"GLAD RAGS"

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 3, 3 July 1926, Page 10

"GLAD RAGS"

ALSO "GLAD SHOES"

FASHION AS INDUSTRY'S

SALESMAN

WILL MEN, AS WELL AS WOMEN. DRESS FOR SHOW1?

(By F.T.K.)

Is the day coming wren fashion will dictate men's wear as arbitrarily as it dictates that of women, and will the result bo a large increase in men's expenditure on clothes and boots, which now shows some tendency to dwindle? Women's clothes, unlike most men's, are not intended to be worn out, and the world's clothing industry must have made far moro money out of its feminine than out of its masculine customers — although modern ' feminine fashions, through their very scantiness, may have somewhat redressed (?) the balance. Taking a hint from the clothing trade's demonstration that show wear is good for business, boot manufacturers during the last decado have specialised in pedal novelties for the fair sex, and the busi; ness results appear to be tremendous, for it is announced that in tho United States the sale of women's shoes has increased 40 per cent.' in ten years, and that in the American bootmaking industry .the output of women's shoes now exceeds that of men's by nearly twenty million pairs annually. NOVELTIES TO BOOM SALES. The short skirt has given the shoe' and hosiery industries new worlds to conquer. About 1919-20 American shoe manufacturers began to emphasise novelty in women's footwear in order to sneed up sales. "The plan (writes1 "Commerce Monthly ") succeeded far beyond expectation, and satisfaction of the call for something new has Apparently become a permanent necessity in the production and distribution of footwear. So the industry is reorganising its practices to meet the new situation. Salesmen have to. be sent out at frequent intervals, a steady stream of new patterns 'must be forthcoming, leather buying has to bo done on a close basis to avoid accumulation of out#-of-atyle material, and long-time preparations or production schedules are impossible. Similarly, the retailer must employ the closest of hand-to-mouth buying, and the custom is growing of checking over stock at very short intervals, sending in orders as required. These conditions, have tended to encourage the establishment of small specialty factories, to reduce margins of profit, and further to intensify competition in one of the most competitive of American industries. "Style has been such a conspicuous success in increasing sales of women's snoes that manufacturers are endeavouring to introduce it in men's shoes, Advertising to feature the slogan adopted, 'Shoes for the Occasion,' will aim to make the man self-conscious in the matter of footwear, and publicity campaigns to popularise walking are expected to increase the consumption of shoes." To make man self-conscious in the matter of footwear, or to increase his self-consciousness in the matter of; clothes, wpuld, it is calculated, create, another new selling boom. And, so far as men are concerned, it may be needed in order to counter the saving in men's wear and footwear brought about by the motor-car. The motor-car has reduced men's expenditure in boots and clothes by reducing walking, and therefore wear. Moreover, tho motor-car, plus instalment selling, has reduced the motorist's expenditure in apparel by reducing his purchasing power and fastening a load, of debt on his neck. It will need a great run on fancy boots, or "boots for tho occasion," to counter, these masculine economies. the modern girl—and thrift; Not only the dictates of style, but also the growing economic independence of women is behind the abovementioned 40 per cent, increase in the sale of women's shoes in America. This 40 per cent., after allowing foir growth of population in the United States, means an increase of about 30 per cent. in per capita consumption. The economically independent young woman spends _ more of her income than the economically independent young man. To the young man flash attire is vanity; to the average young woman it is stock-in-trade—the means whereby; she acquires the economically desirable male. While the output of women's shoes in the United States has so heavily increased, men's has declined 12 per cent. in ten years, and, allowing for growth of population, tho per capita decrease is even greater. As a result, the development o° the shoe-making industry along a line common among modern American industries—efficient mass production of standard units —appears for tho present to have reached its limit. If selling of men's lines has to be pushed by means of novelty lines, suitable to small specialty factories, the standardised and economical output of quantity production will not be much helped.