The concept "cottage industry" or "putting-out system" was essentially work contracted to subcontractors providing the raw materials and collecting the finished

The concept "cottage industry" or "putting-out system" was essentially work contracted to subcontractors providing the raw materials and collecting the finished products in pre-industrial Europe and America. It was essentially making use of the availability of labor not working on the land. It was prevalent between the 15th to the 19th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putting-out_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putting-out_system From the putting out system also emerged a network of proto-industrial business people enabling them to accrue the capital which would go on to become one of the catalysts of the Industrial Revolution. Even so, these were times with no labor protections or modern civil rights. The putting out system wasn't an equitable system. People working in these systems often had to abide by the prices and conditions set by the businesses putting out the work to them. Child labor and domestic violence were part and parcel of life. Thomas Hood poem "The Song of the Shirt" (1843) was published to raise awareness about the plight of the working poor at the time, notably homeworkers who easily fell prey to debt struggling to the point where they were forced to live hand to mouth. Charles Dickens would famously go on to deliver similar criticisms through his social novels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_the_Shirt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_the_Shirt