Evening star., 1932-07-25
BUYERS FLOCK|NG
TO NEW YORK MART
Expected to Reach Seasonal
Peak-QuaIity Is Being
Stressed.
BY BRADLEY w. TRENT.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, July 25.-Buyers from
all parts of the Nation arrived here to-
day in numbers greater than a week
ago. as merchants opened more of their
Fall merchandise lines. At the rate
buyers have been arriving the last three
weeks, resident buyers Offices believe
the number of out-of-town purchasers
will reach the seasonal peak within the
next fortnight.
Quality rather than price is being
stressed by many of these buyers who,
like some Of the leading local mer-
chants, believe the public is tired Of
sales with price appeals" and now is
ready for quality appeals"
Lesson From Europe.
James M. Speers, chairman of the
board of James McCutcheon & Co, just
back from London and Paris. believes
many American merchants could learn
much from European merchants, who
hold two sales year and do business
alcng normal lines between such sales.
Such policy. he declared, makes Eu-
ropean merchants operate at a profit
even during depressions.
An echo of the stress being placed
on quality came from Chicago and
Pacific Coast shirt buyers now in this
city They report their stores have
been emphasizing quality rather than
price with the result that they are SELL
ing more of the better grade of shirts,
from $3.50 up. Cluett. Peabody & Co.,
Inc, today sent letter to dealers stat
ing that low prices don't make shirt
bargain"
Offsetting this quality campaign are
the opportunities offered to various
lines by manufacturers who realize the
public's reduced purchasing power.
This is especially noted in the textile
trades. Clothing is 35 per cent lower
than in the boom days Of 1929, re-
worked wool Is about IS per cent less
than year ago, wool blankets are
down rs per cent, and bedspreads,
sheets and pillow cases are about 80 per
cent lower. The floor covering trade
notes that linoleumS are about Is per
cent below quotations of a year ago.
Following the record low of 81 for
silk hose and unorganized labor troubles
in North Carolina, because of wage
cuts, the National Association of Ho-
siery & Underwear Manufacturers
states. 1T Is our judgment that prices
cannot fall further without seriously
destroyed quality and without further
lowering of wages"
Unique Strike.
The unique strike here Of markers Of
boys clothing, as contractors closed
their factories until they could obtain
living price" from manufacturers,
has created no stampede of local buyers.
July and August always are dull months
in the boys clothing business, which
usually spurts during the first week
of September with the opening of
school.
The rise in various commodities, how
ever. is having a stimulating effect.
Higher sugar prices, for instance, are
expanding sugar demand and thereby
requiring more bags, which in turn has
Stiffened quotations on cotton cloth
used for bagging sugar.
Betterment in various textile lines,
such as woolens, owing to the 10 per
cent advance in raw wool In the London
market, and in yarns is being felt in
the chemical trade, especially in the
dyestuffs division, where demand has
broadened. Higher cattle quotations,
which caused an advance in hide prices,
are beginning to be reflected in firmer
quotations for tanning materials.
Copyright. 1e32D