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Machine knit wool suits with machine embroidered names of Vancouver beaches, in this case, Kitsalano and Spanish Banks, were rented to locals and tourists who arrived without swimming gear. Over the years, the Vancouver Parks Board struggled to enforce its standards of decent bathing attire. By the time rental suits were finally retired in 1938, the Parks Board had reluctantly agreed that men could wear swimming trunks (but the trunks must cover the navel). The rental suits were manufactured by Universal Knitwear of Vancouver.
Doukhobor women, working communally, harvested flax from the fields and prepared flax fibre for spinning into linen wool and thread. The flax thread was woven into textiles for sewers to make clothing.
This shirt was adapted from a century’s old design made for ease of movement in the sleeves. As the Doukhobors moved west, the Russian peasant shirt changed to this version incorporating influences from North American contemporary store-bought clothing.
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