Page 9 Advertisements Column 1

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15359, 6 October 1923, Page 9

Who’s o * O

The other day a country tailor was fined £5 for a breach of the Tailors’ Award, which stipulates that "no garment shall be sold as tailor-made unless ft Is made on the premises of the employer by whom the order is taken and paid for in accordance with the provisions of the Tailors’ Award.” According to the evidence, no tailors were employed by this business' man, but he measured his customers, and the suits were made by different / firms in Auckland. . This sort of thing is being done every day by large firms in Auckland and elsewhere, but they are cute enough not to use the term "tailor-made.” They can say "made-to-measure,” or "tailored-to-measure as one firm puts it, which is, however, sailing close to the wind. To be entitled to use the term “tailor-made” firms must work under the Tailors’ Award, and make suits on their own premises. They are restricted by the award to old-fashioned methods of working and trading, but are allowed to, and always do, employ female labour and sewing machines. Girls make the trousers, vest," and most of the coat by machinery. There is no such thing as a hand-made suit nowadays and firms that claim to supply suits wholly made by the “old honest method of hand craftsmanship” are not slating all the facts. The only hand-tailored portion of a “tailor-made” suit nowadays is about a third of the coat, which is hand-finished, the rest is machined, but it is none the vyorse for that. In fact, it is' all the better; distinctly better than some of’the hand-sewing we have seen. The wrong thing about the whole business, however, is the fact that men are led to believe they are getting something better than /they would get from a firm which elected to call their premises a factory instead of a “tailors’ ’’ shop, in order to do away with the absurd trading restrictions which “master tailors” labour under. Now, there are factories and factories. There are numbers of factories which never come under the notice of the public, because they make suits and other clothing for wholesale merchants and other firms, such as those who advertise made-to-measure suits at 65s to 755. t Whenever you see suits' advertised “tailored-to-measure” at 655, or thereabouts, you can be sure that they are slapped together anyhow in one of these cheap factories, and that the hidden parts are of the flimsiest description. We are told by the Master Tailors’ Association that a genuine tailor-made suit cannot be turned out .for less than £B, without allowing for overhead expenses and profit, which would the price up to about £l2. This, of course, signifies that their buying methods are expensive, and that working under the Tailors’ Award is not in the interests of the public. Mr. Justice Stringer, when making a Tailors’ Award in 1918, advised the master tailors to cut out their expensive restrictions and work on the lines of the factories if they would retain the support of an enlightened public. He predicted that unless they put their house in order and gave the public a fair deal, they would soon be out of business altogether. Some of .them have recently been advertising tailor-made-to-order suits' at £6 ss, and the rest are helplessly shrieking, “It can’t be done,” and try to prove it. They give the other fellow away completely, and at the.same time condemn their own system as extravagant. They are clearly in a funk. They are genuinely perturbed because their customers are gradually leaving them. Men are learning the truth about tailoring, and going over to the new system inaugurated by Hunter and Sons, Ltd., who have always taken the people into their 'complete confidence, and told them the truth about so-called tailormade”'clothes. The old-fashioned bespoke tailor is now in the same class as the bespoke bootmaker or hatmaker. His' day is done. In these days of scientific labour-saving machinery and specialisation, it is absurd to hang on to some of the fossilised traditions' of the tailoring trade in order to hoodwink the public that they are getting “handmade” suits.

Hunter and Sons, Ltd., Auckland, saw the folly of this years ago, and came right out into the open as high-class wholesale manufacturers, dealing direct with the wearer in single suits or garments at wholesale prices for cash. They discarded the term “tailormade” as deceptive. They have their registered brand, the “CROWNALL,” and are making suits ready-to-wear in such a large number of sizes that they" GUARANTEE to perfectly fit any normal man with a “CROWNALL” Suit of a style and quality equal to the best tailor-made-to-measure article procurable from any bespoke tailor in the Dominion. These highclass suits are hand-finished, the same as “tailormade” suits. They are made of tweeds, worsteds, and serges of the world's best manufacture, bought in immense quantities direct from the mills for cash. All trimmings, linings, dnd everything that goes -into the suit are of the best quality, and are also bought in wholesale quantities for cash. The suits are designed by expert cutters in accordance with the latest London styles, and are made in wholesale quantities. No one would ever know but that the wearer of a “CROWNALL” Suit was measured and fitted by the best bespoke tailor in the country. . This is the solution of the tailoring problem as it stands to-day. It is no longer necessary to go through the old process of getting a suit. It is too wasteful a method —sinfully wasteful. A Hunter’s “OROWNALL’ Suit is worth every penny as much as the best “tailor-made” suit you can buy, but it costs' several pounds less, because of the immense savings effected in every stage of the process—WHOLESALE BUYING, MANUFACTURE, and MARKETING. It is now 12 years since Hunter’s Clothing System was inaugurated. It was started without any customers, but to-day its clientele is considerably over 10,000. This is the result of-customers coming back year after year, and bringing their friends with them. They have proved for themselves that “CROWNALL” Suits are as good as we say they are, and so they come back for more. We are occasionally told almost tearfully, by belated customers, that they have been lured into trying one of these largely-advertised “made-to-measure” suits at ridiculous prices, but — never again. They are more than ever satisfied with Hunter’s Clothing Service after an experience like that.

Suits Made-to-Order. • It must not be forgotten that we also make suits-to-measure if required, and the extra cost is only a matter of shillings. The Hunter Clothing Service is therefore the modern development of high-class tailoring. While we affirm that we can fit any normal man with a ready-for-service “Crownall” Suit, we are also ready to supply the demand which will always exist, to some extent, for made-to-order Suits. Largest Stock of Ready-cor-Service Suits in the Dominion, We have the largest stock of ready-to-wear suits In the Dominion now waiting for the big demand which always sets in about this lime. Call at our Hamilton branch and inspect some of them. You will never regret doing so. Prices: 85/- to £7/-/-HUNTER’S (Hamilton) Ltd. (HUNTER’S “CROWN” CLOTHING), Livingstone Buildings, Victoria St., Hamilton. Also at Auckland and Whangarel.