The Minneapolis journal., 1905-11-08
HALF Sizes On CLOTHING.
An Entirely New Idea Introduced
=" by Browning, King & Co.

The introduction at the beginning Of
the season, Of half sizes in clothing by
the originators, Browning, King & Co.,
gave rise to quite an interesting con
troversy On clothing sizes in retail cir
c1es. re-
Browning, King & Co. had been at
work on half sizes for upwards of a
year. and at first contemplated bringing
the new idea out last spring, but later
it was decided to introduce it for fall.
The first announcement of the innova-
tion woke other clothiers to a realiza-
tion of Just where they were ''at.o A
few years ago when certain cloth1er
advertised every size clothes for every
size man, and stated that the system
embraced seven distinct sizes, the idea
of including in any retail stock so many
different sizes was poohpoohed, not as
impractical, but as encumberlng. How
ever, since then almost every clothler
of any Importance at all has repeated
ly dwelt upon this same idea, announc-
ing in advertisements that sizes for
every size Of man was to be found IN
his stock. Now that Browning, King
| Il Co. are reaping a harvest from the
hard to fit people with their half sizes
which are not only very much talked
about, but looked upon by other cloth
iers as about the strongest selling point
introduced in clothing in a long while
! there are others who desire to impress
the public with the fact that they have
number Of sizes for men of different
proportions. The following advertise;
in the New York papers on Monday,
! tells its own story: We don't care
what size you take. We know we make
it, because we make five sizes for every
chest measure. If the tape shows ~
inches chest, you need AZ regular, q
42 long, a ~ short, AZ stout, or a ~
short Stout. We've been especially
stout friends. Being able to have SO
many sizes is one Of the incidental ad-
vantages Of doing big business
4 Of course, to the initiated, these 9 five
sizes do not include any size not to he
found in the well l-stocked clothing store,
The next day Browning, King & Co.
took up the gauntlet. 50 to speak, in
ing, King & Co., originators and sole
makers of half-sizes in clothing. Why
half-sizes are necessary. A man, size 40
may be 5 foot 2, or SIS tall as foot 8
10 tit him in either case. we cut regular
regular shorts, stouts, longs extra longs
five sizes-al having the same
breadth. The man Of half-inch larger
measurement now has the same variety
at all our stores-and nowhere else. This
has been the way with hats. shoes
gloves and collars; why not with coats
Measure yourself fare you just an ever
size or half an inch larger? Your tai
lor, like your conscience said Bear
Brummell, must be true in taking your
/ measure.
In the controversy on sizes, those
most interested in pursuing Inquire!
have made the discovery that in The
majority Of special order houses max
/ ing clothes to measure for hard to fl
patrons Of the ready-made clothier, hal
inch measurements predominant. Thi
would seem to be a strong argument il
favor of half sizes. and to illustrate tn,
4 strength Of Browning, King & Co.'S 20
4 sition.
I Whether the firm IS remarkable busi
4 ness this season is due to half sizes, t
4 it's styles and fabrics, to the genera
prosperity Of the country. or to all 0
these things together, it would be har
to say, yet that the stores are getting
q gratifying demand for half sizes is sic
h nifcant. At any rate, the Browning
a King & Co. stores, it is stated, hav
U made immense gains every week sine
a the season opened over the correspond
q ind weeks of last year, and those week
. Of twelvemonth ago were big in til
q records they established.