The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-02-05
From the Washington Chronicle. :
Shoddy Ready Made.

There are two kinds of "shoddy' proper.
One made of sound rags, the clippings of new
wool cloths, gathered mainly from first class
taiIors' shops. This kind of rags enters into the
manufacture of medium cloths and constitutes
their filling. The other kind of shoddy goods,
such as the cheap apparel for sale at the ready
made clothing stores is constituted of, is CON-
posed of rags collected from camps, hospitals,
warehouses, alleyways, etc., by rag pickers, and
is what is generally, but deeeptiyely; known as
90 cheap clothing. We find that when taiOrs
and store clerks cut this cloth they hold their
breaths, or wear protectors over the nose and
mouth, the particles of the filling, being brittle,
readily ~crumbling under the pressure of their
shears, and floating in the air. In the cutting
| out of two or three suits of this cloth the tailor's
table becomes thickly coated with dust. This
fine dust, when taken in upon the lungs, is dele
terious, not only on account Of its being therein
an irritating IS foreign substance but because it
is frequently impregnated with the virus of dis
ease, communicated to it by the sickly wearers of
the old rags. The process Of washing the rags
before preparing for filling does not, it seems, en-
tirely free them of their pernicious character.
Cloths made from these rags are frequently un-
wholesome to the wearer. Some physicians in
terdict their use especially by children and men
not in the best health.
These poor cloths are, of course, furnished
very cheaply-as low as $l.40 per yard double
width.) limitation 50 beavers" for example, are
sold by the manufacturers at $l.75 per yard, the
cloth of an overcoat being, therefore, afforded at
So. so. Add to this the trimmings at $3.50 and
$3.50 for making (all that is paid in the large
ready made clothing manufactories) and We have
a coat ready for the market at $3.50. This
would have astonished our ancestors surely.
These coats are sold at from SO to SIS and even
S25 apiece, according generally to the display"
and expenses of the me~rchant-rents, etc.
The cloth of a suit-coat, pantaloons and vest
of the { business kind costs from 60 cents to
so cents per yard, (single width). To make
these for an average sized man requires six and a
half yards. Calling the cloth worth 20 cents
per yard, it costs s ass; add trimmings, 81. so;
making, $40; in all, S. 5 as the cost of the
and sometimes $35, depending on the location
and rentals of the stores considerably. 1t is al
ways wise therefore, to buy these goods at stores
located away from the main avenues of trade,
where rents are comparatively light.
OF the best broadcloth suits in the ready made
clothing market the cost of the cloth per yard is
So. Three and a fourth yards are required for q
full suit, costing 1915. The trimmings for such
q suit cost 1925, and it is made up in the large
establishments at 81. lit should, however, be
remarked that the making is mostly done for the
establishments by poor women at their homes,
and that they are able by hardest labor to earn
only the most meager liying.) Sixteen dollars,
then, are all that one of these really best suits
costs the manufacturer; but the suit which ordi-
narily passes as the 60 best" costs but Sl4. Such
suits retail Tor S4U-S2o Tor the coat, 50 Tor the
vest and so for the pantaloons. 1t will be seen
then, that when a " sharp penurious buyer has
beaten a clothing merchant down from $40 to
$25 for such a suit he has not accomplished such
a wonderful feat as he is apt to boast of, for even
then the merchants profit is SO. At $40 for
such q suit the merchant would have made 25
per cent. profit. which is not altogether an I'M
Shylocky consideration. We find that many
shrewd men buy cloths, have them cut by ga
skillful artist of a tailor and have them made
up at home. Figures" show astonishing re-
suits, such, for example, as this By the wise
purchase of the cloth for what is called q $25
suit, if the suit is made up at home, a laborer,