What fundamental skill requirement changed for clothing production workers post-1850s adoption of the machine?
Answer
Factory workers could be trained in basic machine operation in days or weeks.
The labor dynamics of the clothing industry were profoundly democratized by the sewing machine. Previously, an individual tailor required years of rigorous apprenticeship to master the intricate craft of tailoring. Once the technology became standardized, a factory worker only needed basic operational training on the new device, which could be accomplished in a matter of days or weeks. This massive reduction in the required skill level and time commitment fundamentally altered who could participate in the industry and further drove down the per-unit labor cost.
Related Questions
What constituted the assembly bottleneck before the sewing machine's breakthrough?What key inventions dramatically sped up thread and cloth creation during the initial Industrial Revolution phase?Where did the primary economic value of a garment shift after the widespread adoption of the sewing machine?By what factor did the sewing machine increase stitch speed compared to a very fast hand sewer?What organizational concept allowed efficiency to increase even beyond the speed of the sewing machine itself?What necessity drove the development of comprehensive, standardized size charts for clothing production?What stitch type, characterized by using a double thread, was characteristic of reliable, functional sewing machines?Which early ready-to-wear goods were the initial focus after the sewing machine enabled mass production?What fundamental skill requirement changed for clothing production workers post-1850s adoption of the machine?What later 20th-century machine specializations further drove factory efficiency and quality control?