THAT SUIT YOU WEAR

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 15, 31 July 1944, Page 28

THAT SUIT YOU WEAR

How Battle-dress is Made A KORERO Report

About one million battle-dress uniforms have been produced in New Zealand since manufacture began, shortly after the outbreak of war. They required almost 3,000,000 yards of khaki cloth, practically all made in New Zealand, this yardage not including the heavier greatcoat cloth or the lighter officers’ dress material. In one clothing-factory, at the peak period, a complete battle-dress was being taken off the lines every three and a half minutes. The New Zealand clothing industry showed itself fully capable of responding to the urgent needs of war, and the switch-over to high-pressure mass production was made smoothly and successfully. Both overseas divisions and the home forces were soon completely clothed in New-Zealand-made uniforms, and in the Middle East the Kiwi’s battle-dress was the envy of United Kingdom troops, both for the quality of the material and the cut. British officers, in particular, coveted the New-Zealand-made uniform in preference to their own issue.

To see the processes in battle-dress manufacture, a Korero representative

visited a large Wellington factory recently, and followed] the whole sequence through, ' from the first cutting of the material into its thirty-three different parts — exclusive of pieces of lining—to its final assembly into a complete uniform. The factory was actually engaged on Air Force battle-dresses, but the only differences were the colour of the cloth and the provision of two rear pockets on the trousers instead of one. The cutting seemed a swift, simple, and smooth matter—with an electric knife, working on a similar principle to the band-sawthe cloth being cut

with precision in “ blocks ” of one hundred thicknesses. As different bolts of material from different mills vary slightly in shade, the precaution is taken of slipping white cloth markers into the “ blocks ” between the different shades, and this separation is maintained throughout the stages of manufacture, so that each complete uniform is uniform in colour. The cut-out parts are bundled separately into shades, all bundles of the same shade being tagged with the same key number, and a constant check is kept to ensure that only parts with the same number are embodied in a given garment. From the cutting room the parts are sent to the sewing department a large room containing one hundred and forty girls engaged in the many stages of assembling the garments. Besides sewing-machines there are machines for affixing buttons and machines for making button-holes, and a fast pace is maintained with the utmost efficiency. The button-hole machine cuts the slit and stitches the edges in one rapid operation, doing in seconds what would take many minutes by even the nimblest fingers.

The sewing up is all done on the “ chain ” system, each girl doing a particular job, such as putting together the two parts of the collar, stitching the fly to the blouse, or making the patch pockets. The more experienced girls are, of course, easily interchangeable. An interesting point about the buttonhole machines is that lhe American ones are on hire, and like petrol bowsers, remain the property of the makers They are equipped with a counting dial, and the factory pays for the number of button-holes sewn by the machine. The British machines, on the other hand, are bought outright and become the property of the factory. Occasionally special sizes are required for soldiers not covered by the standard specifications, and the cutting for these is done by ordinary hand-scissors, but the remainder of the process is much the same as for the normal sizes. Rush orders for special sizes have been put through at this factory in an hour and a half from the receipt of the measurements. A good deal of preliminary work was called for in standardizing sizes before production was begun in New Zealand.

Specimen measurements were received from England, and, after consultations between manufacturers and Army Ordnance officers, and many revisions and amendments, a satisfactory schedule was evolved for New Zealand requirements. Several “mannequin parades” were held in the early days of the war at Trentham, for the information of ordnance experts, and to the embarrassment of the “mannequins,” and by the time the Third Echelon of the Second ‘Division was mobilized, in May, 1940, it was pos-

sible to issue all ranks of the contingent with New-Zealand-made battle-dress. The first two echelons had sailed in the old serge uniform—notorious for tight trousers and brass buttons —but supplies of the new uniform were later sent out to them. Battle-dress made a complete break with old-established army tradition, as exemplified by the old uniform, and the first men to appear out of camp in the new garb had many misgivings and spasms of self-consciousness. The innovation was soon accepted by the public as well as the troops as a vast improvement, however, though many die-hards sighed for the dear departed shine and polish of the old serge jackets. The trousers were not, on the other hand, very widely lamented. For active-service wear, at any rate, battle-dress seems to have come to stay, and it would certainly be hard to improve on the present pattern for comfort and utility. It was once thought possible, in fact, that eventually men’s civilian dress would be influenced by the Army’s new garb, but so far there are few signs of such a development, apart from Mr. Churchill’s siren suit.