The Irish standard., 1906-05-12

Set an ordinary saleswoman who
has been accustomed to handing out
low priced, ready made garments with
a take it or leave it air to the task
and invariably the customer walks out
without leaving an order and the sales
has not done her whole duty. On the
other hand let the head of this depart
nent take hold of the situation and
the customer is almost equally sure to
leave several orders before going out.
Not only does she know what
models are most becoming to individual
proportions and style but she can
usually make the customer see it too,
which is very different matter. Or,
failing that. she can work up any wom-
an who really has an intention to buy
to the point of selecting something or
other. Her cxpcdients are endless.
''Take an equally clever French
woman and She couldn't begin to get
on with New York customers us an
Irish woman can. The former will
antasonizc an i'll tempered or nervous
customer where the other will soothe
and cajole. And the Irish woman is
ingenious TOO.
When. for instance, one tells me that
she is afraid she is short OF goods for
a certain style of custome for which
she has taken an order, Ill I need say
is this: If II French woman had that
order she would have no trouble about
making the goods answer With /, toss
of her head the Irish woman walks off
and hear no more about shortage of
material.
"A German or an American, on the
contrary, would, under the same cir
cumstances. be quite unmoved ana
probably would really require more
goods. The French are economical cut
ters and the Irish come next. ,
Yes, the head employees IN this de-
partment are Irish, and the Irish pre-
dominate in all the first class wolncn's
order departments I can think Of"
THE Irish are born salcspeope. They
can sell anything" remarked the man
ager of Il Sixth avenue store which in
cludes a dressmaking department, high
in fashionable favor. and they are
artistic and ldaptive--supposing they
have talent enough to enter the dress
makers ranks at ALL
Some of the best and most artistic
employers III our custom order DEPART
ment from time to time have risen from
the ranks of errand girl and shopper;
and they We're of Irish parantagc
Young Irish girls who learned the
dressmakcrs' trade in Ireland before
coming here often develop into
and selling the more expensive grades
Of women's clothing. aside from tall
"rcd gowns, which are generally cut
and fitted by men,
Dinner gowns. ball gowns. reception
gowns, fancy costumcs-if they can be
called that--of every kind are seldom
fitted by men. Tailored suits. on tho
other hand, are rarely fitted by women.
I'm the thousand and one small
places in New. York which advertise
to make ladies' suits, the German. the
Pole. the Russian. is far more of!n
encountered than the lrislnan, and III
these places women employees are
much in the background. They seldom
tit. or take orders or sell. The: help
with the sewing and that is about all
and it is not often that an Irish woman
is met in any of them.
Our mead cutter and filter in the
strictly tailor suits is a German, but
the orders for such suits are taken
mostly by an Irish woman. for the ia;l-
son that they are given in the depart
ment which makes a specially of gowrs
OF lace, silk, satin and vclvct.
italian women do the most o.l,a-
mental of the sewing on woncn's CO.'S
tunes made here, and there are many
German Americans in our wOrkrp o,.ls
and some in our s;llcsroomS. Our Eu
rOpean buyer of womcn's costumes is
Irish American, the head of the dcnart
ment is an American and the chief
takers OF orders are Irish and OF Irish
descent.
at present we have no French WON'T
an in the department. French women
are scarce"