Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Clothing Will Be Highter This Fall, February 1920

From The Watauga Democrat, Boone, N.C., Thursday, Feb. 19, 1920

Clothing Will be Higher This Fall

The continued increase in the cost of materials used in making suits, overcoats, etc., indicates that all woolen apparel will be about 65 per cent higher next fall, than in the fall of 1919. Manufacturers say that not only have the woolen fabrics advanced, but that linings have advanced, together with labor, about 35 per cent.

This increased cost of material and labor means that suits that sold for $50 last fall will have to be sold for $82.50 this fall, and that an overcoat which sold for $100 last winter will be marked $162.50.
This increase will not be due to profiteering on the part of the local merchants as they will really make less money when a suit could be bought for $20 and $25. It will work a considerable hardship on the merchants to carry as large a stock as they usually carry, as the money necessary to purchase a large stock of clothing would be equal to a small fortune. Furthermore, the retailer is met with the proposition of paying his clerks higher wages, rents are higher, freight rates have increased, and so with every other item of expense.

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