The garment trades

Foreword

This report on ‘‘The Garment Trades’’ is one of the 25 sections of the report of the Education Survey of Cleveland conducted by the Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation in 1915. Twenty-three of these sections have been published as separate monographs. In addition there is a volume entitled ‘‘Wage Earning and Education,’’ which is a summary of the sections relating to industrial education. The final volume, which is entitled ‘‘ The Cleveland School Survey,” tells of the conduct of the entire work and summarizes the findings and recommendations of the 15 volumes relating to the regular work of the public schools. Copies of all these publications may be obtained from the Cleveland Foundation. They may also be obtained from the Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation, New York City. A complete list will be found in the back of this volume, together with prices.

Table Of Contents

Foreword

List of Tables

List of Diagrams List of Illustrations CHAPTER

Chapter II Clothing Manufacture In Cleveland

The ready-made clothing industry, germinated from the needs of working men on the high seas, has become, in its effort to fulfill the clothing demands of all classes of people, one of the most important of the manufacturing industries, employing increasing numbers of men and women of all nationalities.

When the last census was taken in 1910, there were nearly 400,000 people in the United States earning their living by making men’s and women’s garments in factories. Among each 100 so engaged, 61 were working at the making of men’s garments and only 39 in factories making women’s garments. Men’s garments are a factory product to a far greater extent than women’s, the latter still being made in considerable proportion in small custom shops and at home.

Two important characteristics of this industry bring about conditions which make it peculiarly different from other industries. The first is that it is highly localized; the second, that one branch—the making of men’s clothing—is sharply differentiated from the other branch,—the making of women’s clothing. The industry is further characterized by the fact that the work is of such nature that it can , 2 - 17 be carried on in any place where a half dozen machines and an ironing board can be brought together; and that several different methods of work are pursued.

Almost two-thirds of all the clothing workers in the country were, according to the 1910 census distribution, employed in five cities. Among each 100 workers employed in the entire country, 41 were in New York, 10 in Chicago, seven in Philadelphia, five in Baltimore, and two in Cleveland. To such a high degree is this industry concentrated that the boy or girl going into clothing work will need to contemplate living in one of the dozen cities where it is carried on.

In Cleveland the industry holds a foremost rank. There were in 1910 nearly 18,000 people employed in the making of foundry and machine shop products, which is numerically the most important industry of the city. The making of men’s and women’s garments took second place with more than 8,000 employees. )

The clothing industry is rapidly growing in this city. During the 10 year period from 1900 to 1910, the number of persons employed doubled. This was a much greater increase than took place in the industry in the country as a whole and more than twice as large as the increase in the population of the city in general. There is every indication that this rapid growth is still continuing and a close estimate shows the number of garment workers in the city at the present time to be over 10,000.

Among the 8,000 people employed in this work in 1910, there were more women than men, and more workers on women’s garments than on men’s garments. The distribution of the men and women in the industry is most interesting. The making of men’s garments has been more fully standardized and is subject to fewer changes than the making of women’s garments. Into this standardized and systematized work the women have come, until they now outnumber the men. In contrast, the styles of women’s garments are more changeable. Hence their manufacture is not so routine in nature and here the proportion of men is larger than in the older and more stable branch of the work.

We may refer to the 8,000 workers in Cleveland as being approximately represented by eight typical individual men and women and when we do this we find our group of eight workers—each one really representing 1,000 employees—distributed as follows:

Working on men’s clothing. ...1 man and 2 women Working on women’s clothing. .2 men and 3 women

Tur Two BRANCHES OF THE INDUSTRY

Cleveland is not a large center for the manufacture of men’s clothing, its rank being eleventh among cities in the number of persons engaged in this work. The product shows a wide diversity, from rompers, Norfolk suits, kneepants, and blouses for boys, to uniforms for street car men, overalls and blouses, and shirts, suits, overcoats, and raincoats. There are - 19 hardly enough shops making the same kind of garment to cause competition or to allow coéperation, both of which are stimulating to an industry. With two or three exceptions, the shops are small. Of the 21 establishments visited during the Survey, 14 employed less than 100 workers, and only two employed more than 200.

