A person employed in the manufacture or making of garments, often factory-based.
From garment + worker (Old English weorc 'work'). This term emerged with industrial manufacturing, replacing older terms like 'tailor' or 'dressmaker.'
The shift from 'garmentmaker' to 'garmentworker' in the 1800s mirrors the Industrial Revolution—one word is an artisan, the other is a factory employee, and the word change captures that economic upheaval.
Garment industry labor was stratified by gender and race; women (especially immigrants) performed lower-wage assembly and piecework, while design/management roles defaulted to men.
Use 'garment worker' neutrally, but acknowledge historical gender/racial wage gaps and unsafe conditions that disproportionately affected women when discussing labor history.
["textile worker","clothing manufacturer"]
Women garment workers pioneered labor organizing (International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union), establishing precedent for workplace safety and minimum wage advocacy.
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