WOMEN'S CLOTHES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 12, 15 January 1943, Page 5

WOMEN'S CLOTHES

RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED

GREATER SIMPLIFICATION

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. A notice enforcing a specification for the simplification of women's and girls' underwear gazetted to-night by the factory controller represents further progress in the programme of simplification with the object of conserving manpower and material. The controller says the restrictions affect all underclothing and nightwear garments, in addition to lounge pyjamas, dressing gowns and house coats, but do not apply to garments for children under seven years of age. The manufacture of lounge pyjamas and evening length slips is prohibited. Dressing gowns and house coats may not be made from woven artificial silks in plain colours, knitted cotton or rayon or woven cotton materials other than molleton. The specification eliminates hand embroidery, hemstitching, applique, work, lace or frilled, edges, pockets, superfluous fasteners and other features which call for excessive processing or make undue demands on materials. Measurements for three basic size groups of pyjamas and nightdresses have been limited in a way that avoids the wastage of material while preserving due regard for essential service considerations. Recognising that such restrictions are essential in order to make the maximum quantity of clothing available, manufacturers and related trading interests freely co-operated with the Standards Institute in the formulation of the specification. The scarcity of imported materials, together with the demands made by the armed forces, made both manpower and supply positions so difficult that it was necessary to utilise every means to maintain essential production during the emergency.