ABSTRACT Birmingham’s role in the mass-market fashion industry has been overlooked in scholarly accounts of the twentieth-century British clothing industry. London, Manchester and Leeds have all been the focus of studies from both business and fashion perspectives. This article examines the printed catalogues, branding and ephemera of four Birmingham wholesalers, highlighting the local and national significance of the city’s clothing wholesale trade. Drawing upon Walsall Museum’s Hodson Shop archive, documents in Birmingham Archives and Collections, and the University of Nottingham’s Wholesale Textile Association (WTA) archive, this article outlines the companies that were referred to nationally as the Birmingham ‘Big Four’. Wilkinson & Riddell, S. C. Larkins & Sons, Bell & Nicolson, and R. Lunt were located close together within the city centre. Whilst ostensibly competitors these companies worked together to protect their mutual interests and communicate the emerging idea of mass fashion to the region’s shopkeepers, through print communications.

中文翻译：

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“比伯明翰穿得更好”？1920 年代至 1960 年代批发服装目录和大众时尚传播

摘要伯明翰在大众市场时装业中的作用在 20 世纪英国服装业的学术报告中被忽视了。从商业和时尚的角度来看，伦敦、曼彻斯特和利兹都是研究的重点。本文检查了伯明翰四家批发商的印刷目录、品牌和临时产品，突出了该市服装批发贸易在当地和全国的重要性。本文利用沃尔索尔博物馆的霍德森商店档案、伯明翰档案和收藏馆中的文件以及诺丁汉大学纺织品批发协会 (WTA) 档案，概述了在全国范围内被称为伯明翰“四大”的公司。Wilkinson & Riddell、SC Larkins & Sons、Bell & Nicolson 和 R. 伦特位于市中心附近。虽然表面上是竞争对手，但这些公司共同努力保护他们的共同利益，并通过印刷传播向该地区的店主传达大众时尚的新兴理念。