STOCKING RUSH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 193, 16 August 1941, Page 14

STOCKING RUSH

Panic Buying By j American Women

(By Air.l SAX FRANCISCO. Aug. f). (

The United States, by reason of j limiting the use of silk in the I country owing to Japan losing her ! biggest customer as a silk consumer, i lias witnessed a series of exciting! scenes in the principal centres of: population with the biggest silk | stocking run under way. Women ! have stormed hosiery counters to j lay in reserves before the Government's order freezing silk supplies led to rationing.

From Chicago. Philadelphia. San Francisco. Los Angeles. New York and other cities across the continent came reports of tremendous increases in sales and limitations on purchases. Stores disclosed varying stocks on hand, with some areas having reserves sufficient only for a few days and others prepared for months ahead.

Merchants estimated that should! the pace continue the four-month I reserves normally maintained would \ be exhausted within ten days 10 a i fortnight. The heavy buying j depleted most of the popular colours and sizes, with many shades com-, pletely out of stock. !

In Los Angeles four of the biggest . stores started a six-pairs-per-person | limit. In Chicago most stores limited j purchases to three pairs and one executive described the counter rush as a "madhouse." The Philadelphia | scramble was like "just before Christmas," one manager said, and j sales were four times above normal. I Counters Jammed | All department store counters j were jammed in San Francisco and \ retailers estimated sales were u(£ 300 .per cent over July 1. One! woman tried to buy 3:? dozen pairs. The largest silk wholesalers in Portland, Oregon, said that under present demand there was not enough hosiery to last more than two or three days. The supply of nylon | hose was said to be insufficient to , meet demands, with nylon plants j working overtime on tremendous i backlogs of wholesale orders. In ■ the meantime the United States j Agriculture Department announced it was ready to tell industry how j to make 150 styles of hosiery from cotton and nylon wearers were re-1 assured that the Government did not I intend to take over supplies of the synthetic fibre. j The National Association of ; Hosiery Manufacturers sent, a bid-1 letin to all members asserting that i Sidney Hillman. associate director of \ the Office of Production Manage-1 merit, would appoint a committee to study problems arising from the. J stop-production order. Belief that a new type of artifieial silk hose nearly as sheer as ! the real thing would soon be forthcoming from the nation's mills was i expressed by one merchandiser, Workers to be Transferred j | Defence officials in Washington set' ! aside 10 per cent of the nation's { rayon yarn production and supplies for allocation among silk users affected by the drastic stop-produc-tion command, effective at midnight on August 2. The newest step was intended to "avert complete dislocation of the sjlk hosiery and civilian supply silk weaving industry." said the Washington order, which applies only to rayon yarn production during August and September. During that time a special advisory committee will attempt to work out a long-range programme based on increases in rayon production, consumer reaction to silk substitutes and adjustment of present rayon customers to the new conditions. Wearers of nylon stockings need not fear that the Government will take over supplies of the synthetic fibre for parachute-making. Defence officials said. Both the army and navy prefer silk for parachutes, officials asserted, and the order stopping processing of silk was designed to conserve existing supplies for the Government. A plan was being evolved to transfer thousands of silk workers to other employment, largely in defence industries. It was estimated that 175,000 workers would soon become jobless upon the closing of the mills. The United States silk industry is concentrated in the heavy industrial sections of the east, including New England, and the south, where there has been the greatest demand for defence workers, and where labour has been imported from other areas.