The Irish standard., 1906-05-12
They Head the Custom Order Departments
OF the Great Dry Goods Establish
ments of the Country.
Story of an Irish Girl Who Started SEWING
by the Day and Became New York's
Leading Dressmaker.

way store Il heard an apparently in
tc'lisent woman remark not long as,,
that could She prevent il not an Italian
immigrant should be permitted to land
! III New York. ignorant Of course of tn.
fact that nearly all the fine cmbroider,
and fancy stitches now SO lavishly dis
played on Woncn's costumes is done
by Italian women.
Yes. III this workroonl and in most
kothcr high class New York workroonS
the finest handwOrk in done BY Italians.
The majority OF the Italian women who
come to this port to earn their living
] am leaving out the married ones--ar4
! fine needle workers.
II hav" not found that they are good
designers. or filters or salcswomen OF
gowns but there is no question but
| they can turn out all sorts Of fancy
lace and embroidery stitches with Won
| dcrful uuickncss. The French. too. are
quick with their needles. but French
women do not immiGratc in largo num-
hcrs. and those who do come over
prefer to work in private establish
| mcntS.
If Il French woman understands fit
ting or Is clever ut any branch OF
drcssmaking the first thing she aims
I at is to start Il place Of her own, no
matter how humble it is. There are
| French drcsslnakcrs a-plenty IN New
| York living in IL few rooms and making
dresses for Il few dollars who could
command a good SALARY In Il htuse like
this. sag: but they prefer !, tiny shop
Or Il few rooms and Il helper or two
over whom they can be absolute boss
That Is the principal reason; I think
why French filters. saleswomen and
buyers are not often encountered In tho
larger dressrnakerS concerns and the
department stores. Again. French
women OF sufficient talent to build un
u large business choose as a. rule to
stay III Europe, where talent for the
creation OF womcn's garments Is just
as muc!: appreciated and as well re-
muneratcd as 1t is over here. 1t Is a
we'll known fact that there are not
enough French women to equip the
Paris drcssnltking worlkrooms which
are Obliged to employ workers of other
nationalitics.
In this establishment? Yes, our
best filters on women's made to order
costumes are Irish women, the head
salcswolnan, by which mean the most
expert at taking orders. is Of Irish
parentagc. and the buyer who goes
twice Il year to Paris to select women's
costumes was born in Ireland"
Said the buyer for the women's Gus
tom order department OF another large
concern who has Il good Irish name:
Il was born in this country. but
my parents are Irish. The head OF this
department is an Irish woman and
wonder she is at taking orders
and by the way. few women not in
business have any idea how 1nucl, Skill.
tact. good Judgment and creative talent
Is necessary to sell imported gowns
and take orders from those gowns.
Amateurs always imagine that about
all that Is needed is to trot out the
costumes and show them off or to show
samples Of goods and pictured designs
After that they think customers who
really want Il gown will be sure t.
leave a big order. There are sales.
women even who share this belief and
needless to say they never get any
where near the top Of the ladder
To sell an imported garment it is
necessary sometimes to nearly make i.
over. Vertical trimmings may have to
be pulled off and put on horizontally
or vice versa, or maybe 4 certain garni-
turc must be replaced with something
entirely different. Frequently it must
be entirely refitted and almost re-
modelled.
"The customer will like some features,
about It, and dislike others and she
may not be willing to have new gown
made which will copy the points she
does fancy and leave out the others.
| No, she wants the imported model and
yet the imported model isn't q,rite
what she does want. 1t takes talent
TO manage situation like that.