The Pulaskian., 1917-12-21
heir mems customers and local adver-

their mems customers and local adyer- Using.
 Inquiry among several representa- tive mems wear houses elimited many objections to the manufacture of wo- mems garments, althouh here and there it was said the possibility ex- ists and would probably be tried out in an attempt to keep labor employed and 10 maintain the volume of busI. ness in spite of the effect of the draft on the mems clothing business, par ticularly on those houses catering to young men. It was the general opin- ion that If house decides to go into the manufacture of women's garments, a separate tailoring department is necessary, notwithstanding whether the experiment. Is confined to over coats or embraces tailor made suits If the line extends to suits it was the opinion that a separate designing de separate system of buying on account of the differences between the weights of fabrics used for mems and Women's garments.
 Competition of Women's Wear Trades
 An Obstacle.
 One of the chief arguments ad- vanced against the plan, however, was the competition offered by the wonl- ems wear manufacturing houses.
 There is no business which has such a high overhead as the mons clothing industry" said one of the fac tors in the latter, "and If women want mannish garments the women's wear houses will produce them cheaper than we can. Take woman's coat and compare the tailoring in 1t with mans garment and you will see the difference. I examined 8 woman sport coat the other day. This gar ment cost 800 at a well known Fifth avenue store, and I was surprised to find that the collar was not even hand tailored. Women want clothing which looks well, and they are not particular about the way 1t is made"
 Mannisn garments are something for the retailer to worry about, rather than the manufacturer, comments well known wholesaler, for the mems clothing manufacturing organization was not disposed to try "stunts" in the present market, preferring to play safe by sticking to legitimate lines. He voiced the opinion it might bo that g. perceptible falling off in trade on ac- count of the effect of the draft, etc, might lead some retail merchants to put in line of mannish clothing to bolster sales, but said he did not ex- pect high grade mems speciality shops to do so. By such a course there would be tendency toward loss Of individuality.
 Mannish clothing is for makers of women's apparel to produce, rather than for mems clothing manufaetur- CTS, said another mems wear man, who did not see the advisabilitY of manufacturer devoting any part of his organization to making garments for women. He thought it foolish idea He added, he believed there will be work enough to take care Ol the apparel wants for men without in- troducing new ideas, tending merely toward business expansion and the us ing of additional man power at q time such waste would be little shoCt of criminal.
 Retailers would be very foolish to mix mems and womens apparel, warned the president of a large local retail organization He also empha- sized the danger of loss of Identity
 "It would be suicidal for any big speciality store to attempt such move" he added "Take my own case, for instance. l specialize in mems apparel: one of my best assets is my individuality. Hence, l can't af- ford to jeopardize that asset by not adhering to the stores policy of cater