Bohemian style was not really until the First World War that "many working women ... embarked on a revolution in fashion that greatly reduced the weight and restrictions imposed on them by their clothing". Some women working in factories wore trousers and the brassiere (invented in 1889 by the feminist Herminie Cadolle and patented in America by Mary Phelps Jacob in 1914) began gradually to supersede the corset. In shipyards "trouser suits" (the term, "pantsuit" was adopted in America in the 1920s) were virtually essential to enable women to shin up and down ladders. Music hall artists also helped to push the
Jacob Potofsky movement." Following his death, President Jimmy Carter issued a statement recognizing Potofsky as "one of the giants of the labor movement" Jacob Potofsky Jacob Samuel Potofsky (November 26, 1894 – August 5, 1979) was a Ukrainian-born American trade unionist, best known as second president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, succeeding founder Sidney Hillman. After emigrating to the United States, Potofsky became an influential figure in the Labor history of the United States. As a teenager, Potofsky moved to Chicago, and, in 1914 joined the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Potofsky gained power in the union, become a close