As war got underway, demands on the imports of food and goods increased. But with the risk of German attacks on British ships deemed highly likely, the Government began to prepare for shortages. Rationing was introduced to help minimise this risk, starting with petrol in 1939, extending to food in 1940 then clothes on 1st June 1941.
Clothes rationing sought to to bring about a reduction in the amount of clothing being produced and used. This would serve two purposes – to conserve precious raw materials and to free up workers plus factory space for the war effort.
Rationed items were given a points value in relation to the amount of material and labour used in production. But this was one of the shortcomings of the scheme – a wool dress used 11 coupons regardless of the quality of the design or the fabric.
At the start of the scheme the allowance was 66 coupons a year. It didn’t take long for people to realise this was going to be tight. Seven coupons were needed for a skirt, two for a pair of stockings, and eight coupons for a pair of pyjamas. With this in mind, 66 coupons didn’t go very far.
Lists were soon drawn up advising people how to use their coupons wisely and was just about doable for men. But for women, who were generally considered to use more clothes, 66 coupons just didn’t stretch far enough.
An answer was found in splitting women’s requirements into two lists. The first was items perceived as needing replacement each year such as a nightdress, underwear and stockings. The second list featured items rotated every three years and included garments such as dresses, suits and coats.
But if people thought things were tough at the start of rationing, they were about to discover it would get a whole lot worse. In 1942 the allowance was cut to 60 coupons. Not only was this a significant drop, these coupons now had to last 15 months instead off 12 – the equivalent of an annual allowance of 48 coupons. This reduced in 1943 to 47 coupons then in 1944 to 46 coupons. 1945 saw coupon allowance at its lowest at 41, partly due to the need for demob clothing, civilian clothing given to those being demobilised from the armed forces at the end of the war.
By the end of the war in 1945 people were tired of rationing, making do and mending. Production of civilian clothing did start to increase but much of this was exported to help boost the economy. Clothes rationing finally ended in 1949 much to peoples relief, who after eight years were fed up with the shortages that had dominated life on the home front.
A note about uniforms:
The inevitable outcome of war meant an increase in demand for uniforms. This demand put even more strain on resource but the increase had to be met. Even so the armed forces weren’t immune to similar shortages being faced by the civilian population. The British Army had been looking for an alternative to service dress for some time and as war got underway, it was replaced by battle dress. Sometimes referred to as the utility pattern, battle dress design was modified to be more economical to produce.