Elastic Band Thingy around Arms of Shirts - What is it?

[CaramelSmoothie]

So I was watching Bessie Smith's St. Louis Blues on Youtube, which by the way is hilarious and noticed that Bessie Smith's cheating man Jimmy had some type of elastic band thingy around the arms of his shirt. I believe I have seen other men with this but what is it and what's it for. You can see it on "Jimmy" starting at 4:19 :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ1wtjO4In8

 

[Gilboa]

They are used to keep your shirt's sleeves at the right length.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

They are used to keep your shirt's sleeves at the right length.

Thank you. I thought that shirt sleeves stayed at the right length anyway but then again I don't know that much about men's clothing past or present.

 

[Tzedekh]

They're called sleeve garters.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Sleeve garters and green eyeshades

These were used by clerical workers whose job required them to write in large ledger books with fountain pens. By hiking up the sleeves and fixing them in place with sleeve garters, the clerks could reduce the chances of getting ink stains on their cuffs.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

They're called sleeve garters.

Ha! What a cute name!

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

These were used by clerical workers whose job required them to write in large ledger books with fountain pens. By hiking up the sleeves and fixing them in place with sleeve garters, the clerks could reduce the chances of getting ink stains on their cuffs.

Ahh! Thanks for this little historical tidbit. I have never heard of them.

 

[Shangas]

They were used by all kinds of people. Shirts, unless custom, tailor-made, tended to have overlong sleeves. A sort of "one size fits all" thing. To get the sleeve-lengths right for you, you pulled them up and held them in place with sleeve-garters.

It wasn't just clerics who used them. Almost anyone and everyone did.

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

They were used by all kinds of people. Shirts, unless custom, tailor-made, tended to have overlong sleeves. A sort of "one size fits all" thing. To get the sleeve-lengths right for you, you pulled them up and held them in place with sleeve-garters.

It wasn't just clerics who used them. Almost anyone and everyone did.

This makes sense because I have seen them on men in old pics but never gave it much thought til watching this clip.

 

[Puzzicato]

I've been considering getting some. I hate having to push my sleeves up all the time.

 

[Charlie Huang]

Surely, the ideal thing is to get the tailor to take the long sleeves up (or do it yourself as it is easy)? Eliminates unnecessary fiddly bits.