Wash Buttons

With plastic starting to take over from other more fragile materials, being washable was a real selling point for button manufacturers. These were labelled British made and date from the 1940s. G. Herring started producing their own plastic buttons around 1957.. Electrical washing machines did not sell in Australia in any number until the 1960s, so  clothes were still hand washed. Not all things were better in the good old days!

Buttons like these casein examples would stand up to washing and ironing, although some old examples show dullness and cracking.