A brief history of sweaters and pullovers

The term sweater has American roots, originating in the 1890s when American sportsmen wore them to induce sweating, which presumably was thought to be healthy. The very early sweaters were simply knitted from heavy woolen jersey (named as such because they were worn by sailors on the Isle of Jersey, one of the British Channel Islands). They were usually styled with either a stand-up edge around the neck, worn by cyclists, or, a bit later, a polo collar, worn by golfers. In the 1920s, they began calling them jumpers, and then, in the 1930s, the term pullover came into popular usage. At around this time, the garment that had usually been worn solely by men started to become an everyday item of clothing for women, who began wearing them instead of blouses. Concurrent with this trend, both knitting and crocheting became popular to become an everyday item of clothing for women, who began wearing them instead of blouses.