A considerable number of workers are employed in establishments engaged in manufacturing madeto-order clothing in which the method of work is practically the same as that in the ready-made shops. They are known as special order houses and occupy a position between the garment factory and the custom tailoring shop. Many small stores now carry no stock of suits, but keep a line of samples and style books from which their customers may make their selections. The sample of cloth and the number of the style, together with the customer’s measurements are then sent to the special order house which makes up the suit. This kind of clothing manufacture is steadily increasing. It is said that in Chicago special order houses turn out more than half of all the men’s clothing that is manufactured in the city.

Cleveland ranks fourth among American cities in the manufacture of women’s clothing. The bulk of the product is made up of suits, cloaks, and skirts, although several establishments make dresses, waists, and aprons. Large scale production is the rule in this branch of the industry. There are a dozen establishments employing from 200 to 1000 workers each. Several others employ from 100 to 200 workers. 20

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SHOPS

Cleveland began manufacturing ready-made clothing in the early days of the industry. As a result there may be seen today in the city the different kinds of workplaces and different methods of work that developed with the growth of the industry. The manufacture of men’s ready-made clothing in Cleveland was started in 1846, the same year that a patent was taken out on the first sewing machine in America. Women’s clothing was first manufactured in the city in the later seventies.

Like the other first makers of clothing, Cleveland’s earliest manufacturers had only a warehouse where they cut garments out of the materials stored there and gave out the bundles of pieces to contractors who, with the help of their families or neighbors, made them up at home or in small shops. When the work was finished, it was taken back, the contractor receiving a certain price per piece, and paying his workers as he chose from the proceeds.

Thus there developed two distinct groups of employers in the clothing industry,—the clothing house or firm proper, and the contractor. In these two sorts of houses,—inside and outside shops,—as they are commonly known, Cleveland carries on today the manufacture of both men’s and women’s clothing.

The inside and outside shops are closely identified in Cleveland with certain types of workplaces. The large inside shop usually has its own factory building, while the small inside shop is likely to be in a loft. The large outside shop is found in a loft or more 21

- rarely occupies its own building, while the small outside shop is usually a home workshop.

At the present time the Ohio law forbids the use of any dwelling, except by the family living therein, for carrying on the making of articles which are to be offered for sale unless certain prescribed regulations are complied with. As a result, the old-time sweat shop is being replaced by the home workshop. This is aroom in a dwelling house or on the same premises, but quite separate from the house. Section sh of the Factory Law specifies that:

‘“‘Hach room or apartment used for the purposes named in the preceding section, except by the immediate members of the family living therein shall be regarded as a shop or factory and shall be separate from and having no door, window, or other opening into a living or sleeping room of a tenement or dwelling. No such shop or factory shall be used for living or sleeping purposes or contain any bed, bedding, or cooking utensils, or other utensils, except those required to carry on the work therein. Each such shop or factory shall have a direct entrance from the outside, and if above the first floor, have a separate and distinct stairway leading thereto, and be well and _ sufficiently lighted, heated, and ventilated.”

If one will take a Broadway car out into the southeast part of the city, alight from the car on any street in or near the 50’s, and walk for a few minutes he will see a bunch of wires leading to the back of some substantial looking house, and if he follows this guide, he will usually find a home workshop. The home 22

The bunch of wires leads to a home workshop upstairs in the back of the house workshop generally employs from 10 to 30 people, occasionally as many as 75. The employers are usually foreign born tailors who hire their own countrymen as workers. Women sometimes engage in this kind of small contracting. Often a husband and wifé control the shop together, working with their employees.

Many of the manufacturers or contractors occupying quarters in a manufacturing building, while they fulfill the demands of the generally adequate state law, do not supplement their conformities with other necessary provisions for the comfort of their workers. While in a few cases workers are in too close quarters, poor lighting is perhaps the greatest limitation of these workshops. Inadequate natural lighting is supplemented by electric lights which oftentimes are unshaded and badly placed so that the light is di- ‘rectly in the eyes of the worker. On the other hand, some of the shops occupying floors in factory buildings are exceptionally well lighted, spacious, and airy.

