An artificial or fake Christmas tree is an artificial pine or fir tree manufactured for the specific purpose of use as a Christmas tree. The earliest artificial Christmas trees were wooden, tree-shaped pyramids or feather trees, both developed by Germans. Most modern trees are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) but many other types of trees have been and are available, including aluminum Christmas trees and fiber-optic illuminated Christmas trees.
History The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century, though earlier examples exist. These "trees" were made using goose feathers that were dyed green.Forbes, Bruce David. Christmas: A Candid History, (Google Books), University of California Press, 2007, pp. 121–22, () The German feather trees were one response by Germans to continued deforestation in Germany.
Developed in the 1880s, the feather trees became increasingly popular during the early part of the 20th century.John, J. A Christmas Compendium, (Google Books), Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, p. 129, (). The German feather trees eventually made their way to the United States where they became rather popular as well.Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Christmas in Texas, (Google Books), Texas A&M University Press, 1994, p. 62, (). In fact, the use of natural Christmas trees in the United States was pre-dated by a type of artificial tree.Perkins, Broderick. "Faux Christmas Tree Crop Yields Special Concerns ", Realty Times, December 12, 2003, accessed December 15, 2008. These first trees were wooden, tree-shaped pyramids lit by candles. They were developed in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by the German Moravian Church in 1747."Christmas Tree Traditions ", University of Illinois Extension, accessed December 15, 2008.
Types of artificial Christmas trees
Feathers
Feather Christmas trees, originally of German origin, became popular in the United States as well. Feather trees were initially made of green-dyed goose feathers which were attached to wire branches. These wire branches were then wrapped around a central dowel which acted as the trunk Feather Christmas trees ranged widely in size, from a small tree to a large tree sold in department stores during the 1920s. Often, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries which acted as candle holders. The branches were widely spaced to keep the candles from starting a fire, which allowed ample space for ornamentation. Other benefits touted for feather trees included the elimination of a trip to the tree lot and the lack of shed needles.Marling, Karal Ann. Merry Christmas!: Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday, (Google Books), Harvard University Press, 2000, pp. 58–62, ().
In 1930 a British-based Addis Housewares Company created the first artificial Christmas tree made from brush bristles.Cole, Peter, et al. Christmas Trees: Fun and Festive Ideas, (Google Books), Chronicle Books, 2002, p. 23, (). The trees were made from the same animal-hair bristles used in toilet brushes, save they were dyed green.
Aluminum
Aluminum trees were manufactured in the United States, first in Chicago in 1958, and later in Manitowoc, Wisconsin where the majority of the trees were produced.Andrews, Candice Gaukel. Great Wisconsin Winter Weekends, (Google Books), Big Earth Publishing, 2006, p. 178, () Aluminum trees were manufactured into the 1970s,Fortin, Cassandra A. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (1958)", The Baltimore Sun, October 26, 2008, accessed December 14, 2008. and had their height of popularity from their inception until about 1965.Pinto, Barbara. "Town Leads Aluminum Christmas Tree Revival", ABC News, December 18, 2005, accessed December 14, 2008. That year A Charlie Brown Christmas aired for the first time, and its negative portrayal of aluminum Christmas trees is credited for a subsequent decline in sales.
Plastic
"Addis produced the trees applying the same technology used to produce toilet brushes, and in green to replicate the natural (pine needle) colour"...as post-war plastics took off, the bottle-brush tree trend became a hit.
The prelit tree has become increasingly popular in the United States and Germany as well, due to added ease of not having to string one's own lights. Types of lights popular today include incandescent lights (also referred to as "mini lights") and LED lights (where each bulb with its own socket, is wired in parallel, using twice the wire as series, but preventing the whole string from going out should one bulb burn out). Prelit trees are subject to the mandatory regulations for the safety standards of electrical products and have to meet safety standards approved by a nationally recognized testing laboratory such as UL (Underwriters Labs), CSA (Canadian Standards Association), ETL (Intertek), GS, BS and RoHS. Artificial Christmas trees may be "frosted" or "glittered" and designed for outdoor uses with UV additives."Choices Abound for PVC Christmas Trees this Season ", Vinyl News Service (The Vinyl Institute), December 3, 2008, accessed December 15, 2008. Plastic trees can come in a variety of different colors, and one type came with built-in speakers and an MP3 player.
Companies such as Mountain King, Barcana and the National Tree Company have marketed increasingly realistic PVC trees made to closely resemble Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine or other common types of Christmas trees. During the 1990s trees not only began to appear more realistic but some also smelled more realistic. Many of these more modern models come with pre-strung lights and hinged branches which simply had to be snapped into position. More recently, companies such as Christmas Tree World have begun to use polyethylene (PE) plastic molded from natural tree branches in an effort to create more realistic artificial Christmas trees.
