Evening star., 1943-06-28
Laundry Delays
Boom SaIesof
Shirts, Sheets
Purchasers Comp|oin
Of Slow Service,
Stores Report
BY MIRIAM GUTENBERG.

Delays IN getting shirts and linens
back from the hard-pressed laun-
dries have resulted In men buying
far more shirts than they need and
a steady run" on depleted stocks
Of sheets, survey by The Star
revealed today.
Mems haberdashery stores re-
ported an increasing number Of
men who complained they had to
buy three to six more shirts be-
cause their shirts hadn't returned
from the laundries.
Many of them reported their
shirts had been lost or torn by the
inexperienced help that is all the
laundries can get, when they can
get 1t.
The two largest linen depart
ments in the city both reported
their stocks were being depleted be-
cause housewives are buying up to
three weeks extra supply of sheets,
pillowcases and towels. The ex-
planation they get is that their
usual supply Of sheets are still in
the laundry.
Steady Buying Reported.
One sheet saleswoman said that
housewives used to wait for white"
sales to replace torn sheets in their
linen closets, but now they are buy
ing linens steadily.
I'VE have been selling a great
many sheets" said another sales
woman. Most housewives have a.
two weeks supply. Now they must
nave enough sheets for three or four
weeks because their linens aren't
coming back from the laundries as
fast as they used to. I'm quoting
the customers"
Another department store said the
sheet situation had been bad for
several months but was not getting
worse. A buyer reported a number
OF people had called to ask the
prices of sheets because their wash
had been lost and they wanted to
know how much they should ask
in return.
Luncheon Mats Favored.
Many customers, the buyer re-
ported, are buying luncheon mats
which don't have to be washed to
replace their diminishing supply of
clean table linens.
One of the mems stores said a
customer had told a salesman he had
flve dozen shirts in the laundry. He
had sent all his shirts to the laun-
dry and had been buying more.
None had come back. He bought
half a dozen shirts.
Haberdasheries agreed generally
that individual purchases were
larger. Where a man used to buv
one shirt, he now buys three. In
addition, the men aren't so particu-
lar: They will buy anything they
can get to tide them over till their
laundry returns.
Increased by Hot Weather.
One man, according to a haber-
oashery salesman. complained his
wash had been gone for % days. The
laundry had promised each week to
return it but he couldn't wait any
longer.
The stores reported a noticeable
increase in shirt buying because of
the hot weather. but said 1t was
larger this year because the hot
weather had made men change
shirts more often and they didn't
have a backlog of shirts to fall
back on
A national effort Is now being
made to conserve textiles.
War Manpower Chief Paul V. Nc
Mutt. who Is responsible for seeing
that essential industries have enough
workers to continue. told his press
conference today that he, too, had
suffered in the laundry crisis. A
shlrt, he said. was returned with
two buttons missing. He said it was
up to the area war manpower direc-
tor to deal with .Washington's laun-
dry crisis.