Look up haberdasher in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A haberdashery in Brussels

A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zips, and other notions.^[1] In American English, haberdasher is another term for a men's outfitter.^[2] A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.

Origin and use[link]

The word appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^{[citation needed]} Haberdashers were initially peddlers, sellers of small items such as needles, buttons, etc. The word could derive from the an Old Norse word akin to the Icelandic haprtask, which means peddlers' wares or the sack in which the peddler carried them. If this is the case, a haberdasher (in its Scandinavian meaning) would be very close to a mercer (French). Perhaps more likely, since the word has no recorded use in Scandinavia, it is from Anglo-Norman hapertas, meaning small ware.^[3] A haberdasher would retail small wares, the goods of the peddler, while a mercer would specialize in "linens, silks, fustian, worsted piece-goods and bedding".^[4]

Saint Louis IX, the King of France 1226–70, is the patron saint of haberdashers in France.^[5][6] In Belgium and other places in Continental Europe, it is Saint Nicholas, while in the City of London the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers adopted Saint Catherine as the patron saint of the guild.^[7]

Notable haberdashers[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

• William Adams - a 17th century London Haberdasher born in Newport, Shropshire, who founded Adams' Grammar School in 1656
• Robert Aske - a philanthropist
• William Baldwin - actor, who became interested in haberdashery on the set of Double Bang in 2001
• Captain James Cook, (R.N., FRS) - 18th century British navigator and explorer, apprenticed to this job in his youth
• Daniel Defoe- the famous writer of Robinson Crusoe
• Richard Goldthorpe -Yorkshire based haberdasher and real estate owner
• John Graunt - one of the first demographers
• Christopher Lloyd - actor, e.g. "Dr. Emmett Brown" in the Back to the Future trilogy
• Jerome Knapp Junior
• Wayne Knight - actor, e.g. "Newman" from Seinfeld
• Joseph Merrick, "the Elephant Man", worked as a haberdasher's assistant before being a freak show act
• George Newnes - founder of the Tit-Bits newspaper (1881) and the popular The Strand Magazine, of Sherlock Holmes fame
• Paavo Nurmi - legendary Finnish distance runner
• Charles Taze Russell - the founder of the Bible Student Movement which, after his death, ultimately led to the formation of Jehovah's Witnesses
• Harry S. Truman - President of the United States from 1945-1953^[8]
• Leopold Wyler, father of the Alsatian-born American motion picture director, and screenwriter William Wyler.
• Justin Ross Lee - Owner of Pretentious Pocket
• Mitchell Siegel, father of Jerry Siegel co-creater of Superman.

See also[link]

• Draper
• Hatter
• Millinery
• Worshipful Company of Haberdashers

References[link]

v t e Sewing Techniques Basting Cut Darning Embellishment Fabric tube turning Facing Floating canvas Gather Godet Gore Gusset Hem Heirloom sewing Lining Pleat Ruffle Shirring Style line Stitches Backstitch Bar tack Blanket Buttonhole Chain stitch Cross-stitch Embroidery stitch Hemstitch List of sewing stitches Lockstitch Overlock Pad stitch Running Sashiko Tack Topstitch Zigzag Seams Armscye Seam allowance Notions and trims Bias tape Elastomer (Elastic) Eyelet Grommet Interfacing Notions Passementerie Piping Rickrack Self-fabric Soutache Trim Twill tape Wrights Closures Buckle Button Buttonhole Fly Frog Hook-and-eye Placket Shank Snap Velcro Zipper Materials Bias Yarn / Thread Selvage Textiles / Fabrics Tools Bobbin Dress form Needle threader Pin Pincushion Pinking shears Scissors Seam ripper Sewing needle Stitching awl Tailor's ham Tape measure Thimble Tracing paper Tracing wheel Trades and suppliers Cloth merchant Draper Dressmaker Haberdasher Mercer / Mercery Sewing occupations Tailor Sewing machine manufacturers Barthélemy Thimonnier Bernina Brother Industries Elias Howe Janome Jones Sewing Machine Company Merrow New Home Pfaff Sewmor Singer Tapemaster Viking / Husqvarna White Patterns Butterick Clothkits McCall's Simplicity Glossary of sewing terms