The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-28
THE slza OF OUR COLLARS.
The Americans Use Pile of Them in
Year.
From the Neto York Press

"Tbere Is probably not one person in a
thousand who could guess how many plain
white linen collars are used by American
men IN the course of year." said member
of the largest collar manufacturing firm in
this country to reporter. How many do
Won Think" And the member leaned back
IN his embossed 1eather-covered chair,
slowly crossed his knees, aud, blowing a
fiagrant cloud of smoke from a mighty
good cigar, smiled interrogatively.
TWENTY-FIVE million"
swell, now, that isn't so bad guess for
a novice, but if you should double that
number you would just about strike it.
Thirty years ago. continued the member,
raminisoently, 'sall collars were made upon
the shirt, and from that deduce the fact
that our grandfathers must have worn more
shirts than the average man does to-day.
THE only style of collar then worn was the
Bishop collar, huge flaring thing such as
YOU see represented in daguerreotypes of
forty odd years ago. A dicky or scarf was
worn with this, and | should imagine that
the whole apparatus must have been cum
bersome and uncomfortable. Why that
particular style of collar was called the
bishop is more than know unless it was
that it may have resembled those worn
by the English bishops. The first
collars made to detach from the shirt
band were invented some twenty-five years
ago and soon became quite popular. The
original detachable collar was of the turned
down style, and up to within the last ten or
twelve years this was the most popular
Then the stand up collar began to come into
fashion, until at the present day the demand
for each is about even. The young man of
to-day finds that the stand up collar is the
most stylish, and if he be thin it will con-
ceal the irregularities of q scrawny neck
Consequently young men mostly wear
stand I'D collars. The middle aged man
clings to the turned down variety, because
he wore it when he was young, and the man
no longer young, but not yet middle aged,
snort the stand up collars for the same rea-
son. By this you can see that the stand up
will be the most popular all around collar
in the next generation"
t"What started the demand for stand up
collarsa"
ut is hard to say what did start it, but it
probably evolved naturally, for there is no
doubt that the majority of men look better
in a stand up than they do in a turned down
collar Moreover, scarfs can be worn to
much better effect with the former than
with the latter"
''What were the first styles in the turned
down collar~
"There were three-the Byron Wash
ington' and Shakespeare All of these
were very deep, and were made to be worn
scarfs of that day. At the present time
those styles are entirely dead, except in the
extreme west and south, for which sections
we still make few. All of the turned down
collars worn in the civilized portions of the
country are now of moderate depth and
have a medium space in front. The only
new STYLES that we bring out are in the
stand up collar, and average about four q
year, one for each season. New styles are
generally originated, with us at least, by
some member of the firm. Designs are
drawn on paper, samples made, and then,
after some alterations, the collar is put on
the market. We have had but one style
that did not take well in ten years The
proof that collar has become popular is in
the duplicate orders that we receive for it.
AS first round we usually send out 5000
dozen to the 5000 dealers with whom we
have open accounts
''What improvements have been made in
collars of late years"
when standing collars first began to
gain public recognition they weretmade in
two parts, the upper part or blade and
lower part or ''band." All were made in
this way until up to the last seven years.
the blade being of three ply linen, and
the band of two ply. Then the solid four
ply collar came il, andthis possesses the great
advantage over the old kind of added stiff
ness. You see the original standing collar
was fDdQe Win d Wlue space Ill lTOuU duu
that necessitated separate band. AS this
narrowed down to the point of disappear
ance, it allowed US to make collars of one
piece
Mems collars are all made in Troy, N.
Y, and in Lansingburgh, a suburb of that
city. The capital invested is $l2, 900 900, so
you can see that it is quite an industry"
From what section of the country does
the demand come for the largest siZesW
's'I'hp daI0ap6 for largo cjZa collars Gonna
from he west and for the small sizes from
tie east. The larger the city the greater
the demand for small sizes and vice versa"
How do you account for these facts2"
There are several reasons. In the first
place western men are not so particular
about the fit of their neckwear and will use
collar which an eastern man with the
same sized neck would think much too
large for him. In the west also men IN
dou teddy lead more out-of-door life, and
thus develop larger necks, although prob
ably not to such an extent as one might
imagine. Again, in large cities young
men begin to dress much earlier than they
do in more sparselv populated regions, and
thus the demand for smaller sizes is in
creased The majority of standing collars
are cut, for similar reasons, in smaller
sizes than are the turned down. We have
but one style of standing collar that
measures as high as 20 inches, but there are
hve styles OF turned down collars in our
stock that go as high as 81 a inches, and of
these there are quite number sold, to-"
What is the largest size collar ever made
by your firmF'
"a 25-inch collar and l4-inch cuff. These
were made by us on special order for one
of Barnum's giants As the average size
collar measures Is inches, you can imagine
what neck the fellow must have had. The
smallest collar we have ever made was 10X
inches"
us the average size of collars increasing
or decreasingp'
1T is decreasing, and have a theory to
account for this fact, which may or may
not be worth something. 1t is that as a
race the American people are growing
smaller There are other reasons, one Of
which is, as have said before, that men
begin to dress younger than they formerly
did, also collars are worn closer than they
used to be.n
DO you manufacture women's collarsp
NO. The manufacture of women's col
lars is separate industry. The largest
mandatory for that class of goods is here
10 New York. 1t is much more precarious
business than ours. for it is more affected
py the changes of fashion. Just now collars
are In vogue, but next year ruching may
come In and the manufacturers will be left
with a useless stock Of collars on their
hands,
Are many paper collars manufactured
nowadaysF'