Buttons have been in use since 300 BC and at that time buttons were used without a hole. They were fixed with ribbon on dresses and till the 12th century, buttons were used in this manner. Only royal families or rich people used to have buttons on their dresses and gradually its use came down to the common man. Even then, the size and style of buttons differentiated the rich and poor. While the rich wore gold and diamond studded buttons, poor people used buttons made of wood or bone. King Francis I of France had a special dress made with 13,600 gold buttons!.
Later, gold, ivory, stones, silver, copper, brass and wood were used to make buttons. Among all these buttons, brass buttons became very popular and had pictures of the king or queen and were used on soldiers' uniform.
With the industrial revolution, buttons were made with machines on a large scale. Matthew Boulton of England was the first person to make buttons with machines.