A number of large factories have been built in Cleveland especially for the clothing business. Practically all of them are excellently lighted, unusually spacious, and contain, in addition to the work-rooms, special rooms where good food may be procured at cost, or where hot food may be prepared by the workers themselves. Some of them are provided with rest rooms, indoor recreation halls, and other ‘‘service” equipment. Several have outdoor recreation facilities.

Metuops oF WORK

- The methods of work pursued in both inside and outside shops are of three general types: the old tailoring system known as ‘“‘team”’ work, or a slight modification of it; piece operating; and section work.

Under the team system a head tailor hires his own helpers (operators and finishers), supervises them, and pays them by the week out of the lump sum that he receives from the clothing establishment for the garments at so much per piece. Sometimes his helpers are on the payroll so that the firm knows how much they get; sometimes the firm actually determines how much they shall get. The firm may or may not pass upon their employment. At any rate they work in a team with the head tailor and have to keep up to his pace. The team system is used mostly in the making of women’s coats. The head tailor is a skilled worker who learned the tailoring trade in the old country. By the team system he is utilized both as a worker and as a supervisor of other workers less skilful than himself.

Under the piece operating system each operator sews up all the seams on one “‘piece”’ or garment, and each finisher does all the hand sewing on one garment. Each operator and each finisher is an independent worker. The whole body of finishers keeps pace with the whole body of operators. Piece operating is used almost entirely in dress and skirt making and to some extent in coat making. A greater proportion of shops work in this fashion than in any other way; but the 24 doysyiom ouloy JO 1OTIo}UT a ye es hor te q A Line ie y i ‘ey ; % Aa th , Oy ve , eek “Sax et fo . ee . 7 Me Ra lee be ts by ee, 7

mse: 3 Tr Ce Ce Wddac teres eles Wp hry oat at ae number of workers thus employed is not so great as in section work.

The section system is based on the subdivision of processes. The workers are divided into groups, each group making a certain part or section of the garment. Each operation is divided into as many minor operations as the number of workers and the quantity and kind of materials will warrant. Each of these minor operations is performed by workers who do nothing else. The piles of work are started at one end of the section and passed from hand to hand as each operator does a certain allotted part of the work. This specialization has been carried to a high degree in the manufacture of men’s clothing, both suits and shirts, and boys’ blouses; and it is increasing in the making of women’s clothing. Waists are almost universally made by section work and the system is increasingly used on women’s coats.

Some idea of the degree to which the work is specialized may be gained from the following description of the manufacture of vests, the simplest and easiest man’s garment to make. In the factory four men prepare the material for the contractor. One marks and cuts out the cloth, another lays the cloth and notches the pieces, a third cuts the linings, and a fourth bundles the pieces together. Before the work is given out in the contracting shop by the section foreman, the bundles are undone by a man who marks the pieces of each vest to match, so that in sewing together and matching the different parts no mistakes will be made. The front of the vest is made by one group, in which the workers are so arranged that the vests can pass easily from one to another in the order of operation. Linings are sewed by a second group, backs by a third, and the parts put together by a fourth. The following list of operations shows the subdivisions of the work:

Machine operations Hand work, not sewing Making welts Cutting welts Basting wigan Cutting open seams Sewing welts Turning pockets Sewing and rounding Cutting pockets pockets ; Tacking pockets Trimming wigan Seaming linings Cutting lining pockets open Sewing pockets on lining Matching linings with foreparts

Tacking pockets on lining Pulling bastings (first) Sewing around lining pockets Pinning shoulders

Seaming backs Trimming backs

Making straps Matching backs with foreparts

Sewing on straps Turning vest inside out

Joining back and lining _ Marking buttonholes

Sewing forepart on lining Pulling bastings (second)

Stitching edges of foreparts Marking for buttons and cleaning

Backing in

Making buttonholes Pressing

Tacking buttonholes Pressing foreparts (first)

Stitching neck Pressing foreparts (second)

Pressing linings Hand sewing Pressing edges

Basting lining on forepart Pressing whole vest

Finishing necks

Sewing on buttons Examining

In some establishments the modern section method and the old tailoring or team system are both found. This is because section work usually succeeds best in large scale production and in some cases the employers are not fully convinced that it is more eco- 26 dINPOYOIB UT [NJIINvq St A1OJOVJ ULOPOW JUT, nomical or do not wish to change abruptly from one system to another. For those employees who like to work independently the piece operating system offers the best field; for those who need or like to keep pace with others, either the team work or the section plan provides the best field of employment.

