Return of Woollens to Shops in Paris Welcomed by Women

Evening Star, Issue 25928, 21 October 1946, Page 4

Return of Woollens to Shops in Paris Welcomed by Women

TOPICS FOR WOMEN

When Parisians return to town they will have the pleasurable surprise of seeting that real woollen garments are again appearing in the shops. One men’s outfitters has actually staged a publicity campaign to sell off 500 sports suits and equal numbers of plus fours and odd jackets at quite reasonable prices, all made from hand-spun and hand-woven pure woollen materials imported from Morocco. Their only drawback is that they are slightly “ loud ” for town wearl Still more conventional goods are reaching the shops, and a medium-priced shop on the Champs Elysoes now shows the first coats for women in the new French utility woollens, which it is hoped will soon occupy 50 per cent, of the French productive power. In this new scheme, just over one month old, a woman gets a woollen coat for 2,500 francs (sgs), which seems most incredible when compared with the fantastic prices which have been paid for woollen goods up to date, and is even lower than the figures which have been asked for synthetic rubbish, according to advice received

by the New Zealand Wool Board from the Paris office of the International Wool Secretariat. In the general holiday exodus innumerable shops have closed in Paris; dosed for a fortnight, and even for a month in some cases. The windows are empty; some shops are even getting a new coat of paint, and the general feeling is that when they open up again it will be to show, new goods, goods of quality,'in which wool will get a prominent place. It is wool that France wants more than anything, wool which the French woman speaks about as if it were a yard-stick with which to judge the progress which is being made in rehabilitating the country. One of the duties which is mixed with pleasure when families take themselves off to the country is'that of trying to buy a little home-spun wool .from peasants who are prepared to dispose of it. Many women have their own secret sources of supply,; and the choice of a holiday resort will depend upon the neighbourhood where such a precious purchase can be made I