近代早期英国的女商贩与二手服装市场的兴盛

The Women Peddlers and the Prosperity of Second-hand Clothing Market in Early Modern England

近代早期英国市场上流通的新服装数量相当有限,价格也比较昂贵,而二手服装贸易随处可见。作为二手服装市场中最活跃的一个群体,女商贩的服装回收、翻新和转售活动,触犯了正规商人的利益,甚至还夹杂着偷盗行为,因此遭到地方权威和社会舆论的猛烈抨击。但是,二手服装贸易不但为女商贩补贴了家用,对于满足社会中下层消费者的着装需求,弱化人们着装的等级差别也发挥了不小的作用。同时,女商贩将成千上万的家庭与市场联系起来,有利于英国消费社会的形成,进而刺激大量新服装的生产,为工业革命的到来创造了良好的条件。

In early modem England, the trade of new clothing was rare and the price was more expensive, so the second-hand clothing trade was quite common. As the most active group in used clothing market, women peddlers were engaged in clothing recycling, renovation and resale activities. They violated the interests of formal merchants, even mixed with theft, so they were inveighed by local authority and public opinion. But women peddlers＇ second-hand clothing trade could not only make a subsidy for household, but also satisfied the growing dress requirements of the middle and lower class. They made a good contribution to weak the rank difference among people through dress. Moreover women peddlers contacted tens of thousands of families and the market, which was conducive to the formation of a consumer society in England and created a good condition for the coming of the industrial revolution.