Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-06
ATLANTA GIRLS
BUY MILLINERY
MADE At HOME
Half the Hats Seen on Peachtree
Street Are Made Here, but
the Fact Is Unheralded,
JoBBERS USE OWN LABELS
Factories Lose Identity When the
Product Is Shipped-MateriaIs
Come From Many Lands.

Half the women's hats seen on
Peachtree street are made right in
Atlanta
The fair Peachtree promeDaders
don't know it; the milliners they pat
ronize don't know IL: in many cases
the tobbers themselves don't know H.
There are three factories in Atlanta
making women's hats, of straw. felt
plush. hemp and the myriad other
materials which go to bedeck miladys
couture and frame her pretty face.
But as soon as the hat leaves these
factories the manufacturers lose their
identity. The hat Is marked with the
tobbers label It may be marked
New York. Philadelphia. New Orleans
or even London. The fact that It IS
made in Atlanta is nowhere to be dis
covered.
one manufacturer tells, with a
grin. of Atlanta milliners who
stocked up" in New York-with At
lanta- made hats
Altogether, It is an interesting bust
ness.
Materials From Afar.
The American Hat Manufacturing
Company. one of the largest Of the
three Atlanta factories. imports
straws direct from China, Japan.
Italy and Germany. These straws
are plated abroad. and either are
dyed there or bleached and dyed IN
Camden. n J,
Japan sends hemp braid. italy fur
nishes the milans. legh0rns and tus-
cans. Germany furnishes a peculiar
material known as Neapoitan braid,
which, though few know II. 10 made
from American cotton. China fur
nishes coarse straws.
So much for the straws The felt
bodies come from abEOad. in the
rough--queer. looking toadstools OF
various shades. Silks. ribbOnA vel
vets, pushes and ornaments are car
ried IN quantity enough TO stock a dry
goods store OF large proportions.
Just now the factories are busy
with the hats TO be worn this fail and
winter, and with misses and chill
dren's hats for spring, 1874
Sample rooms already are nTled
with fall and spring lines. dazzling
arrays OF colors, and seemingly in al
most every shape. but with smaller
hats predominating,
Plaster Hats the Start.
The making OF hat may be said to
begin In the room where a skilled
workman makes plaster moids acCu-
rately defining the shapes From
these plaster affairs, metal dies are
made. These dies are put in the
presses and heated BY gas flames
The rough shapes. either felt, velvet.
straw or hemp. are stamped with
these hot dies and held in them until
dry. When removed tho heat has
baked the sticky Sizing until the
shapes are firm.
From the presses the velvet and
plush hats go to a workman who
steams them and brushes up the nap
TO its original beauty.
The straw shapes are made in the
factory. Ingeniously designed sewing
machines, manipulated by skillful
girls sew the braid round and round
until a tiny knot grows into a gigantic
hat In the straw season $50 girls
are busy al these machines.
Other ingenious machines sew In
Innings, attach cloth crowns to brims,
bind brims. and do other complicated
stitching which would seem to need
the skill of the human hand.
Girl Designs Trimmings.
The elaborate bows and trimming
are designed by the young forewom-
an, who then teaches the girls under
how TO make them. This, in itself is
work requiring art.
Ready for shipment. the hats are
put IN the familiar round boxes
these, too, made in the factory, and
then in big corrugated paper cases.
on they go, bringing Atlanta no
glory-but considerable money!