Although clothing work in Cleveland is highly specialized, in almost every establishment a number of workers must know more than one operation. This is necessary because in the absence of some employees other workers must be transferred to their operations. Often an extra worker must be put on an operation which is running behind and delaying the output. Clothing work in Cleveland is thus more highly specialized than are the workers. Moreover, if workers change from one factory to another, they are not likely to get work at the same operation which they have already learned to do. In this industry, then, there is a demand for workers who can form what is characteristically called ‘‘a fluid working force.”’

SUMMARY In 1910 there were nearly 400,000 people in the United States working in the garment making industry. Among each 100 so engaged, 61 were employed in making men’s garments and only 39 in making women’s garments. The industry is localized in a few cities and divided into two branches—the making of men’s clothing and the making of women’s clothing. The work is carried on in a few large fac- ‘ mi 27 tories, many medium sized shops, and a large number of home workrooms.

Garment making is an important industry in Cleveland, employing more than 10,000 people of whom more than half are women. There are three general systems of work. The first is team work which is a system in which a head tailor hires his own helpers, supervises them, and pays them out of the lump sum that he himself receives from the firm for which he works. The second is the piece operating system, and this is a method in which each operator does all of one sort of work, such as sewing seams or finishing on one piece or garment. The third system is section work in which each operation is divided into many minor operations and each of these is performed by a worker who does nothing else.

Chapter III What The Workers Do

Garment making may be divided into five kinds of work: designing, cutting, sewing, pressing, and examining. Any one of these main kinds of work presents a number of grades of difficulty according to the garment on which it is performed, so that it is not easy to say how much skill is required in a certain occupation. Examining, for instance, on women’s coats is so difficult and important a matter that it requires a worker with the knowledge and experience of a regular tailor; while examining on boys’ blouses requires only the alertness possessed by an ordinarily intelligent blouse operator. The same kinds of work are very different in their application to men’s clothing and to women’s clothing

Men and women have different demands in buying clothes. Men want comfort; women want style. As a result, men’s garments have become standardized along certain lines which change little from season to season, while women’s garments change a great deal. Men’s coats change in length from year to year less than two inches at the most. Women’s coats may vary by as much as 380 inches, and their skirts by five or six inches. Men’s suits have practically the same number of pieces of almost the same shape from year to year, while women’s suits may vary from eight to 50 pieces of many shapes. The . accompanying illustrations showing the changes in style during the past four years indicate how much greater is the variability in women’s clothing than in men’s.

DESIGNING

The designer is the autocrat of the garment industry. The success of his employers, in no small measure, depends upon his ability to gauge and satisfy the tastes of the purchasing public. In small manufacturing houses often one of the firm is a designer who thus keeps control over his business. On the designer rests the responsibility for planning garments that can be made out of materials to sell at a given price. His duties are threefold,—to develop the style for the house, make the patterns by which the garments are cut, and plan them so as to avoid any unnecessary waste of cloth.

Before the opening of the season he determines the lines that are to prevail, the length and fullness of the coat and skirt, and the general style of sleeve, collar, and pockets. He makes a sample suit of cloth which is passed upon by the management. If it is approved as to its style and cost of manufacture, he drafts a master pattern for the use of cutters.

