OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIX, Issue 11, 14 January 1915, Page 2

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

! WHAT ARE KHAKI CLOTHS I MADE#ROM.

[IBOM OTia CbItRESPONDENT.I BRADFORD, Nov. 27, 1914. The daily round and common task ia being followed with much the same interest as it was a week ago. All spinners and manufacturers^ are busy executing khaki orders, and this is likely to continue for many months to come. We find that the inquiry for raw.material continues on a mosG encouraging scale, and although talk is persistent that still lower value.-, will obtain for merinos, there is a fair amount of business doing both on present and forward account. Th« writer has made the remark many a time of late that so long as the piece end of the trade is open, and the stuff is going'out freely, so long will the raw material move forward encouragingly. It is when pieces begin to bank up 'and there is not enough demand for the material, that complaints become persistent, but we have never known a time in the .history of the trade when so few complaints have been made by "manufacturers about pieces not going out. Many firms whom we could name have had their stocks of cloth 'entirely depleted, and most firms have fewer fully manufactured.pieces to-day than they have had for a great number of years. Anything of good weight and well made, has been secured by the Government contractors, and such useful cloths as heavy meltonSj whipcords, Derby-tweeds and heavy serges and the like have teen taken so freely that stocks are entirely exhausted. This means a good thing for the future even when the war terminates. There are very few mills indeed who are at present really catering for their regular home trade customers, and in a few oases where part machinery was being run for this purpose, the Government officials have more than gently hinted that they must give the War Office : their entire output, because troops at the front and those in trainiiig must at all costs be provided for and kept fit for action.

KHAKI CLOTHS

This weeji the writer has had the privilege of inspecting khaki cloths which are being made for the British, French, and Russian Governments, and they form a fitting subject to be discussed in 'this letter. Some interesting particulars have been published in the United States regarding the unlikelihood of wool prices coming down much below to-day's level, on account of the tremendous wastage there is among the huge armies now confronting each oth«r in Europe. According to one authority, prospective supplies of wool are going to be Inadequate to meet demands if the war continues another year, it being acknowledged that the length of time a suit will last on active service is short of a month, it even be^ Ing stated that when soldiers are fighting in the trenches, crawling on their stomachs and having to pafes through- what they are doing, their clothes are done in under a fortnight. We are able to, say on the highest authority that the War Office finds that supplies are ..lasting practically a, month, although there are exceptions. But that point does not concern us a great deal to-day. V -What' we are mostly interested in is the component parts which go to make up the fabrics which the various troops.are wearing to-day. If we take the khaki cloths made for British soldiers, we find that regulars are being^^^the^ 3n a'':: very, serviceable fabric./;. THik mostly consists of (i worsted warp spun to a 224's, and wqllen wefts spun from 12 to 13 skeins are most preferred. These make a cloth which cannot be beaten for general excellence, being sound and exceedingly well fitted for the hard wear of the battlefield. Some very uncomplimentary remarks have appeared in a certain section of the British press about fabrics being largely composed of shoddy, but we ohallenge any party to produce a single suit that is not sound and exceedingly well made. 'It is quite true a few Home territorials have been clothed in garments that were rather poor, but when a. new army of one million strong has t<? be clothed in. the short space of three months, any reasonable man can see it is going to tax the output of British mills to provide sufficient khaki. Therefore one or two companies have been provided with rather • inferior materials just as a "put on," and as fast as -looms can weave the stuff," these territorials will be and are being clothed in khaki supplies of a very substantial character. The great coats which are weighing 32-33 ounces per yard are a surprise to everybody, and they will certainly stand a strong winter's gale. If one carefully examines a khaki fabric, he finds at- once an explanation for the present boom in crossbreds. A Bradford topmaker remarked this week that his experience is that the trade is not calling for deep crossbreds of a 40's quality like they; were earlier on, manufacturers finding that wools 01 44's and 46's quality are doing better and producing a more acceptable yarn, th© tendency this last month being to bet on to a trifle finer materials. From practical knowledge of the trade, we are able to say that the regular khaki serge., as well as the gi'eat coats are all being made out of wools from 44's to 56"s quality, and it is only officers' clothes that are being made from the finer crossbreds. When these are woven and milled, they produce a sound firmset, solid fabric, and only fools could express dissatisfaction with them.

A good deal of speculation is at times indulged in as to the probable length of the conflict, but no man knows how long it is going to continue.' But so long as the struggle lasts, there will be a huge demand for war materials, and there cannot be any cessation in the call for crossbred wools of all qualities for many months.. We are satisfied that a great deal is going to depend upon the length of the war as to when there will be any ease in crossbred values, in fact, some go the length ,of saying that there will be no falling off for some time. What the Home trade wants to-day is .a more adequate supply of crossbreds from New Zealand and South America, but unfortunately we cannot expect any material increase in the weight of crossbred wools for at least three months to come. Some have asked why merinos cannot be used1 in the production of war fabrics? They are being used in limited quantities, but we cannot see that they are as well fitted for producing khaki serge as medium crossbreds. Merinos produce a very fiw and smart looking fabric, and are being worn by some officers, but the cloth is too soft for the hardwesu' of the Regulars. Merinos will find the most support uit the hands of those making undergarments, .and unless tliero is a nronounced shortage of crossbreds, and flic wool cannot he grovr:i fast enough, we are not likely

to see merinos largely used for producing khaki serge.

FRENCH MILITARY FABRICS

•The requirements >of the French army/lia've been very niuch.Tin evidence in the West Riding during the, past month. 'Some'huge'orders have been given out even during the past fortnight, and very Well made and serviceable cloths they are. The fabrics now required are mostly of a blue grey texture, and anyone clothed in them looks very smart. But there is this difference. The cloths made in France previous to the war were made entirely on the woollen principle,, and differed somewhat in make-up from British khaki serge. As already said the Home made fabric is composed of a worsted spun warp and a woollen weft, but the French blue gre- serge is made both warp and weft from* all woollen yarns. It is difficult to say which will stand the hardest wear, there being six of one and half a dozen of the other. But the point the writer wants to elucidate most is this, namely that the French made fabric is largely composed of the shorter stapled wools. The fabric we have been shown is not made from merinos at all, though probably officers' cloths will be composed of fine merino wool. Still, even here, crossbred predominates in the regular French army serge, it only being the principle of manufacture where there is any difference compared with that worn by the British troops. In the aggregate the result is the same, namely, a consumption of medium and fine crossbred material, and we find to-day several big firms are exceedingly busy producing fabrics for the French soldiers. Now that thesw fabrics are having to be made here in England, there is not sufficient woollen machinery available to make them entirely of^ woollen yarns, hence we, find the bulk of the French fabrics are being made from worsted yarns both warp and weft way of the piece. Here we have the explanation why crossbreds are booming as they are, and they will do for a long time to come. The ijact is, any kind of well made sound fabric produced from crossbred wool is to-day a very saleable commodity, and the British, French, and Russian Governments will nave to content themselves with accepting fabrics made on any principle, |p long as they serve the purpose desired. It is a very satisfactory thing that the French army is clothed in blue grey uniforms, otherwise the stocks of khaki d-es would soon fall short. Being blue grey, khaki dyers who are exceedingly busy and will be for many a month to come, escape the pressure which might have come from French goods being wanted in khaki shade.