Button collectors are called "fibulanomists". ".
History of the button
Buttons or assimilable objects, but arguably used more for aesthetic purposes than for fastening purposes, have been found in the remains of the Indus Valley Civilization , at Chinese Bronze Age sites , as well as in ancient Rome.
The buttons used for the purpose of holding clothes do not seem to have been used in Europe until the 13th century and 14th century , in particular to hold up the sleeves of shirts.It was under Louis XIV that the use of the button spread in France, where it became a luxurious fashion accessory embellished with jewels or painted miniatures. Some servants thus had livery buttons chiselled with their master's coat of arms.
The old buttons were made of bone, horn (case of the duffle coat), ivory, leather, metal or mother-of-pearl.
In the middle of the 19th century , the porcelain button appeared thanks to a technique developed by the British manufacturer Mintons.
Before being supplanted by plastic, corozo ("vegetable ivory") was used to make many buttons.
The snap button was invented by Bertel Sanders in Denmark in 1885.
In 1886, Albert-Pierre Raymond, who had just created his company, A.Raymond (France), developed the rivet press stud.
In the 1900s, under the reign of the Briton Edward VII, fashion for men's jackets was four buttons positioned quite high, with small lapels (a habit that the military still keep today on their square jackets). With the more flared silhouette of the 1920s, fashion changed to three buttons and then, in the 1960s, two buttons, which has remained the general norm ever since.
Right button, left button
Women's clothing has buttons on the left and buttonholes on the right, which therefore makes a buttonhole on the right. For men, the buttons are sewn on the right and the buttonholes on the left. This custom would have been established during the 17th century and would be justified by the following facts: the women were most often dressed by their servant while the men dressed themselves, the valet only intervening to prepare clothes and for the final ornaments. The buttons were therefore sewn on so that the servants could button them more easily. In addition, the men carried the sword on the left to draw with the right hand. The buttoning of the garment should not impede access to the weapon. This use of the direction of buttoning varying according to gender has become a rule still respected today.
Button industry and uniform button
Under the July Monarchy and the Second Empire , the importance of military uniforms led to an increase in the French button industry. In the 19th century, it was one of the specialties of France, where companies specializing in this know-how were born. This is the case with Trelon Weldon Weil (TWW), born in 1845, or Anglade Massé & cnie (AM&C), born in 1853. These houses supply not only the French armed forces but those of other countries of the world as well as the administrations or the hunting crews. At its peak, French industry employed 30,000 people. It will, however, experience difficulties in the 20th century, faced with competition from other countries producing plastic buttons without using the turning process.
In the 1850s, tired of seeing the points of their collars twirling, British polo players decided to have them fastened, thus adding buttons to the collars of their shirts.
Source: Wikipedia