Crinolines put the hoop in the Victorian-era skirt. For two decades, women wore crinolines - lightweight cages attached to their waists - under their clothing to create a wide, bell-shaped silhouette.

There is a hoop skirt manufactory in this city which weekly turns out 24,000 ladies' skirts, employing for that purpose 500 hands, 180 sewing machines, and not less than a tun of steel.