Being different isn’t always bad. Sometimes it can solve problems that people didn’t even know they had. That’s the case with today’s version of the clothespin. You may have some in your home right now. The modern clothespin is a simple design with two prongs, a spring, and a fulcrum.
While this might be the only design of that product you’ve ever known, it wasn’t always that way. In the early 1800s, Jeremie Opdebec invented what he called a clothes peg. Peg is an appropriate word here because the product was simply a long, cylindrical piece of wood with a slit cut down the center of the rod.
Wet clothes were hung over a clothesline outdoors. Then the wooden peg was pushed over the clothes to keep them from falling off the line. That basic construction meant clothes pegs were inexpensive and easily made. This quickly became the accepted way of attaching clothes to a clothesline so they could dry in the sun.
Introducing the “Won’t Roll” Clothespin of 1853
Clothes pegs were assumed to be the best way to hang clothes to keep them from falling off a clothesline. Indeed, that was the case until 1853. That’s when David Smith created the precursor to the modern clothespin.
It was two simple, flat pieces of wood with a spring between them. You pinched together the two ends furthest away from the spring. This opened up the mouth, which you could place over the clothes and clothesline.
The construction was much more reliable for keeping clothes from falling off the line into the dirt and grass below. However, nobody wanted to buy this newer, better version. It was too different.
People wondered why they should change. Why spend more money on these new, weird-looking clothespins when they already had plenty of clothes pegs? Anytime something is accepted as the normal way of doing things, it can be difficult to introduce a new product, even if that product is better in so many ways.
That’s when a frustrated marketer had a stroke of genius. He decided to embrace a major difference of the new clothespin rather than talk about similarities with the older product. On marketing materials, he simply stated …
“They don’t roll!”
Homemakers in the 19th century were predominantly tasked with washing, drying, and caring for clothing and linens. They understood all too well that the cylindrical, dowel-shaped clothes pegs would roll off a tabletop if it wasn’t level.
It was frustrating to pick up the rolling pegs and keep them handy.
That doesn’t happen with today’s dual plank, spring-loaded clothespins. While this might seem inconsequential, embracing this distinct advantage over the globally accepted product is the primary reason you don’t see many round clothes pegs these days.
Take some time to look at your life. Study your personality, likes and dislikes, skills, and abilities. Look at your career, job, and other aspects of your life where you would like some improvement. You might need to embrace and broadcast your differences to make some areas of your life more fulfilling and successful.
