The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-10-13
LONGER SKIRT
 COSTS MILLIONS
Will Require 25,OOO,O00 More
 Yards of Material.

' Washington, Oct. 13-An unex- >pected s5O.0O0.000 will pour into the pockets of dealers in women's gar ments, manufacturers of cloth and their employees this winter and next spring as a result of the Paris decree prescribing longer Skirts.
 Translated by government econo- mists into terms of cold commercial fact, this is what the new vogue will mean to the business world:
 Twenty-Five million yards of cloth to be manufactured and sold-over and above the demand-of last season. One million gowns and suits scrap pei a season aheadvof time by women anxious to keep exactly in line with style.
 Twenty thousand additional em- ployeS in textile mills and stores deal ing in women'S garments. Increased sales of low shoes for fwomen, together with a big turnovers in trimmings, braid and other deco rationS needed in the manufacture of suits and gowns under the new styles. Government experts in departments in Washington which aim to keep track of developments in the prodnc- ton and demand for wool, cotton, em- broideries and the textile and cloth ing industries have been giving atten- ton to the Paris fashion news for | months. Many Will Benefit
 l The question whether women's ISkirtSare to be longer or shorter may be made the subject of jest in thea I tres and newspapers, but to the econ | om1c and business experts of the gov | ernment it becomes a matter of vital | concern. On such factors may de- | pend the demand for raw cotton, wool, silk and the like by the great textile l industries of the South and New Eng I land.
 According to one official it figures out thus: Of the population of the United States, roughtly two-thirds, or | I IN lA6 as adult. Slightly more than half of the adults are women. At the very 1 most conservative estimate therefore 20, 100000 women will require an ad- | ditional yard and one-half of cloth l this winter and spring as a result of the vogue of the longer skirt The | number may be larger, but this is a | safe figure, it is explained.
 1 TranSposed into dollars, this spells l something like an additional S25,OOO,- | 900 for the textile mills How much i it may mean to the farmer who grows | the cotton or the sheep to furnish the
 wool cannot be computed, but there
 will be other beneficiaries also. Among ] them the broker who buys the raw wool and cotton from the farmer, the | railroad which receives additional ton mage, the banker who must carry a | larger loan and so on. Thousands of ! persons will benefit from the new | style if there is included the probable number of workers needed to enable the mills to handle the increased out T put
 @ Women's styles occupy a very large part of the time of the government
 officials who delve for facts which | shall prove of help to the nation s | manufacturers and business men. At the Commerce Department, the Bu- reau of Foreign and Domestic Trade
 keeps in touch with styles in Cuba South America and other parts of the l world to which American clothing
 manufacturers may wish to sell goods n AIz1
 on the trade6in women's gowns as seer
 from the viewpoint of the American | consul at Havana.
 Feel Fashions Pulse
 | When silk becomes the vogue in the
 minds of American women, the Com
 merce Department experts work out data in connection with the demand on the markets in China and Japan
 making fine grade of cloth for wom- ems garments. is causing sIeepless
 nights for officials of the United
 States Shipping Board. That is be-
 cause American buyers in Egypt have
 been offered very low rates by British
 ship operators. The desire of Amer.
 ican women to have a very specia
 kind of cotton dres goods thus is re
 Hecting itself in the business lives O.
 officials and business men in two hem
 ispheres.
 | Spanish shawls and capes, prescrib
 ed by Paris fashionabIes, spell worl
 for government experts this winte1
 who must keep track of the demand
 for the wool to make them. lad,
 rings from China, imported platinum
 to furnish a setting for the new va
 riety of dinner ring. Goa feather.
 from France for hats and fans
 buckles for slippers. bracelets, silk fo,
 stockings, beads, ivory and SCOT,
 of more imported fashionable frivoIi
 ties are making work for governmen
 experts who feel the pulse of fashio1
 continually to learn what it may meal l for American trade and commerce.