Archives & Special CollectionsThe W.I.N.S. Uniform

A leaflet and news cuttings relating to the W.I.N.S. (The Women's Industrial National Service) War Suit which come from the Blodwen Lloyd Binns papers (GB 249 OM/86).

Described as a ‘new development in clothing for Women War Workers’ the suit was designed by Miss E. D. Birchall, Welfare Officer at a Ministry of Labour and National Service Training Centre in Glasgow and was intended to ‘provide the maximum degree of safety and comfort, while the feminine instinct to preserve an attractive appearance is kept in mind’. It was hoped that the fashionable nature of the suit would help to attract women into industry and encourage them to help the war effort.

A War Time Problem Solved. Please click 'a war-time problem solved image description' for full description.
What the well dress W.I.N.S will wear. A War Time Problem Solved. Please click 'a war-time problem solved image description' for full description.
War Suit. A War Time Problem Solved. Please click 'a war-time problem solved image description' for full description.

Image 1 - A war-time problem solved

The provision of safe, serviceable and attractive clothing for Women in Industry is a problem which has not, till now, neem approached simultaneously from a practical and psychological angle.

The W.I.N.S. War Suit is, therefore, a new development in clothing for Women War Workers. Designed by Miss E. D. Birchall, Welfare Officer at a Ministry of Labour and National Service Training Centre in Glasgow, with the collaboration of a member of Welfare Supervisors, it is planned to provide the maximum degree of safety and comfort, while the feminine instinct to preserve an attractive appearance is kept in mind.

Special attention has been paid to smartness, always associated with the wearing of uniform, these suits being, in fact uniforms, not merely overalls to cover civilian clothes. This is a matter of considerable importance in these days of scarcity and clothes rationing. The War Suit replaces the usual dress and overalls which are subject so such heavy wear in factory work, and stockings are no longer a problem.

This uniform has been found to appeal to those Women Workers who take pride in being identified with The Women’s Industrial National Service.

Samples of any of these garments can be sent on approbation without surrender of coupons, on an undertaking being given that they will be returned within fourteen days.

Image 2 - What the well-dressed W.I.N.S will wear

A printed article with two photographs of a woman wearing the W.I.N.S. War Suit and Protective Hat. The article reads: “What the well-dressed W.I.N.S. will wear. Fashion sweeps out of the salon. Fashion strides into the factory. This is the overall designed for the W.I.N.S. They call it the Roytex Warsuit. Warsuit is specially designed to attract girls into industry. Mr Bovin likes it. The girls like it. If it means more tanks it’ll please everybody.

Image 3 - War Suit

A printed pamphlet advertising the War Suit. Two black and white photographs show a woman modelling the War Suit, and a third photograph shows a woman wearing the War Dress. In all three photographs the women are wearing a co-ordinating cap. The paragraph headings in the pamphlet are ‘War Suit’, ‘The War Suit’, ‘The War Dress’ and ‘The Protective Hat’.

Produced by W. Marshall & Sons, Ltd of Glasgow, this leaflet is wonderfully evocative of its time. Available in navy or khaki with red trimming and boasting ‘ample pockets’ the War Suit required four clothing coupons and promised that stockings would no longer be a problem. For the more traditionally minded there was also a War Dress available:

Designed to comply with the wishes of those who do not care to adopt the trousered fashion.

Pictured is a newspaper cutting entitled “A woman’s hint to Mr. Bevin”. It reads:

“Writing to the Editor of the News of the World, a woman asks:

“Has Mr Bevin considered the need for an identifiable dress as an incentive to women to take up war work?

Every woman want to pull her weight in the way effort, but when registering she naturally prefers one of the Services which offer her the glamour of a uniform.

Not only the women who are in civilian dress war work, but those who are confronted with the prospect of doing it, feel that in their leisure hours they are entitled to be ‘identifiable’.

The contribution which their work represents in the war effort is none the less important, and often more arduous, than that of the uniformed services.

Mr. Bevin should recognise the status value of identifiable clothes, and accept the feminine face that what women will look like largely dictates what they do. And it always will.

If Mr. Bevin will look at things this way, a lot of his women recruiting troubles will soon be over.”

In addition, a Supervisor’s Coat and a Protective Hat were also available. The hat which incorporated a net snood was a registered design and, according to one publicity photo, the peaked cap attractively framed one’s face while the net ensured that front and back curls were protected.

Dr. Blodwen Lloyd Binns (1901 to 1991) to whom this leaflet belonged was a lecturer in botany, bacteriology, and biology at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow from 1926 to 1962. During the war she acted as a welfare supervisor in charge of women engineer trainees at the College. This perhaps explains her interest in the W.I.N.S. War Suit. Intriguingly, included in her papers is a cutting of an anonymous letter to the Editor of the News of the World which asks ‘Has Mr. Bevin considered the need for an identifiable dress as an incentive to women to take up war work?’ Could it be possible that this anonymous correspondent was our own Blodwen Lloyd Binns?

Kimberly Sommerville, Archives Assistant

Image of WINS advert shows a smiling woman wearing the War Suit and Protective Hat smiling over her shoulder. "WINS WEAR. W. Marshall & Sons Limited. 16 Frederick Street, Glasgow".