Evening star., 1926-11-24
FASHION IS GREAT.
INDUSTRY FACTOR
-.
MiIady's Whims Have Far
reaching Effect on the i
Trends Of Trade.
BY j. C. ROYI.E.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star. - r. Srs
NEW YORK, November 24-No de-
tail of fashion or change in style Is
too small to cause far-reaching effects
in the closing knit economic world.
That was the statement today of
Jacques Worth, long known as the
head of the Haute Couturie Of Paris.
a merchant, who numbers among is
customers houses from all over the
world. '-s
M. Worth, who has come to Ameri.
ca to study American women and
their tendencies in dress from a busi-
ness as well as an artistic stand
point, outlined the effects which
changes in fashion have on relation
ships between widely separated coun-
tries.
"The smallest details Of fashion,"
he said, may cause tremendous &C.
onomic consequences. Let us start at
the top and follow the trends to the
bottom. Take the hat, for instance. A
change in fashion from satin and vel
vet to felt and from lavish ornamen-
tation to plain lines may produce
economic crises in localities where
the materials involved are produced
with all the related effects to both
employers and employees. Where the
object is one so universally worn as
a hat, 1t can cause the most profound
poverty, or, on the other hand, can
bring about the greatest kind Of pros
perity for those associated with the
industry.
Textile Fads Factors.
Proceeding vertically downward, let
us consider the textiles which go into
the dress of fashion. Whatever may
y f. -
It tend toward velvets, silks, cottons or
woolens, we have again the close con-
nection between fashion and business.
In the basic products like woolens and
cottons, the chain Of circumstances
reaches not only to the manufacturer
Of the fabric but to the producer or the
raw material. Fashion can and does
affect the sheep grower on the west
ern ranges, in Australia and in South
America; the cotton planter in South
ern United States and Egypt, apd the
silk grower in China.
when Paris changes from woolens
to silks or from silks to woolens, she
may be affecting not only the Austral-
ian sheep herder or the Chinese grow
er of silk worms, but the shops big
and little in Peking or Sidney, and the
manufacturing plants which furnish
the goods on the shelves of those
shops.
Even underwear becomes of eco
nomic importance. The changes from
heavy woolens to silks and from steel
boned corsets to none at all have pro
duced vital changes which reached
into the steel industry and into the
welfare Of an entire business section
like New England.
Leather Producers Hit.
But to get down to basic under
standing of the problem we must con-
slider shoes Leather comes from the
backs Of animals on the great plains
OF farms and plains of the United
States and the pampas of Argentina
A change from leather to textiles, or
vice versa, will produce widespread
effects in those localities as well as
the manufacture districts which
they supply.
"The present fashion Of wearing
lizard, crocodile and serpent skins
made thousands Of natives in Africa
and South America. wealthy beyond
their fondest expectations.
"A button here or there, an ostrich
feather, a flower on the shoulder, "A
ribbon on the bodice. all are signif1-
cant elements today in the world of
business"
American manufacturers agree
heartily with M. Worth's conclusions.
They point out that the vogue for
furs not only had a far-reaching effect
on business conditions in the sparsely
populated parts of the world. but had
materially cut down the volume of
woolen goods formerly used in the
fabrication Of collars. cuffs and trim
mings of cloth garments. and that
the demand for printed silks had
thrown the gingham mills into a pc
riod Of acute depression for time.