Before 1890 Forerunners to the organization included the
Tailors Progressive Union of America (TPUA) in the mid-1800s, as well as assemblies organized by the
Knights of Labor. Very important was the tension between
custom tailors (specializing in work done to order, usually higher-grade) and
shop tailors (ordinary sewing of clothes made ready to wear). Regardless, there was little to no significant and unified tailors' union or movement before the 1880s. By then, shop tailors had begun to build more sophisticated organizations, which were then joined by custom tailors, a move which was vocally supported by
John Brown Lennon, the future general secretary of the Journeymen Tailors' Union. A critical concern was the
scabbing of custom tailors on shop tailors and vice versa during strikes, which could only be prevented by a more unified form of organization.
John Brown Lennon became general secretary in 1886, a position he would hold until losing it to the Canadian socialist
Eugene Brais in 1910. By 1887, the Tailors' Progressive Union had adopted a union label to be affixed to clothing, which was recognized by the
American Federation of Labor (AFL). The JTU followed with its own union label in 1891. The TPUA was considerably more integrated into the
labour movement, being composed mostly of shop tailors, many of whom were outspoken
socialists and saw a common cause with other workers more than the journeymen custom tailors did. In 1935, it merged into the ACWA. == General secretaries ==