Adelaar Blouse Company was founded by brothers Emil, Maurice, and Bernard Adelaar in 1934 in Chicago, but transplanted to New York in 1945, where it was easier to find jobbers (subcontractor manufacturers). Formally known as Adelaar Brothers Inc., they produced primarily women’s tailored blouses, but also created separates, and occasionally dresses and lightweight suits. The blouses were designed by Maurice but tailored by different jobbers using the patterns, materials and notions supplied by Adelaar. The company was at its height of production from the late 1940s to the late 1960s, when women’s tailored blouses were popular. Foreign competition, rising U.S. labor costs, and changing tastes in fashion in the 1970s led to the company’s slow demise. The company closed in 1986.
Written by Fashion History Museum, Cambridge, Ontario
from a 1950s blouse
Courtesy of Ranch Queen Vintage
from a 1950s blouse
Courtesy of Ranch Queen Vintage
from a 1960s blouse
Courtesy of fuzzylizzie
from a 1960s dress
Courtesy of Ranch Queen Vintage
from a 1970s blouse
Courtesy of Fashion History Museum, Cambridge, Ontario
from a 1970s skirt
Courtesy of Ranch Queen Vintage
