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NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION 

CODE OF FAIR C·OMPETITION 

FOR THE 

TEXTILE DESIGNING 

INDUSTRY 

AS SUBMITTED ON AUGUST 30, 1933 

REGISTRY No. 299-33 

The Code for the Textile Designing Industry 

in its present form merely reflects the proposal of th~ above-mentioned 

industry, and none of the provisions contained therein are 

to be regarded as having received the approval of 

the National Recovery Administration 

as applying to this industry 

WE DO OUR PART 

UNITED STATES 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON: 1933 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. - • - - - - - • Price 5 cents 

CODE PROPOSED FOR THE TEXTILE-DESIGNING INDUS .. TRY, AND SUBMITTED THROUGH THE TEXTILE DESIGN .. ERS GUILD OF AMERICA, INC. 

THE NATIONAL RECOVERY ADMINISTRATION, 

Washington, D.O. 

Srns : This cod~ has been prepared and is submitted in order to 

carry into effect the beneficent purposes and declared policy of the 

National Industrial Recovery Act for those engaged in the TextileDesigning industry. 

Participation in this code and in any subsequent provisions and 

additions thereto shall be extended to and shall be available to any 

person, as hereinafter defined, actively {mgaged in the industry or 

profession of Textile Designing, who shall accept and share a proper 

pro rata share of the cost and responsibility of creating and administering it, either by becoming a member of the Association or Guild 

or by paying to it an amount equal to the dues from time to time 

provided to be paid by a member of the Association in like situation. 

Any person shall be deemed engaged in the textile-designing industry who either maintains a studio or office for the display and sale 

of designs or produces his own designs and, employing no other 

designers, offers those designs for sale. 

In considering the provisions of this proposed code it must be 

borne in mind that those submitting it are not manufacturers, 

although they are producers. They are engaged in that particular 

line of industrial art known a "textile designing." This work is 

wholly creative; it consists in originating designs intended for textile 

printing or weaving. The e drawings are essential elements in and 

for the textile industry. They consist of designs done in color, in 

reality paintings requiring the highest type of artistic skill and 

experience, which are subsequently engraved or cut and printed in 

colors upon or woven in the textile material. 

In the very nature of things the chief item of cost in producing 

these textile designs is labor, since the only materials involved consist of paper and colors of a purely nominal or negligible intrinsic 

value. In consequence, the aggregate of wages paid is a very large 

part of the total business expense and bears an unusually heavy ratio 

to the total volume of business transacted. Apart from those engaged in the actual drawing of designs, the employees in this industry are comparatively few in number. They are limited to salesmen, office and clerical employees, and delivery help. The primary 

concern, therefore, of those submitting this code, has been to consider methods for improving the standards of labor, for eliminating 

unfair competitive practices which are destructive alike to the interests of the employees and employers, and for promoting the best 

interests, consistent with the public good, of those engaged in textile 

designing. 

8670-33 (1) 
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FIRST 

Definitions.-As used herein, the term "person" shall include 

natural persons, partnerships, and corporations. The term "employer" shall include every person actively engaged in a proprietary 

capacity in the production of textile designs for sale. The term "effective date" is' defined to be the first Monday after this code shall 

have been approved by the President of the United States. The term 

"designer" shall include every employee who creates textile designs 

and either completes the1n himself or has his originating, creative 

work completed and carried out by another. The term "finisher" 

shall include all other employees engaged on designing work, whose 

work is limited to completing designs already created by the 

designer. 

SECOND 

As required by the National Industrial Recovery Act, the following provisions are conditions of this code: 

(1) That employees shall have the right to organize and bargain 

collectively through representatives of their own choosing and shall 

be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of 

labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in 

self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of 

collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; and 

(2) That no employee and no one seeking employment shall be 

required as a condition of en1ployment to join any company union 

or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing; and 

(3) That employers shall comply with the maximum hours of 

labor, minimum rates of· pay, and other conditions of employment 

approved or prescribed by the President. 

THIRD 

(1) On and after the effective date, employers shall not employ 

any l?erson under the age of sixteen (16) years. 

(2) On and after the effective date, the minimum wage that shall 

be paid by any employer (a) to employees engaged in and on designing work shall be $18.00 per week for finishers and $30.00 per 

week for designers; (b) to office and/ or errand boys and girls none 

of whom shall be employed on designing work, not less than $15.00 

per week; and ( c) to bookkeepers not less than $20.00 per week. 

But no employer shall reduce the salary or service compensation 

of any employee now receiving more than the minimum wages hereby 

agreed to be paid, despite any reduction in working hours which 

may result from the operation of this code. 

FOURTH 

On and afte_r the effective date no employee engaged in designing 

work, whether as finisher or designer, and no person engaged in the 

delivery or physical handling of finished designs, or engaged upon 

any form of service incidental thereto, shall work in excess of 39 
3 

hours per week. This provision, however, shall not apply to executives or to persons engaged in the direction or supervision of a selfowned business. Nor shall this limitation of working hours for those 

engaged in actual designing work apply whenever, owing to the 

seasonal character of tl1e textile designing business and to sudden 

or unexpected changes in fabric style trends, new designs are urgently demanded by the textile converters and mills for immediate 

delivery. During such periods the maximum number of hours for 

designers may be increased to 48 per week; but in any such case of 

increased working hours the en1ployees affected shall be paid at least 

time and one third for hours worked in excess of the maximum 

period. 

This limited exemption from the maximum schedule of working 

hours is due solely to the pressing need of having highly skilled and 

experienced employees available for this seasonal work which cannot 

be undertaken or performed by additional help assembled quickly 

and in haphazard fashion and not possessed of the requisite experience and artistic equipment so indispensable to meeting the insistent 

demands by textile converters and mill owners for new designs. 

