a lasting impact on American popular culture, and the influence of this practice is still felt today. The Smithsonian Museum has included such a dress in one of its collections, created in 1959 by Dorothy Overall from Caldwell, Kansas, for a contest sponsored by the National Cotton Council and the Textile Bag Manufacturers Association.
Milling and Baking Magazine 
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