Key Industries Inc. “Looking Ahead to the Next 100 Years”
Keys Industries in Fort Scott, manufactured both cheaply and multi-purposeful overalls. It was founded in 1908 (as Lakin McKey Manufacturing) but shortened in 1938 to simply “Key.” Kenneth Pollock bought the company.
It’s large success was linked to farmers and miners alike. Overalls are very practical to farmers and miners, due to the large variety in pockets and loops, and the loose fit, allowing many layers in the cold winter months. Finally it had 
built-in suspenders, which when times were rough meant there was no need for a belt.
Even today the company continues to make overalls but has also expanded to new types of clothing. Overalls, jeans, shorts, jackets, shirts for men, women and children, in various colors.
This company shows the change in History and fashion, and how the company adapted to the consumers. Especially by making them affordable to the average person, and long-lasting. One story said that during the Depression, Dale McKale would wear his overalls until they were no longer able to be worn. His wife would patch them and sow until she couldn’t anymore. Even today Dale who is retired still wears the same overalls, with the holes and oil stains today.
I always picture my grandfather wearing his dark blue overalls, even though they are new. He told me he started wearing them in Pique, KS while he was growing up on the farm. Yet, he is almost 80 years now and still continues to wear them. It now makes more sense to why farmers would buy them, since it was supporting a local company.
-Talia Kipp
Works Cited:
Kansas Historical Society. “Key Overalls.” Kansas State Historical Society Cool Things. N.p., 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://www.kshs.org/cool2/overalls.htm>.
Photo: Key Industries, Inc. Key Industries, Inc. Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://www.keyindustriesinc.com/>.
