Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-07-29
THE ECONOMICS OF FASHION.
Ready-Made Mems Clothes.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

Ill 10y ASS~NA N
Each season adds to the number of men
who are discovering for themselves the
economy of time and trouble to be found
in the purchase of ready-made clothing.
The present styles of close fitting. padless
clothes seem to be made to fit the aver
age man exceptionally well. and he enjoys
the advantage of knowing how his suit is
going to look when finished, which to him
is quite as important as is such knowl-
edge to a woman regarding her clothes.
While the conservative man always will
prefer to have his clothes made to order.
the tailors this season are complaining
loudly regarding the competition of the
ready-n.ade suit. AS a matter of fact, the
taiiors are doing well-for their GUS
toners are wearing a greater number of
suits than ever before.
man who is noted for his good judg
ment in clothes recently said: Il never
thought that l would ever become an en-
thusiast over ready-made clothing, but |
have. For years l have been going to the
highest priced tailor in the city, and gen.
orally | have been satisfied. This spring
i ordered a suit and went several times to
be fitted, but il did not fit. ! realized
somehow the coat did not please me after
having taken it back twice To be altered.
In tie meantime l happened 10 stop into
a first-class shop where ready-made
oslty tried on suit. 1t fitted me per-
fectly, better than my tailor. who had
taken my measurements accurately. /
bought the suit and have had more COM
pliments it than on any suit l ever
wore. ! am Just an average man, with no
peculiarities of form. and my measure
ments easily are secured in ready-made
suits. OF course the suit will not hold its
shape as well or long the tai
lored suit, but it is easier to buy
1t must not be considered a reflection
upon the skill of the tailors that such
happenings are becom-
Results OF ing numerous. 1t is
n:4. one Of the economic
organization. results of improved
machinery and thorough organization
of all of the forces which go to produce
the readymade suit When a quantity
of cloth is to be cut out by one pattern.
machinery is called into service which
produces greater accuracy than the in
dividual cutter. Uniformity of style
makes this perfectly feasible for large
quantities of mems clothes. Patterns are
cut according to measurements from per-
feet models, and the same pattern may
be used to cut out thousands of suits of
numerous varieties and qualities of cloth.
In the matter of skilled labor the adj
vantage also is being given to the manu-
facturer rather than to the custom tailor.
me better class workmen now prefer to
work in the large plants where they have
the advantages of the best conditions and
In most cases their salaries are higher.
So great has the competition for labor
between the individual tailor and the
manufacturer become that private tailor
said to customer recently: Il never
can go home Saturday night now secure
In the belief that my foreman will be in
my employ the following week, as. in one
season. | lost two of my best men on
short notice because they received tele-
grams from New York manufacturers
Sunday ordering them to report for work
immediately with a heavy increase in
salary Even when the salaries are not
materially larger. many tailors prefer the
large force of manufacturer. with it's
greater social life. to the narrower circle
Of interests of the individual tailor
X
Complaint is often made that the
women OF today are extravagant in
their tastes, and
One Suit a Season want at least three
Not Enor~b dresses for every
one owned by their
mothers. To any one familiar with the
wardrobe Ct the average well dressed man
1t would seem that the masculine ex-
travasance was quite equal TO that of the
feminine sex. The time is past when
one suit season is regarded sufficient
The fact that men now are wearing so
many different colors is partly responsible
for the ncrea sed number o6 suits re-
quired by the well dressed man. Accord
ing to an authority upon the subject. a
properly dressed man should have six
lounge suits for morning wear in order
that he may not seem to appear too often
in the same suit. but may dress different
ly for each Of the six days in the week
A list suggestive of the variety of the
suits included a blue serge, either a gray
Scotch plaid or gray with a hair line, a
brown suit. suit in one of the new blue
green shades one in the biscuit -colored
whipcOrdS and another of gray flannel
These are only the informal suits. In adj
dition there should be a gray cutaway
for more important business occasions
and a number of different varieties of
evening clothes. including the dinner
jacket and the regulation dress coat
cOnsiderab bic amount of attention al
ways is given to the clothes of college
men. and these usually present the ex-
tremes in new fashions and cuts. When
wide trousers We're in vogue the college
man affected a style quite resembling the
divided skirt of the dress-reform female
Now that the conventional trousers are
narrow some Of the young men frequent
ing the New England colleges may be
seen in Boston wearing as near an APP
proach to a divided hobbe skirt as can be
imagined. and the girls find it quite
interesting times to speculate to
how they would manage to escape vi
cious watch dog the men. during the
pa ST two years, have found it to watch a
hobble-skirted girl step over bad
crossing.
In most OF the stores where mems
ready made clothing is Sold the garments
are altered to meet the
Alteration Of the needs of the Gus
toner without extra
UoA noA'S' charge. but in many
stores this privilege has been so abused
that the shopkeepers are considering
some other method. Under the current
system Of clothes cutting, few alterations
are needed for the normal figure, so that
the employment of an alterer for every
salesman in a ready-made clothing de-
partment no longer is necessary. In New
England a number of the stores tried the
IF ha rppo "a lferaf iOnS N