STAPLE FIBRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 May 1939, Page 3

STAPLE FIBRE

WOOL WITHSTANDS COMPETITION EVIDENCE IN UNITED STATES. RECENT INVESTIGATIONS MADE BY SECRETARIAT. Dr. Clunies Ross of the International Wool Secretariat, recently visited the United States to investigate the line of policy to be followed by the Secretariat in their wool publicity in that country. He was gratified to find evidence of increasing resistance on the part of wool to the inroads of staplefibre into the traditional fields of wool consumption. It is not generally realised the extent to which rayon and staple fibre and other substitutes for .wool have come to be used in the American Wool Textile Industry. Such substitution reached its peak during 1936 and the first half of 1937, when wool prices were hign. During 1938, however, considerable resistance to this tendency has developed on the part of wholesale and retail clothiers and the public. Such a tendency has been aided by the fall in wool prices over the past year which enabled wool fabrics to be produced at a price which is within the power of the consumer to pay..; In consequence, some of the largest manufacturers of men’s clothing materials have been left with thousands of yards of mixture fabrics on their hands, for which it is difficult to find purchasers. The public in the United States still associate quality, particularly in men's wear, with all, or a high, wool content and are becoming increasingly conscious of the need for asking for and insisting on wool when it is for mis that they pay. Wool is still far superior in quality to any substitute. Recently several large consumer organisations in the United States, such as the American Federation of Labour and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, have interested themselves in the necessity in the interests of the public for specifying the content of fabrics sold as wool. The Federal Trade Commissioner in October, 1937, also- drew up regulations governing the use of rayon and staple fibre in mixture fabrics, which require full disclosure to be made, not only of the various fibres used, but also the percentage of each. Cases of misrepresentation may be referred to the Federal Trade Commission by any interested individual or organisation. Such measures have been of considerable value in maintaining the prestige of wool and will greatly facilitate measures to promote its continued employment in the United States. It has been decided that the Secretariat’s activities in the United States will have three main objectives, as follows:— . , 1. Wool will be promoted as the element of quality and worth in any fabric. The public will be induced to insist on all wool wherever possible, but if this, on account of the. relatively high cost of wool in U.S.A, is impracticable in some cases, then the insistence will be-on the highest possible wool content, such content being stressed as the gauge of the fabric’s desirability. 2 For women’s wear, wool will be promoted mainly from the angle of style and fashion, it being shown that wool in its new and diverse, no less than its traditional forms, is capable of meeting every demand of fashion 3. For men’s wear, which is still by far the largest field for wool utilisation, the attempt will be made to inculcate a new point of view in regard to clothes, emphasising the importance of dress in leading to the satisfaction of the normal ambitions, desires ana difficulties of the great middle class of American men. It is realised that in the United States, clothing has to face increasing competition for a share of the dollar. Modern society demands a car a radio, an electrolux, a refrigerator.’ It niust be made to demand no ' less insistently a changed attitude on the part of the American man towards his clothes and a better and more diversified standard of dress. The International Wool Secretariat is satisfied that the United States though it presents certain special problems, offers an unrivalled field for wool promotion and this must eventually be of great advantage to Dominion wool growers, and no less to those of Ame- ■ rica. It is intended therefore to take steps shortly to secure the more active participation .of the American wool grower in this work.