Jane Caldow – Coupons for women’s clothes

Jane: Well, from what I know it was all ladies fashions. Whether they did children’s I’m not too sure, but the children’s was in Ryde later on, but it was women’s fashions and of course during the war it was all coupons, and I remember my mummy saying that the girls who were fiancées who were Nurses working at the … it was the Totland Bay Hotel which was the beautiful Hotel that’s now the block of flats, and they had lots of … whether that was a Convalescent Home I’m not too sure but they were stationed there because of course the Island had … you know you look at the Isle of Wight war history books, there was a lot of Forces on the Island, and the Nurses would all come into my grandmother for their clothes and stuff as would local people. She did a wedding dress for one girl and they saved up all the coupons and stuff and my mother used to say well they always wondered whether the fiancé survived the war or not, but I don’t know.

Simon: That’s interesting the idea … well I guess your grandma bought the business before the war was …

Jane: Before the war. I think it was like ’37, ’38 they came back to the Island.

Simon: So, that idea of retailing clothing in the time where you have to have coupons …

Jane: Yes, was difficult, but she was quite an astute business woman I think.

Simon: So, the coupons, for those who don’t know about it meant that you couldn’t just go into a shop and say, “I’ll have that please.”

Jane: No, no fast fashion in those days.

Simon: You had to present … what was it this length of cloth or a value of clothes or …?

Jane: I don’t know all the ins and outs of it but undoubtedly lots online about it (laughs).

Simon: No, I don’t know either.

Jane: No, but they all had coupons because you had coupons for food and everything else didn’t you? It was to make sure that things were shared out equally, but certain things you were still allowed to buy, to have I suppose, wool and things like that because you still had to have people clothed.