A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons and zippers.^[1] In U.S. English, haberdasher is another term for a men's outfitter.^[2]

A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.

Obsolete meanings of the term "haberdasher" refer to a "dealer in, or maker of, hats and caps".^[3]

The term may come from the Anglo-French word hapertas, meaning petty wares.^[4]

Saint Louis IX, King of France 1226–1270, is the patron saint of haberdashers.^[5][6]

Notable haberdashers

• Robert Aske - philanthropist
• Captain James Cook, (R.N., FRS) - (18th century British navigator and explorer, apprenticed in his youth)
• John Graunt - one of the first demographers
• Joseph Merrick, "the Elephant Man", worked as a haberdasher before being a freak show act
• Paavo Nurmi - legendary Finnish runner
• Harry S. Truman - former U.S. President^[7]
• Johnny Carson - of The Tonight Show
• Charles Taze Russell - the founder of the Bible Student Movement
• Wayne Knight - actor, most famous role: "Newman" from Seinfield
• Christopher Lloyd - actor, most famous role: Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy
• George Newnes - founders of the Tit-Bits newspaper (1881) and the popular The Strand Magazine, of Sherlock Holmes fame

See also

• Draper
• Millinery
• Worshipful Company of Haberdashers

References

 This job-, occupation- or vocation-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.