The evening world., 1894-03-09
MOOELSFORCO CORSE1S.
Bridgeport Girls Furnish Shapes
for All America.
Sixteen Hundred Figures Available
in One Factory.
Four Firms Turn Out Nineteen Hun
dred Dozen Corsets a Day.

Pretty little Bridgeport, Conn, Is the
largest corset market In America The
output OF four manufacturing establish
ments is 1900 dozen per day. or about
100000 pairs Il month
One firm alone, Warner Brothers,
makes 800 dozen day, 800 working days
in the year. 1t carries a stock Of
$1,000 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 200 employees. 1000 of whom are
Yankee girls. While corset ma king is
light, clean work, only skilled labor is
available. 1t takes about six months
to learn the business. An expert oper-
stor can make sl2 a week In any depart
ment. Earnings average 80 a week the
year round.
Although the corset Ia a dstinctively
feminine garment. they are designed. cut
and fitted by men. Men originate the
styles; bring out model corsets as often
lHe FTtHCH anu ttIUlHn
change; do all the cutting, all the fit
ting, and mould or shape the corset after
II is made. The coming woman" looked
for In this industry-a corset-cutter-ha
not come. In the process of cutting the
jeans. satcen, coutille. 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 I'm lots of four dozen
and IT, aid by the piece. Women do all
the stitching. Only few machines have
one needle, and they are used to stitch
hem or put on the pieces that hold the
bones. Some have four needle and others
eight or twelve. so that from two to
dozen rows of stitching are done in the
time 1t takes to sew one seam. All the
machines are run by power. Stitchers
make from $3.50 to $l2 week
Bonipg is done by hand. Little girls
DO the bust-boning. The cores are very
matches and scarcely longer. Wages
average $3.50 week. Regular boning
pays between 81 and 50, and Is done 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 is all
machine work. and opera tors make from
" to N2 week.
The finishing includes trimming floss
ing, and. eye-letting, and good hand
VIII make SO week. fifty weeks in
Although the laundry department is
one OF the most important, the goods
are only ironed, Men block the bust,
In about the same way that a silk hat
or straw bonnet. is shaped. The rest
Of II the ironing is insignificant, Boxlng,
by little girls, who go into the factory
TO learn the trade.
l., Preparatory to corset-maklng proper
Men make the steels ana girls do the
hook setting. Few or no whalebones
are used In domestic corsets, for the rea-
son s that there are not whales enough IN
b,rsrs fhe sea to supply the trade even i
commodity. The best hone comes from
Greenland, and the choice part Is the
centre of the monsters jawbone. When
second year wha iebone is worth 50 a
ket value is rarely below 81. As It takes
about onc-half pound, waste and use
considered, to bone corset, 1t can, read
ny be seen why manufacturers do not
rely upon the big fish for support.
The bulk Of so-called whalbcned cor
sets that are Imported from Germany
and France, where labor Is, 50 degrad-
which IS a splendid substitute for whale
bone while II Is fresh" but as soon as
the-oil evanorates the horn becomes brit
tie and tho bone snaps under the slight
est pressure. This horn comes from bull
heads and buffaloes Of India, and when
there Is scarcity OF whalehone the
price, is forced up and manufacturer
unable to raise the price of their cor
sets use reeds This lessons the demand
the market drops, and steers horns IN
ladies', corsets again masquerade as
whales jaws.
with. this nuctuatlon of horn and bone
and the high price of skilled labor
American manufacturers are Obliged tc
use vegetable or composition stays. II
Is impossible, even with the division OF
skilled labor and the use of time-savinG
machines. to sell n whalchorc corset fol
less than 81. That would he II jeans cor
set, of the very simplest finish. with q
cotton lace: whereas, the finest coutillt
corset. beautifully trimmed. the very
perfection Of fit and designed after tho
latest French bodice, will only cost thai
much. but the stays are made of grass,
This grass, comes from Mexico. It Il
miles, long and the desired width. sub
jected to $50 pound pressure. and Will,
elastic Is almost indestructihlc.
Platinum stays are similarly made
bone" furnish perhaps four-nfths of al
the corsets sold in America.
While not as large as the shoe sales b!
hfty per cent, the demand for inexpen
women have been wearing stays sine,
the festive days of Marie de Mediri, tn,
corsetmtldnE Is only In its infancy. !
rev years ago every woman with
twenty four inch waist measure wa!
given twenty or twCntY-two-in cor
set, according to her yielding and com
prcSslblc nature. Now, there are sew
! cntN,Ihrec corsets OF the sizes of No. 2
and No. 20, all exactly alike in cut, style
material OF measurement
| The shoe dealer Is able to praduC,
eight widths OF each size, in dressing
/ loot, and unless there Is some deformitl
| he can give the buyer as perfect Il
/ as the custom shoemaker. The corSe
/ dealer has three times the facilities 70
| ftt'ng customer, for every size he HI
| twenty-five different shapes-that is al.
| fcrCnt in measurements above and bclov
tho waist line In both length and breadth
| designing corsets. although every make
! has his OWE method. Some firms bu,
plaster forms OF different sizes ana max
| corsets to NJ them, and strange as
may seem, sell them 10 live women, VIII
! actually wear them Some firms bu,
model -co~sets In London. Paris, Berlii
and Vienna and copy them just as sui
manufacturerS reproduce model jacket
and dresses, But this is not the metho,
employed by the leading Briigepor
makers. corsets intended for American
womet should be designed not from Brit
!sh, French or German figures. but fror
American models. With 1000 typica
! women In the house Il would hardly ID
| considered difficult to find corset models
As II takes from one to six months I
get perfect r., in any given size, cir.
are posing al the time.
oyGes run from eighteen TO forty-tw
Inches. waist measure, and models ar
paid IS apiece. The average America
| ha oil