FIFTH 

Textile Designers Guild of America, Inc., is hereby designated as 

the official agency for administering, supervising, and promoting the 

performance and compliance with the conditions of this code by 

employers. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the 

National Industrial Recovery Act and of complying with the spirit 

thereof every employer should prepare and file at such time and in 

such manner as the executive corrunittee or directors of the Textile 

Designers Guild of America, Inc., may designate and prescribe, 

statistics as to quantity, unit sales, number of persons e1nployed, 

wage rates, hours of work, and such other data or information as 

the executive committee or directors of said Guild may fr0111 time 

to time deem necessary or as may be required for the good of the 

industry. 

SIXTH 

(1) No employer shall, directly or indirectly, by any means or in 

any manner whatsoever, sell any designs except on uniform terms of 

ten days net cash; and no cash discount of any kind shall be quoted 

to customers without the written consent of the Guild first had and 

approved upon application by an employer : Provided, howiever, That 

where by the method of payment heretofore in vogue between the 

employer and the customer the latter makes payment ten days after 

the first of the succeeding month, such payment shall be deemed a 

compliance with the provisions of this paragraph. 

(2) No claims made by any purchaser of designs shall be adjusted 

~n sue~ manner as to grant secret rebates, price allowances, or 

concess10ns. 

( 3) No bill or in voice for designs sold to any customer shall be 

predated or post-dated to cover or conceal a violation of the standard 

terms set forth in subdivision (1) of this paragraph or clause. 

( 4) No payment or allowance of any rebate, refund, credit, discount, or price differential by whatever name called, and whether in 
4 

cash or othenvi e, shall be made or given by any employer to any 

customer l nor shall any employer pay or allow any deduction by a 

customer from the invoice price of designs sold to the latter, ·for 

commissions, advertising costs, or for any form of service charges 

sought to be deducted. 

SEVENTH 

(1) No employer shall copy any imported or American-made 

design; nor shall he copy any swatch or fabric carrying a design. 

(2) No employer hall accept or receive from an employee any 

designs " on memorandum ", i.e. designs intended for sale by the 

employer on the basis either of a commission allowance or 0£ a 

"per design" price payable to the designer-employee out of the 

proceeds of such sale. One 0£ the primary objects of this code is to 

establish a fixed and definite schedule of minimum wages £or employees; and the foregoing provision will bar uncertain or undetermined service compensation or wages, dependent in whole or in part 

upon the sale of designs made and created by the employee. 

(3) It shall be unfair competition and improper trade practice 

for any person joining in the submission of this code or subsequently 

seeking to participate therein to accept an American-made design 

not of his own creation from any customer for the purpose of 

using such design to make color combinations therefrom or changes 

therein, except with the permission 0£ the creator and at the regular 

price for color combinations quoted by the latter. 

(4) It shall be unfair competition and improper trade practice for 

an employer to leave designs with a customer for an indefinite 

period; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit 

leaving designs with the prospective customer provided they are 

returned the following day. 

( 5) No employer shall sell designs directly to manufacturers of 

men's, women's, or children's wearing apparel; nor to any department stores, chain-store system, or mail-order house; it being intended 

that the textile-designing industry shall confine its activities to creating and producing textile designs for sale solely to textile converters 

and mills. 

(6) Every employer joining in or accepting the provisions of this 

code shall put an identifying seal or imprint, in a form or design to 

be prescribed by the Textile Designers Guild of America, Inc., on 

every design and/ or color combination sold by him. 

EIGHTH 

The Guild shall impose no inequitable restrictions on admission to 

membership therein. 

This code neither seeks nor intends to promote and is not to be 

construed as permitting monopolies or monopolistic practices; nor 

does it seek or aim to eliminate or in any way to interfere with or 

discriminate against small enterprises. It seeks only effectively to 

carry out and promote the policy of the National Industrial Recovery 

Act. 
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NINTH 

If any provi ion of thi code is declared inYalid or unenforc able, 

the remaining provi ion thereof shall nevertheles continue in full 

force and (!fleet in the ame manner as if they had been eparately 

pre ented :for approval and approved by the Pre ident. 

TENTH 

Such of the provi 1011 of thi code as are not required by the 

a6onal Inclu trial Reco-, erv Act to be included herein may with 

the approYal of the Pre ident of the nited State be modified or 

eliminated as changed circum tance or ~:xperience may indicate to 

be neces ary. Thi code is intended to be a ba ic code; but tudy of 

the trade and trade practice of the textile de igning indu try wjll 

be continued by the board of director of the Textile De igner Guild 

of America, Inc., with the intention of ubmitting from tim.e to time 

ad lition thereto applicable to all em.plo3 ers in the industry, but 

such upplem.ental or additional codes or code provi ion hall conform to and be con i tent with the provision of thi code a now 

con tituted or hereafter changed. 

Such addition or aniendment shall in everv in tance be submitted to the Pre ident of the United States for approval. The 

President shall have the right and may, from time to time, cancel or 

modify any order, . rule or regulation of the Guild· but in u h 

event the rem.aining provisions, rules and code provisions hall 

remain valid and binding. 

ELEVENTH 

This code is submitted for approval by the Textile Designers 

Guild of America, Inc. a trade group repre enting a very large 

majority of those engaged in the production and ale of textile designs. All employers in that indu try not pre ently members of the 

Guild are invited to join the submitting body which does not and 

will not at any time impose any improper or inequitable restrictions 

on admission to membership therein. 

Attest: 

TEXTILE DE IGNER G ILD OF AMERICA, INC., 

By ROBERT S HLY, President. 

CLARENCE A. MULLER, Secretary. 

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