Middletown transcript., 1918-08-31

New IOrk.-Ihe trade, WHICH IuednS
the vast multitude of people engaged in
the making and selling Of women's ap-
parel, has at last sounded warning to
those who buy too far ahead of the
seasons, advises a well-known fashion
correspondent.
The public has deplored this cOndi-
ton. It has been well known for sew
eral seasons that the average woman
did not care to buy straw hat in
February and velvet hat In July, or
to have all her autumn clothes offered
to her the first of September with the
assurance that they were the fashions
that would rule throughout the winter.
She has been often betrayed, and that
betrayal has not soothed her irritation
against those who sold her the clothes.
It is the fact also that the trade in
turn has found itself caught in
net that tangled and involved 1t, and
compelled each individual to struggle
for success in a manner contrary to
the dictates of reason and sobriety.
Through this web of circumstances
everyone has come to feeling that
something must be done in the crea-
ton of new fashions long before the
season for which they are to be worn,
and that the public must follow the
lines laid down by the trade COMPETE
tors.
Right here lies the extraordinary
gamble to women in buying clothes
early in the season. Right here lies
one of the greatest sources of money
wastage. Thousands Of women, who
have no way of knowing what the
fashions will be as the season adj
vances, buy what is said to be new as
| the season demands change.
What they buy in September has
probably been bought by the shop in
June. To keep up with the rising tide
of forehandedness, the manufacturers
make the clothes earlier and earlier,
and the ready-to-wear shops and de-
partment stores, as a rule. buy these
clothes as early as the manufacturers
make them, and get them out at the
very moment there is a slight demand
| for them.
What happens?
In October and in April the real
| fashions come out for each season.
Hundreds of women-nay, thousands
are faced with the fact that they have
bought gowns, or wraps. or hats that
are not in keeping with the new
clothes. They have bought clothes ar
ranged six months before the authen'
tic exhibitions of new and seasonable
apparel.
What happens next?
The woman who can possibly scrape
up enough money to buy new outfit
does so, and she also spends extra
money on seamstress or little dress
maker to have her other clothes re
modelled. Therefore. she spends twice
her allowance on clothes.
Panic Has Produced Careless Buying
Many of the traders in apparel real
ize that panic and form of CONNER
cial hysteria have resulted in large
amount of early buying, which is not
fair either to the individual or to com
nerce. Every shopper has shared thu
same experience this last year of be
ing told that it is wise to buy at once
the articles needed, because they might
not be obtainable at later day.
This has resulted in certain meas
ure Of boarding, which the government
does not allow in food. It has alread!
resulted in severe waste of individual
money. Women, feeling the press O.
this panic, have gotten clothes i'll ad
vance of the season, and they now flint
ttat there are just as many to be hat
as six months ago, and that the SHAPE
and texture have changed.
It would be far wiser method O
spending ones money to buy little
at the necessary time, representing tn
best there is at that moment.
There will always be material o