The sun., 1919-07-20
1920 CLOTHES GAY.
BUT NOT WEARERS
For Latter Will Have to Pay
100 Per Cent. More Than
Year Ago.
JAZZ STYLES TO RULE
Reasons for All This Ventured
by Style Show Officials
in Session Here.

There Is just one bright spot in the
high prices Of clothing situation; and
some persons might not consider that SO
mounting daily and coal likely to be
more valuable than diamonds next win
ter. II really won't matter to the masses
II. as Chairman Harry simons Of the
Style Show, now in session at the Hotel
Martinique, prophesies the suit a man
could get for s25 last May will tax him
$50 In May. 1920 Because the majority
will probably starve or freeze to htath
and be far beyond the need Of clothes
next spring.
But for those who survive the winter
the problem of getting any new rags,
glad or sad or bad, will be a big one.
Just why the country has fallen sud-
denly into a state of inability to produce
as much as people need is a puzzle no
one explains very completely, but Chair
man Simons made u stab at 1t yesterday
while his fellow members of the Ameri-
can Designers Association. along with
some brothers from Canada. discussed
possible plans for reducing labor on Gus
tom made clothes. .
There's at least % per cent less labor
in the clothing trades now than before
the war" said Mr.. Simons. And there
Is no new labor coming in. The unions
won't allow apprentices. so the young
can't learn the trade. and then there &
a great emigration of Italians going
back home, and so per cent. Of the labor
in mems garments Is Italian. Many OF
our people left the clothing factories at
the beginning OF the war to go into more
lucrative employments. and they don't
want to return. and neither do the de-
modified soldiers who once made clothes
want to go back to making clothes.
Prices Keep Shooting Up.
That is one reason for the way prices
OF coats and pants and SO on are shoot
ing up, and another reason is the
change from piece work to pay by the
week. This means decreased efficiency,
because II the worker knows so much
Is waiting for him Saturday night In
his pay envelope he isn't going to hustle
himself a third reason is the high
cost of materials Manufacturers OF
materials suffer. of course. from the
same difficulties that hamper the men
who make UP cloth into garments-the
great lack of people TO man their fac
| tories
Elwood S. McNahb, president of the
association, and j. c.. Mcdonald. a Bos.
| ton designer and the vice-president, led
opposing sides Of the discussion over
| the necessity OF simpler styles for men
Mr.. McNabb held that by eliminating
every seam not absolutely indispensable
and doing away with braid binding fol
pockets and all such do-dads. work on
mems suits could be lessened appre
t,nFI hnt
| were fappers among men as among
women, and that the number who
yearned for the type OF clothing callet
| ''jazz" was larger than most persons
dreamed
| He said the reaction from the sad
| ness OF the war was bound to lead man!
men to look for a certain amount Of
| blitheness and gayety in their haoni
ments. and that the manufacturer whe
affected unadorned severity in the pant:
and coats and so forth that he turned
out would be forced to admit himself
a poor psychologist. But the sense o.
/ the meeting was that men are no
SLAVES OF style, like women and 4
seems likely that braid bindings anc
such frivolities will 60
| Innings VIII BE Gay.
BY way of making up for this lining'
will probably be gay, and the tuturistl
youth who wants to sport around II
coat with a lining OF purple flower
on an orange background will not hav'
far to seek The manufacturers ar
perfectly willing to give the public an!
gsyety that doesn't mean stitches. AnC
even at the cost of extra stitches the,
will probably send ont some coats wiz
waistlines. so that the young man VIII
acquired a good figure over there VIII
be able after doffing uniform to exhibi
its lines TO the world. In deferenc
to the military figure the old slopini
shoulder is going out and the squar
shoulder will be amply provided for II
the clothes now TO be turned out.
Nobody can guess. according 10 Chair
man Simons. what the demand for men
clothes is going TO be. Sales are goo
now. for the returning soldiers are al
Ihastening forth the minute they dof
their <haki to get n new civilian suit
But will they ever buy another? Tina
Is what is worrying the clothing men
with life growing harder day by da.
and the Bolshevih and all sorts o
things in the offing may It not be tina
the suits they are buying now will hav
10 do most OF the world war veteran
the rest Of their lives?
Women's Wear Ditto.
The style show at the Martinique ism
considering women's wear. but the lead
ers there said the same conditions govern
both. and II mems clothing costs 100 pc
cent more next spring this will doubles
be true of women's duds. In fact. Mr.
Simons said that many makers were re
fusing to show fall styles In women
dresses. &C., because they want to wal
for the higher prices which they say ar
sure to come soon. But women can't d.
without clothes and apparently man,
have plenty OF money to spend on them
for orders are pouring in faster than tn
manufacturers can I'LL them, and the vol
ume of business, reckoned in money,
tremendous. Most OF the makers war
buyers that the prices quoted now ar
subject TO advance any time.
The shortage in woollen goods is NOR
acute than that In silks even, and astut
buyers are roping in all the coats an
suits that they possibly can. But &C
cording to Executive Director David W
Mosessohn of the Associated Press Ir
dustries OF America. silk Is going SIX
, high too.
Likewise shoes which now cost $l2 ar
like to go to $40 before many months
such is the cheerful prediction OF job
Slater OF 415 Fifth avenue, chairman c
the committee on resolutions of the Me-