Archival Replica of Gold Applique Raw Greige Dominion Cotton Agitprop Smock.
 
One Size. [Width: 16 inches. Length: 26 inches. ]
Dry clean or hand wash gently.
100% Cotton. Made in the USA. 
 
Replica of gold applique ‘Canada First’ raw greige Dominion Cotton agitprop smock. A proto ‘Graphic Tee,’ this 1892 smock was at the center of a conflict over Canadian identity during the Flannelette War, a subterranean conflict over tariffs and nationality that would shape Canada’s political economy. After Confederation in 1867, John A. Macdonald’s ‘National Policy,’ a regime that would paradoxically bring American capital into Canada and fail to foster Canadian Industrial development, inspired a utopian ‘Imperialist’ tendency. Its greatest expression came from Dominion Cotton, a textile company controlled by Louis Cassier that operated under a pseudo-Owenist model of industrial socialism. Canadian cotton manufacturers were impelled by a lack of investment and a subsequent reliance on second-rate British machinery to produce only greige or grey goods—raw cotton textile that would be finished in America. Cassier and his followers rejected finished cotton, wore only greige, and sought to reshape trade with Britain through Imperial Preference and a cultural turn from ‘Southern’ consumerism to ‘Northern’ thrift and resilience. The idealism of Dominion Cotton was exploited by Wilfred Laurier and his Liberal Party, who would grant a limited Imperial Preference, but only as a means of redirecting foreign investment to another set of parasitic mercantile interests. Dominion Cotton was reorganized and depoliticized in 1904 by American interests amid the turmoil of the late 19th century Canadian bank failures which further starved domestic investment and provided ample opportunity for consolidation on yankee terms. LMX Unlimited’s recreation of the most infamous surviving garment of ‘Dominionism’ resurrects this unique moment in Canadian history.