Other Trees with fiber-optic illumination come in two major varieties, one resembles a traditional Christmas tree and another type where the entire tree is made of wispy fiber optic cable, a tree composed entirely of light.Neer, Katherine. "How Christmas Trees Work ", howstuffworks.com, December 2006, accessed December 15, 2008. David Gutshall, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, received a patent for the latter type of fiber optic tree in 1998.Chartrand, Sabra. "Patents; A host of products offer new ways to make the holiday season just a little bit more inventive", The New York Times, December 14, 1998, accessed December 15, 2008.
"Holographic mylar" trees in many hues is made.
Tree-shaped objects made from such materials as cardboard,"Table-top Christmas Tree", (Google Books), Popular Mechanics January 1937, p. 117. glass,"Glass Christmas Tree ", Diablo Glass School, one-day course listing, accessed December 16, 2008. ceramic or other materials can be found in use as tabletop decorations.
Upside-down artificial Christmas trees were originally introduced as a marketing gimmick; they allowed consumers to get closer to ornaments for sale in retail stores as well as opened up floor space for more products."Demand Grows for Upside Down Christmas Tree", (Audio), National Public Radio, "All Things Considered", November 9, 2005, accessed December 16, 2008. There were three varieties of upside-down trees, those bolted to the ceiling, stand alone trees with a base, and half-trees bolted to walls.Wilson, Craig. "Fake trees turn Christmas on its head", USA Today, November 10, 2008, accessed December 16, 2008.
Culture The tradition of putting up and decorating a Christmas tree is considered an iconic symbol of the holiday and has become a focal point in the homes of those who participate in Christmas festivities. It is a ritual activity that many have fond memories of and there is a nostalgia to having a real tree. However, there was a change from classic to modern and this change occurred when numerous other artifacts became plasticized. The culture of Christmas intersects with the culture of plastic, and so the artificial Christmas tree is born. Its popularity has grown since its invention, creating a new demand. "Reports cite a 34 percent drop in live tree sales the past decade, and a 30 percent rise last year alone in the sale of fake trees, to 9.6 million".Langer, Gary. (2004, December 23). Poll: Fake Christmas Trees Grow Popular. Retrieved from ABC News: abcnews.go.com/US/PollVault/print?id=355330 A demand for plastic starts with economics: how cheap plastic objects are compared to their non-plastic counterpart. "...uncertain economic times ensure more Americans will be looking at Christmas trees as an investment...a single artificial Christmas tree costs 70 percent less than the purchase of ten real Christmas trees over the same period of time".Palmer, J. B. (2008, December 3). Choices Abound for PVC Christmas Trees This Season. Retrieved from Vinyl News Service: All of this mixed with our convenience culture that enjoys the ease of new technologies; the artificial Christmas tree has blossomed into the holiday staple that it is today.
In 1992, in the United States, about 46 percent of homes displaying Christmas trees displayed an artificial tree."Holiday trees in oversupply," The New York Times, November 30, 1992, accessed December 14, 2008. Twelve years later, a 2004 ABC News/The Washington Post poll revealed that 58 percent of U.S. residents used an artificial tree instead of a natural tree.Langer, Gary. "Poll: Fake Christmas Trees Grow Popular," ABC News, December 23, 2004, accessed December 14, 2008. The real versus artificial tree debate has been popular in mass media through the early 21st century. The debate is a frequent topic of news articles during the Christmas holiday season.Garofoli, Joe. "O Christmas tree, are ye real or fake?," San Francisco Chronicle, via Scripps Howard News Service, December 16, 2005, accessed December 14, 2008 Early 21st century coverage of the debate focused on the decrease in natural Christmas tree sales, and rise in artificial tree sales over the late 1990s and early 2000s.Muñoz, Sara, Schaefer. "Fight Before Christmas: Real Trees vs. Fakes ," The Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2006, accessed December 14, 2008.
The rise in popularity of artificial trees did not go unnoticed by the Christmas tree farming industry in the United States. In 2004, the U.S. Christmas tree industry hired the advertising agency Smith-Harroff to spearhead an ad campaign aimed at rejuvenating lagging sales of natural trees. A 1975 poll by Michigan State University showed the reasons why consumers were beginning to prefer artificial over natural Christmas trees. The reasons included safety, one-time purchasing, and environmental responsibility but the biggest reason respondents gave pollsters was no messy needle clean up.
Production
Most artificial Christmas trees are made from PVC plastic. PVC trees are fire-retardant but not fire-resistant. Many of these trees are made in China; from January to August 2005 $69 million worth of artificial trees from China entered the United States. Most artificial Christmas trees are manufactured in the Pearl River Delta area in China. Between January and September 2011, over $79.7 million worth of artificial Christmas trees were exported to the United States. The number of artificial Christmas trees imported to the United States rose to 139 million in the same nine-month period in 2012. Promoters of artificial trees highlight them as convenient, reusable, and of better quality than artificial trees of old. Supporters also note that some apartment buildings have banned natural trees because of fire concerns.Langer, Gary. "Poll: Fake Christmas Trees Grow Popular", ABC News, 23 December 2004, accessed March 29, 2009.