New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-04-21
Overall Drive
Brings Worry
ToClothiers
Rapid Spread of Move to
Substitute Denim for
Hi gh-Price Suits Stirs the
Dealers; Protests Made
Economy Line Growing
Saturdays Parade to Num-
Der $4,000; Officials and
Students in New Carb

~
The craze for substituting blue
denim and khaki duck for extravaganza
ly priced cloths of more conventional
materials has spread into wide move
ment toward economy which. has the
clothing trade plainly worried. So
long as the fad was confined to a few
theatrical folks and press agents who
sported overalls for whatever publicity
there might be in it the manufacture
ers of expensive apparel were satisfied
to smile indulgently, but the growth
Of the idea into a definite movement
for wearing old clothes rather than
paying unreasonable prices for new
ones offers more serious prospec,.
Representatives of the clothing trade
who on Monday were laughing heartily
at the idea Of a country clad entirely
in overalls are to-day issuing lengthy
and dscursive pronunciamentos de-
signed to prove that the idea of not
buying new clothes is all wrong
irOteSL by tlOtnlerS
THE Haberdasker," official organ OF
the mems garment trade, sent out yes
terday advance copies of an article
which it will publish in its May mum
Der in which it is suggested that if the
people are really keen for economy
they should cut out something else
than clothcs
AS with most of the other spokes
men for the tailors, THE Haberdash
err" thinks the overalls craze is a Jest
and nothing more.
"This is one of the historical move
this country and are always short
lived" the paper says. at is neither
logical nor practicable, nor is it eco
nomlcally sound, under existing con
dltlons. Overals manufacturers are
now months behind the demand from
the laboring class.
Men everywhere for year past
have been buying and insisting upor
getting only the most expensive
goods. Retail buying in the markets
has reflected this popular extrava-
gance so unmistakably that the cheap
CT grades have not sold at all and the
medium grades only slightly
Would it not be the sane thing TO,
N-iN PUCiiS " Accept inc less expensive
necessities and curtal its buying OF
diamonds, furs, automobiles and othe,
Injuries before turning to a scheme of
dress wholly unsulted to general wear:
Sufferers From Prices
I'VE realize that it is the middle
classes who are hardest hit by presen
prices and that the protest comes mainl,
from them. And they, least of all, who
Ottiro
iesslonal men. can afford to make ar
und Ignltled and badly groomed appear
ance
"Our current high prices arc due t.
prosperity, which never vet failed tt
bring them. Not clothing manufac
turer or dealer has yet been convicted
of profiteerng. From this prosperit,
labor, admittedly, has benefited most
We predict that the overalls movement
Will die aborning when the public
awakens to its senselessness, ineffec
tlveness and personal costiness"
The economy parade for Saturday
next will see fifty thousand protesting
CITIZENS IN line, according to Aaror
Rachofsky, its organizer
Inc parade Will start at II O'CLOCK
from Washington Square and will fol-
low the historic route on Fifth Avenue
to 10th Street. Practically every higl
school. college and university in greater
New York will be represented. ant
women's clubs, civic associations. 70
tary and comercial clubs will have vas,
proportions of their memberships If
line. The marlborough, Bell Telephone
and other industrial organizations viii
supply quota af denim clad, lunch
basket carrying employees
Economy Movement Grows
rt-In Il
general tendency toward the wear
ing of old clothes or clothes made
from inexpensive materials was visi
Bile in all directions yesterday. AT
Caldwell, n. j., the borough council
meeting was turned into general
discussion on overalls. and Prosecutor
j. henry Harrison advanced the opn-
ION that 1T was not necessary to buy
overalls in order to economic.
I'VE should wear out our old clothes
before buying new ones,' he said.
The Central High School in Newark
has started an "Anti-Overall League.
whose members oppose the wearing of
overalls on the ground that an unusual
demand for the garments will mercly
increase the price to the regular wear
er of blue jeans.
In Brooklyn yesterday jeremiah,
Costello, custodian of records in the
Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court, appeared in court CARRIED in a
suit of blue denim for which he paid
1928. Frank Ciancimino. official Ital-
ian interpreter at the Bridge Plaza
Police Court, interpreted yesterday in
brown duck suit. and at Erasmus
High School most of the students wore
denim. Charles Schneider, calendar
clerk Of the Queens County Court, and
Borough Secretary Joseph Flanagan, of
Queens, are heading a movement to
make patched pants a badge of honor
At Elizabeth, N. j., yesterday a no.
tice Endorsed by Principal J. Frank
lin Pierce was posted in the Battin
High School suggesting denim and cal
leo as suitable dress materials for the