The evening world., 1894-03-09
OOELSFORCORSET
Bridgeport Girls Furnish Shapes
for All America.
Sixteen Hundred Figures Available
in One Factory.
Four Firms Turn Out Nineteen Hun
drcd Dozen CorsCts a Day.

largest corset market In America. Thc
output of four manufacturing establish
mcnts Is 1909 dozen per day, or about
100000 pairs n month.
one firm alone, Warner Brothers,
makes 500 dozen n day, 800 working days
in the year. II carries "a stock Of
5000 dozen, and orders are filled the
day they are received.
This enterprise, enforced by the com
petition Of foreign manufacturers and
importers. and facilitated by the intro
duction and perfection Of machinery,
aside from having made the reputation
of the firm. gives uninterrupted work
to 1000 employees. l,GOO Of whom are
Yankee girls. While corset-making Is
light, clean work, only skilled labor Is
available. 1t takes about six months
to learn the business. An expert cper-
ator can make sl2 a week in any depart
ment. Earnings average 80 a week the
yea round.
Although the corset Is a distinctively
feminine garment. they are designed. cut
and fitted by men. Men originate the
styles; bring out model corsets as often
as the French and German fashions
change; DO all the cutting, all the Mt
ting, and mould or shape the corset after
II Is made. The coming woman" looked
for in this industry-a corset-cuttcr-has
not come. In the process of cutting the
jeans, satcen. c%outille. net. satin or bro
cade. Is nailed to the cutting-board in
~forty-eight folds of cloth, so that four
dozen sections or cores are cut at once.
Work Is given out in lots of four dozen
and Is paid by the piece. Women do all
| thu GlplF N fatn IluFhlnaG lu Nl
one needle, and they are used to stitch n
hem or put on the pieces that hold the
bones. Some have four needle and Others
eight or twelve, SO that from two to n
dozen rows OF stitching are lone in the
time 1t takes to sew one seam. Al the
machines are run by power. Stitchers
make from $3.50 to $l2 a week.
Boning is done by hand. Little girls
do the bust-boning. The cores are very
small, and the bones are as fine as
matches and scarcely Longer. Wages
pays between 81 and 50, and Is lone by
older help. 1t takes about six weeks to
become expert.
The next step is binding the upper and
lower edges Of the corset. This IL all
machine work. and operators make from
81 to $l2 n week.
The finishing includes trimming, floss;
ing and eye-letting, and a good hand
VIII make $40 a week. nifty weeks in
the year.
Although the laundry department is
are only lroned. Men block the bust.
In about the same way. that a silk hat
or a straw bonnet Is shaped. The rest
OF the ironing Is insignificant. Boxing,
stamping, marking and labelling are done
by little girls, who go into the factory
to learn the trade.
Preparatory To concentrating proper
Is the Manufacture Of steels and stays
Men make the stcels and girls do tn,
hook setting. Few or no whalebone!
are used In domestic ~corsets, for the rea
son that there are not whales enough II
the sea to supply the trade. even, !
buyers were willing to pay for tina
commodity. The best bone comes from
Greenland, and the choice part Is thu
centre OF the monsters jawbone. Whet
the catch Is small, as 1t Is about every
second year, whalebone Is worth 81
pound. With the largest catch the mar
ket value is rarely below 81. As 1t take
considered, to bone a corset, 1t can read
, lily be seen why manufacturers do no
rely upon the big fish for support.
The bulk of so-called Whaiboned cor
and France, whore labor IL so degrad
Ingly cheap, is stayed with French horn
u which is a splendid substitute for whale
bone while 1t Is fresh" but as soon a
: the oil evaporates the horn becomes brit
tie and the bone snaps under the slight
est pressure. This horn comes from bull
heads and buffaloes OF India. and whe
there Is a scarcity Of whalebone tn
price Is forced up and manufactures
unable to raise the price of their col
sets, use reeds. This lessons the demanC
r the, market drops, and steers horns !
ladies' corsets again masquerade a
y whales jaws.
With this f~uctuation of horn and hon
and the high price of skilled labol
American manufacturers are obliged I
use vegetable or composition stays. ]
& Is impossible, even with the division c
skilled labor and the use of time-savin
> machines, to sell IA whalcbone corset fo
Is loss than "a That would he "A ipAnS col
" set, of the very simplest finish, with
cotton lace. whereas. the finest coutll
corset. beautifully trimmed, the yer
p perfection OF fit and designed after II
latest French bodice. will Only cost tha
much. but the stays are made OF grass.
n This grass comes from Mexico, II
spun Ike thread, woven into strIt
miles long and the desired width, sui
jeCted to $50 pound pressure, and viii
d elastic is almost indcstruCtih!c. ,
Platinum stayS are similarly mad
e hone furnish perhaps four-tifths of a
the COrscts sold In America. .
While not as large as the shoe sales
nifty per cent. the demand for ineXpol
It siye corsets is luite AS steady. Althous
women have been wearing stays sin,
the festive dayH of Marie de Medici, Il
corset -makirg Is only IN it's infancy.
few years ago every woman with
twonty-iuur inch waist measure WI
given a twenty or tw"nty;;two-inch co
'r set, 9SG"r4inE to her Ai'i3ims and cor
a Q ~ ~ " ~ . ~
cnty three corsets Of the sizes OF No.
III and No. ~, all exactly alike In cut, styl
material or measurement.
Tho shoe dealer Is able to pr0du
eight widths Of each siz", In dressing
Il, foot, and unless there Is some doformi
le he can give the huvcr as perfect y
10 as the custom shoemaker. The cDrS
" dealer has three times the facilities (
hitting a customer. for every size he h
twenty-five different shapes-that Is q
is ferent in measurements above and helt
-. the waist lire in both length and breadt
T. Thee iS 10 guess work any more
designing corsets, although every max
has his OWE method. Some firms b
:, plaster forms OF different sizes and ma
In corsets to 1T them. and strange as
al may seem. sell them t. 1--we women, W
actually wear them. Some firms hi
mJlel-rO"sets in London. Paris, Der
md Vienna and copy them Just as =
he manufacturers ~rcpro!uc" model jack
>, ana dresses. But this Is not the meth
te employed by the leading BridgepC
makers Cursets intended for Americ
nm should be designed not from Br
.sh. French or German figures, but fr,
IN American models. with 100 typi'
CIV women In the house II wouid hardly
considered difficult 10 lind corset mode
As II takes from one to six months
get n perfect H. in any given size, 81
MI are posing all the time.
sizes run from eighteen TO forty-t
OF inches. waist measure, and models {
paid So apiece. The average Amerio
woman wears a No, ~ corset. She 81