The Carr Fastener Company and Dot brand started in England in 1911, opened a branch in America in 1920 and in South Australia in 1928 where they are still operating. They are still manufacturing in South Australia. They supplied buttons, snap fasteners and other items for the Department of Defence.
They made fasteners for motor cars, as well as for clothing. Here is a (slightly blurry) picture from Museum Victoria’s collection of a sample card of fasteners c.1950:
Grippers:
“Put away your needle and thread! Do without buttons and button-holes! These STRONGER, SIMPLER, FASTENERS are QUICK to put on, SPEEDY in action & LAST A LIFE-TIME OF LAUNDERING … DAD likes them … MOTHER needs them ... JUNIOR loves them … EVERYBODY wants them…”
Published in The Australian Women’s Weekly, 2nd September 1950
Commonwealth Gazette, 12th November 1953.
These cousins (and superior competitors if you are to believe the advertising) of buttons were marketed in the Australia Women’s Weekly from 1950 to 1960. Does the chesty guy come free with the fasteners?
