SUIT PRICES IN LONDON

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 284, 27 August 1919, Page 8

SUIT PRICES IN LONDON

; NEWSPAPER ON PROFITEER HUNT. ! Among all the high prices that have 1 followed the war none is more remark- ' able that the advance in cost of men's ; clothes (states the "Daily Mail"). Four ' years ago the ordinary person "could get-a suit of ■ clothes for <C 2 ' 10s. .to £1; the super-man who desired to show the lines of wi immaculate figure was dressed by the most expensive "West. End 1 tailor for A'G to according to the length of his credit. To-day an ordinary work-a-day suit coste from .£5 lo .(.'lO mid tho superior varieties £15 to .£l6. The price has therefore been at least doubled, and in order to find out where the money goes a.representative of the 1 "Daily Mail" line miide a tour of investi- , gation, including a visit to the districts s of Yorkshire where cloth is made, and '. to tailoring i establishments and tailors' [ representatives in London. . I At each end of the process a. sheep is fleeced. The original animal gives up '. his wool reluctantly—ha makes nothing i out of the war. The man who pays for i a suit of clothes is also fleeced. Betoro , the war a pound of best wool cost about I 3s. As soon as war began this price i advanced rapidly until the Government . took complete contrq} and fixed .the price ' at 6s. 3d. a pound for the best article, f known in tho trade as "Botauy Tops." E At this figure it now remains, and a • pledge has been given that it is not tobe lowered for another three month;.. . The control,policy is said to have stead--5 . ied prices and to have prevented com . petitive buying. j . Enter now the spinner. When the wool . leaves him in the form of yarn the arci- > clo which cost him Gs. 3d. he sells for i 'Us. Cloth merchants in Bradford, who . themselves are not philanthropists, de- - clare that this is ontrageous profitee-mg. : The reply of the spinners is that me ■ cost of labour has advanced 1073 psr c?nt. ■ Even so, investigation - ehows that the - spinner's charge is unjustified. [ Even for his waste' material in simi- ■ nittg he gets more than the price of original Botany Top's, and there is strong evidence of a tendency amoiig the spinners to run their machines slowly and } thereby produce a superfine yarn, rather 1 than increase the rate of work and ■ make a good average article.. Thereby ■ production w lessened and prices main- " The 'cloth manufacturer turns the yam - into cloth. Ho also takes an extra profit, ' but is not so bad as the spinner. He de--1 liters in Bradford the finest serges ob--1 lainable in the. world at from ISs. to 245. ! a yard. The latter is an extreme price 1 and is hardly ever quoted. • ; The Bradford piece merchants, who ■ handle the cloth between the maiuir'ac- '< hirer and the small tailor who cannot " buy direct from the maker, are also not • among the super-profiteers, and allowing ! for everything, London tailors can get '' the very best cloth for 255. a yard as an 1 outsido price. Three and a quarter yards is required ' for a suit, so that the cloth in (lie £16 ! finished article is not more than JM. Be- ■ fore the war it would have been about ■ &. ■ The working tailors of London have 1 obtained a 50 per cent, increase oij prejvar wages, and are now asking for an increaso to 100 per cent., the matter being the subject of conferences at tlia Ministry of Labour recently. Into- the various details of tailors' wages—piece-work-and 60 on—it is unnecessary to. go. The fact is tint tho cost of ln'bour in making a suit of clothes by the most skilled men does not exceed £i. Add to this another dCI 10s. for the cost of lining, buttons, and thread—also an outside figure—and it will bo seen that,the ■ total cost of a suit of clothes to the tailor is £9 10s. His gross profit there- ' fore is .£6 10s. in the high-class shops. Faced with these figures he will shnis hie ehoulders, ejjonk of tho long credit that certain customers demand, and observe that the man of to-day insists on having the beet-article no matter what it costs. Cheaper suits are mostly made tweeds, which contain little if any wool, and are produced mainly from cotton and rags—very durable stuff if well made up. Tweed ot this character can be bought at the Batley mills for ss. Gd. lo 7s. Gd. n yard to-day. ■ The cost of the amount necessary for a suit is therefore from Xi to ,£1 ss. Lining , and the like wil] cost 15s. Labour, principally machine work, accounts for another 30s. or .C-'. A good suit, therefore, cob bs produced for £3 ss,