Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-07-19

samples. Eightyl thousand yards of sill
fare cut into minute triangles squares an,
| pafellelograms, meaning a retail loss o
$4,000 a year to these 10 stores. And. OF
| top of these, nearly every line OF good!
in house suffers from the shears Of tn,
Isample-cutting department aggregatin
IN these e, 10 stores more. than $4,000
year These totals would be:
220,00 yards woolens, at 75c sl65 90
900 yards wash goods, at 25c.. 5000
| 5,0oo yards carpeting. at 4oc... 2,00
4oo,Voo yards laces, trimmings, bind
| lngs, ETC., at 2oc. observation-disclosures. 100, Co
! Iotal Observation-Disclosures. .$317 on
And in the face OF these figures it may
| listed in the time of the crazy quilt is
virtually a dead fad.
Few people realize the extent of the
sampling department of the modern re-
tail dry goods house. Fewer still realize
that when q bolt Of dress goods comes in
to house and is unpacked the first
thlng done with it is to snip off a full
yard from the bolt ranging from % to sc
yards. and perhaps two Yards from the
bolt that runs longer than this. AS much
OF this material is 81 to 60 inches wide
the average of one yard to the bolt is
low, as is the price, fixed al 70 cents
From one-third to one-half a yard OF
this clipping goes directly to the sample
cuttng room In sending up these clip
pings they are punched according to
values and without reference to colors or
Shades. There may be 10 strips from a.;
many pieces of goods, the whole bunch
held together by a tag on which the cost
price is marked.
The manager of the cutting department
receives this and with some general direc-
tons the stuff is turned over TO the boy
who is to do the cutting. The average
Wlctn OF the strips into which this clot n
IS cut Is one and one-quarter inches and
the average length of the samples cut
from these strips is three inches. Before
cutting into sections the strips of cloth
perhaps six deep, are stuck through wits
the pins of the price tag and at the in
terval OF three inches. Then the strips
are cut across just above the tag.
Thus the manager of the department
has on the table before him the little
punches of cloth of various shades and
colors, but of uniform price. They are
claSsed as to material, also, SO that a
person familiar with goods may explain
just what kind of goods she wants. and
out of the selection of shades and colors
sent to her she may choose something to
suit her.
Cutting these goods on another scale
for dressmakers, the samples sent out are
by b inches, and frequently in some
goods of peculiar pattern in the weaving
the shape of the sample must be altered
in order to show the novelty.
Sticking a pair of pin points through
six or eight thicknesses of wooden dress
goods is easy, but to stick them through
as many pieces of cotton goods is another
task, and in order to make this easy the
cutter jabs the pins into a cake of soap
before him. the soap acting as a lubrI-
cant without greasing the samples The
tag which is pierced by these pin points
and 50 held to place bears the name OF
the dry goods firm in miniature, and on
the goods.
There are Chicago houses which have
steady call for these samples, from
Maine to California and from Canada to
the gulf of Mexico In filing these re-
quests, to, envelopes weighing one to
eight ounces are sent out, the average
being about four ounces at one cent an
ounce As a probable reaction from the
tunes OF the crazy quilt" about one
fifth of these samples sent out come back
to the house sending them. There is sell
dom any request made that this be done,
and there are few of these samples that
are of any use to a house when they have
come back. There are two reasons for
it: First, the samples have been tossed
and fingered so much that they are not
presentable, and, on the other nand,
many pieces represented by samples that
may have gone out four weeks before, al
ready have been sold out.
a few houses which send out silks from
a sample cutting department. however.
ing out to the delinquent the houses next
catalogue. In most cases. however, silk
samples are cut at the retail silk counters
and sent up to the mailing room, and
when so cut the salesman below cuts his
mark into the samples in such a way as
not only to identify it, but to spoil it for
any craZy-quilting bee.
In spite of the large piece of goods, cut
especially for the sample department, too.
there is scarcely a bolt of dresSmaking
goods in a downtown house which has
not been shipped and hacked at its end,
the samples being passed out over the
counters. on a piece of goods that re
tails from $3.50 to S. a yard, these further
inches cut from a bolt that is only %
yards long represents an appreciate pOr-
ton of loss In every such case this
nicked end must be subtracted from the
total cost of the original bolt. bolt OF
goods % yards long will make about
three dresses, while from five Of these
bolts the making OF one dress easily may
be lost in samples.
In one of the largest of retail houses
i'm Chica go the time for the sample craze
sets in about Feb. Is, on summer goods
and about Sept l for winter goods. At
such times GOO letters a day is a fair aV-
er2ge. In this house the silks, laces and
finer goods generally are cut at their sew
eral retail counters and cut only on or
der. For this purpose sample blanks are
sent down to the salesman, and if other
samples are asked from the sample-cut-
ting room they are all ASSEMBLED IN
pigeonhele boxes, from which they are
mailed Just as soon as the list is COM
p!ete.
mo one not in the business knows just
how hard it is to meet some of these re-
quests, said the manager of one of the
large departments for sample cutting. 1T
would taxe an expert mind-reader, work
mind, to find it out with any certainty.
In my experience a vast number of
out-of-towl requests for samples are
prompted by the desire of women in ab-
scure places to know just what is beiEg
worm y look at some of the samples
returned to Is would indicate that a doz-
| en- sewing societies had passed them all
| in review.
There's nothing carried in stock in
| this house that we are not asked to cut
| samples from. Calls for carpet samples
are frequent, and many times large
| piece has to be cut from the roll in or
| der to give any idea of the pattern.
Sometimes before a bolt of goods of any
| kind is sold two or three cuttings are
| made into it for samples, and then when
| half a dozen bolts and pieces of bolts that
| drag finally are punched and marked
| down, more samp'es must be cut.
| Looking at this seeming waste OF
| cloth, it would seem to be almost too
| heavy to be considered. but every year
| the territory of tie mail order bushes,
| is enlarging. until 1t has become one OF
! the great factors ia the trade of every
big retail house. Considered as an estab-
! lished department that must be kept up
the sample cutting looms are important
as advertising centers. Sending a bunch
| of new goods patterns to the ordinary
| county, town, We might count that at
| least half dozen families will see it. and
even If our retail trad, through mail or
Lders is not stimulated we may count
THAT many a country merchant is remind
students of samples. "-Cliicago Tribune
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