Snap fasteners (also pressure buttons or press studs) are metal (usually brass) round discs pinched through the fabric.Popular examples of such buttons are shirt studs and cufflinks. Pushed through two opposing holes within what is meant to be kept together, the actual button and its counterpart press it together, keeping it joined. Stud buttons (also push-through buttons or just studs) are composed from an actual button, connected to a second, button-like element by a narrow metal or plastic bar.Flat buttons may be attached by sewing machine rather than by hand, and may be used with heavy fabrics by working a thread shank to extend the height of the button above the fabric. Flat or sew-through buttons have holes through which thread is sewn to attach the button.

Button shanks may be made from a separate piece of the same or a different substance as the button itself, and added to the back of the button, or be carved or moulded directly onto the back of the button, in which latter case the button is referred to by collectors as having a 'self-shank'. Shank buttons have a hollow protrusion on the back through which thread is sewn to attach the button.The following are just a few of the construction and decoration techniques that have been used in button-making: Historically, fashions in buttons have also reflected trends in applied aesthetics and the applied visual arts, with buttonmakers using techniques from jewellery making, ceramics, sculpture, painting, printmaking, metalworking, weaving and others. Over 60% of the world's button supply comes from Qiaotou, Yongjia County, China. Nowadays, hard plastic, seashell, metals, and wood are the most common materials used in button-making the others tending to be used only in premium or antique apparel, or found in collections. Vegetable ivory was said to be the most popular for suits and shirts, and papier-mâché far and away the commonest sort of shoe button. In 1918, the US government made an extensive survey of the international button market, which listed buttons made of vegetable ivory, metal, glass, galalith, silk, linen, cotton-covered crochet, lead, snap fasteners, enamel, rubber, buckhorn, wood, horn, bone, leather, paper, pressed cardboard, mother-of-pearl, celluloid, porcelain, composition, tin, zinc, xylonite, stone, cloth-covered wooden forms, and papier-mâché. Buttons made by artists are art objects, known to button collectors as 'studio buttons' (or simply 'studios', from studio craft).

Alternatively, they can be the product of low-tech cottage industry or can be mass-produced in high-tech factories. See also: List of raw materials used in button-makingīecause buttons have been manufactured from almost every possible material, both natural and synthetic, and combinations of both, the history of the material composition of buttons reflects the timeline of materials technology.īuttons can be individually crafted by artisans, craftspeople or artists from raw materials or found objects (for example fossils), or a combination of both. military locket buttons were made, containing miniature working compasses. Īlso making use of the storage possibilities of metal buttons, during the World Wars, British and U.S. At least one modern smuggler has tried to use this method. Since at least the seventeenth century, when box-like metal buttons were constructed especially for the purpose, buttons have been one of the items in which drug smugglers have attempted to hide and transport illegal substances. īuttons appeared as a means to close cuffs in the Byzantine Empire and to fasten the necks of Egyptian tunics by no later than the 5th century AD. A similar mechanism would later feature in early medieval footwear. Leatherwork from the Roman Empire incorporates some of the first buttonholes, with the legionary Loculus (satchel) closed through the insertion of a metallic buckle, or button into a leather slit. It is made of a curved shell and about 5000 years old.' Įgypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty left behind ornate wig covers, fabricated through sewing buttons formed of precious metals onto strips of backing material. Ian McNeil (1990) holds that 'the button was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley. Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pierced into them so that they could be attached to clothing with thread. 2000–1500 BC) and Ancient Rome.īuttons made from seashell were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BC. 2800–2600 BC), at the Tomb of the Eagles, Scotland (2200-1800 BC), and at Bronze Age sites in China (c. 1650-1675 (about 12 mm).īuttons and button-like objects used as ornaments or seals rather than fasteners have been discovered in the Indian-Pakistani Indus Valley civilization during its Kot Diji phase (c.

When was the button invented