Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-02-20
INTERESTING
LECTURE ON
MAKING CLOTHES
Industry Ranks Seventh in
Importance
One of Foremost Firms in u s., EN-
plans Steps in Process, Origin
of Raw materials, and Gives
Data at First-Hand


At first glance clothing might seem
to be q rather dry and unlnterestlne
subject After being in the clothing
business for quite few years, how.
ever, we don't find it SO. We want
to try to make it plain to you how
many different angles of research
there are if one starts to give close
consideration or analysis to suit OF
fine clothing; so-called every day
business suit such as we all wear
most often.
The historical aspect Of our present
clothing or the development leading
up to our present clothing is an In
teresting subject in itself.
Not much more than a hundred
years ago, there was no such thing
as ready made clothing, as we now
know it In colonial, revolutionary
and early constitutional times in oul
country, the gentlemen wore bro,
cades and laces and frills and the
garments were, for the most part
made by London tailors.
The common people wore clothes
made at home Many were OF skins
but nearly every household had its
spinning wheel; the women folks
spun the yarn and they either wove
the cloth or had it woven at some 10.
cal weaver's. They cut, trimmed, and
made the clothes, such as they were
1t is interesting to think CT the
old-fashioned American housewife
as combining into one process all
the work now covered by such great
industries as spinning, weaving, and
tailoring There is no better illustra
ton of the growth of our country
and the development of cur industry
than this one thing.
The first real business in ready
made clothing was the sale Of sec
ond- hand clothes. The American gen
tlemen of the first class, when he
had finished with his fine garments,
disposed of them to the secondhand
man, and he, in turn, distributed
them among the men Of lesser means
who felt they must wear gentlemen's
clothing. Therefore, this distribution
of secondhand goods might be
termed the beginning Of the ready
made clothing industry
There was no rapid development
in the business until about the time
of the Civil War. Prior to that time,
men begun to go into the business
Of manufacturing clothing and there
was probably considerable number
engaged in it, although there are no
statistics available on that point. The
clothes were all designed the same
way. The cloth was heavy and UNI
wieldly, except some of the finer
broadcloths, and the colorings were
far from the beautiful effects that
exist today.
Great stimulus was given to the
ready-made clothing idea at the time
of the Civil War. 1t became neces-
sary then to produce uniforms in
large quantities. There were hun
dreds of thousands of men who had
to be clothed quickly and the neces-
sites of the situation brought
realization of what could be done in
the production Of clothes for men.
What the war did was simply to
show the possibility of ready-towear
garments, and the case of producing
them in great volume. 1t was not un-
til within the experience of many Of
you that style was introduced, and
the business gradually developed on Z.
scientific and artistic basis.
The manufacturing clothier did
two great things for the industry
He studied style until ready-made
clothing sets the pace for fashion.
He also learned to classify the hui
man figure into groups, and has ex-
banded the number Of groups until il
is only deformed man who cannot
be fitted.
Furthermore, the manufacturing
clothier has become an artist, and he
engages artists in his business. Few
people realize the extent to which
the genius of an artist must put in
to clothes. In the first place, only
a artist: can design them success
fully, because he must be versed in
the effects of lines and in expression.
A garment that does not show indi-
viduality would not last for minute
in the lvesent-day competition. Ev-
erything must be rightly proportion
ed, and, in the manufacturing Of
high-gradt clothing, each garment
must be a harmonious whole before It
can be offered to the public.
This application of the artists
feelings does not stop with merely
getting the right lines into gar
ment or the right touches into the
lapel or sleeves. 1t extends, for ex-
ample, to the buttons. 1t takes some
thing more than ordinary, everyday
talent to place the right kind Of
buttons on a sack coat OF an over
coat The colorings. the shade, the
general effect, all require the eye
of the artist. The same is true of
Innings. It must be a durable lining,
but it must also be OF character
that will adopt itself to the garment;
it must be correct in shade, and the
man who applies the Innings to the
various garments must have this
genius for obtaining harmonious CT
fects.
Keeping in mind the colonial
housewife who did all thhe work, it
is interesting to look at the figures
showing the magnitude Of The cloth
ing business of today Figures gath
cred by the United States Census Blu
reau show that the mems clothing
industry ranks seventh among the