or putting-out system
Production system widespread in 17th-century Europe in which merchant-employers "put out" materials to rural home workers, who then returned finished products to the employers for payment.
The domestic system differed from the handicraft system of home production in that the workers neither bought materials nor sold products. It undermined the urban guild s and brought the first widespread industrial employment of women and children. The system was generally superseded by employment in factories but was retained in the 20th century in some industries, notably watchmaking in Switzerland, toy manufacturing in Germany, and many industries in India and China.