THE MACKY-LOGAN-CALDWELL CO.'S EXHIBITS.

Observer, Volume XXXI, Issue 41, 24 June 1911, Page 29

THE MACKY-LOGAN-CALDWELL CO.'S EXHIBITS.

Evidence of the activity of Macky, Logan and Caldwell, Ltd.,_as local manufacturers, is to be found on every hand in the main streets of the city. Primarily, of course, this company carries on a wholesale business, as manufacturers and importers, so that it has no special exhibit of its own, but its clients in every branch of the retail clothing trade are in all directions displaying its goods, which are probably more widely spread in the Industries Week exhibition than any other. The growth of the Macky-Logan-Cald-well industry has been so steady and gradual that it may surprise Aucklanders to learn the scale that it now compasses. Apart from the company's wholesale warehouse, it has in operation four separate factories in the city and suburbs, and the output of those factories last year approximated the substantial value of £100,000.

Moreover, the Macky - LoganCaldwell Co. is now deliberately cultivating the handling of New Zealand goods in its warehouse trading, as distinguished from the imported article. In this purpose it is helped by growth in the public taste. At one . time in this country the chief desideratum of the purchaser of textile goods was cheapness. So long as that end was mainly kept in view, the colonial manufacturer was at a disadvantage in the race for trade with his overseas competitor. New Zealand did not yield the shoddy materials that were requisite for the manufacture of cheap stuffs. The prosperity of the Dominion, and particularly the greater spending power of the industrial classes, has made the local producer's opportunity. The artisan's wife and children, and the artisan himself, dress as well to-day as the families of their well-to-do neighbours, and will not submit to having indifferent goods passed* 1 off to them. And in the higher classes of goods, which are best made from New Zealand fabrics, the Dominion is in a position to compete with the world. Recognising these facts, the Macky - Logan - Caldwell Co. feels warranted in giving New Zealand goods the preference in its wholesale trade, discouraging importations where the field can be supplied with the locally made article, and this is now a leading motto of the nouse.

Another change that has been noticeable in public taste relates to the growing popularity amongst ladies of "ready-to-wear" costumes. The "tailor-made" that was the general vogue until a y ® ar or two ago has now a formidable competitor in the " ready-to-wear. Not that its greater cheapness is the all-important recommendation or the new class of article. On the contrary, "ready-to-wear" costumes can be had in Auckland to-day up to a cost of thirteen guineas. But the advantage of being able to select in a shop a costume ot tne latest fashionable style, which can be ready for a walk in the parks or on the street within an hour or two, the finishing touches being done m

the factory, not by machinists but by tailors, is becoming increasingly recpfenised, and amongst goods of thjs kind the "Classic" costumes issued from the ' MackyLogan - Caldwell warehouse take high place. In Messrs Milne and Choyce's establishment, Queen-street, one of the exhibits of the week is a windowful of the "Classic" garments, made from New Zealand tweeds and New Zealand serges, and by New Zealand operatives, in Auckland factories. Was there ever a more complete example of Dominion industry ?

Another principal product of the company is men's and boys' clothing, of the " Cambridge " brand, for the male animal in all sizes, from the toddling youngster to the six-foot-er. These also, while factory - made in the main, are finished off by the tailoring staff, and in all essentials are claimed to be equal to all-tailored suits. Large selections of the firms' manufactures in this line are to be seen in the windows of George Fowlds, Ltd., and Hugh Wright, in Queen-street, and Fry and Potter in the Strand Arcade. Yet another Macky-Logan-Caldwell line is the "Cambridge " shirt. So much is it in demand that the company has within the last year or so increased the floor-space of its shirt and denim factory four-fold. These shirts are to be seen in the Industries exhibition at the establishments of Messrs John Turner, Hugh Wright, Raynes Bros., Fry and Potter's, and Smith and Caughey's, in Queenstreet, and again at George Court and Sons', Karangahape Road, E. Gribble's, Symonds-street, and W. Smith's, Ponsonby Road. In the Smith and Uaughey window two young ladies are operating Singer machines in the finishing of the shirts. Again, at the upper shop of John Court, Ltd., are exhibited an assortment of ladies' goods in felt, straw, and tweed hats turned out for the firm by Plummer Bros., with the latter in process of manufacture ; and at the George Court establishment will be seen the ••Napier" caps in various styles, manufactured for the firm at the town of Napier. Altogether, tne Macky-Logan Company gives abundant proof that it is making New Zealand-made goods the staple lines in its business.