No kind of work differs so much in the making of men’s and women’s garments as designing. Since there are certain definite requirements in men’s clothing and great limitations in the matter of adorn-

CI6L PuUe ‘FIGBI ‘SI6I ‘ZIGT 1OJ Se[A}Q «ABOA 04 IBOA TOIT 9[AYS UL AT[BOTPBI VSUBYD SJINS S TOUIO MA ment, a designer in this line of work needs to put more attention on correctness of line than on novelty. Unlike the designer of women’s clothing, he needs good technique more than artistic ability. As a matter of fact the designer in a men’s clothing factory is hardly more than an expert pattern drafter, who makes the slight modifications required by the changing styles each year,

Novelty is the main requirement in women’s clothing and the designer in this line of work has a difficult task to invent styles that will sell and that will be economical in the use of materials and labor. So quickly and so radically do the styles change at the center of the world of fashion that a designer must be exceedingly alert and ingenious to keep his house abreast of the styles.

The costumes designed by the great creators of style in Paris are copied by representatives of the leading designing houses in this country. These styles are then adapted to less expensive materials and less elaborate trimming, so that the garment can be sold at a reasonable price. The American designer must work out very carefully the standard model of the season’s lines. He makes a sample suit or cloak of this standard model first in press cloth which is a lightweight unbleached linen duck used by the presser between the iron and the garment he is pressing. By varying the standard model with different cuffs, collar, pockets, belts, and trimmings he may evolve 50 to 100 styles to be made in 400 or

500 materials. 3l

In most large shops designers of women’s clothing have the assistance of a corps of workers employed to make sample garments. In these shops there are also from one to three models, on whom the designers fit sample suits during the process of planning and who display suits to prospective customers.

The basis of the designer’s work is his knowledge of the way to construct the garment which he is designing. For designing women’s clothing, the designer must have a very wide knowledge of materials, and must be able to fit style and material together.. He must also be a versatile drafter of patterns for all the different styles he makes. Most important of all, he must have a discriminating appreciation of style. This is rather a matter of native ability and a person may be an expert “mechanic” and yet lack the ability to invent or adapt styles.

CUTTING

If the designer is the autocrat of the garment industry, the cutters are his most important retainers. Upon their cutting of the garments according to the lines laid down on the patterns depends to a certain extent the fit and appearance of the garments; and upon their laying of the pattern economically on the cloth depends the cost of the garment.

The cutting of garments requires several operations, which in large establishments are performed by different persons. The cloth is first laid flat on a table, one layer where individual suits are being cut, from four to six layers for garments of thick materials, from 20 to 50 layers of lighter woolen materials or heavy cotton, and as many as 200 layers of thin wash materials. The pattern is marked with _ chalk on a layer which is placed on top of the pile and serves as a guide for cutting the whole pile.

Skill in cutting consists in placing the pattern economically on the cloth so that the maximum number of garments can be cut from a piece of goods. This requires good judgment and ability to calculate quickly and accurately. Cutters must be careful about matching stripes for pockets and collars and fronts, and must be sure to cut similar parts with the nap of the goods going the same way. Accurate measuring and careful observation of materials are necessary in all their work. While knowledge of drafting and grading is not essential to the regular cutter, it is of great value to him.

The specialization of this trade is due in part to improved machinery. The universal shears were replaced early in the history of the industry by a long knife, used somewhat like a saw, which worked up and down through a form cut in the table. About 1870, electric cutting machines came into use. One of these was a circular disc which “‘as it revolves with great rapidity can cut 24 thicknesses of cloth with buzz-saw speed and with an accuracy not duplicated by human agency.”’ Another electric machine much used today is the reciprocal cutter, with an arm to which is attached a blade having a rapid vertical movement. These machines can do the work of cutting in one-eighth the time consumed by hand.

3 33

Cutting is more difficult and more highly specialized in women’s clothing establishments. The number and shape of the component parts of women’s garments vary so much from season to season that it takes a master hand at jig-saw puzzle pictures to make a good lay of patterns every time. No sooner has a cutter solved the lay of the pattern for one garment than he is presented with an entirely different set of pieces.

Regular cloth cutters constitute about two-thirds of the cutting-room force in women’s clothing. The important part of their work is to lay the patterns on the goods and mark around them. They must then be able to cut it out by shears or machine. The best lining cutters are interchangeable with cloth cutters. Indeed in some establishments making a better grade of coats, lining cutters must be more skilful than cloth cutters. Not only do they lay patterns but in many cases they select linings to match the different colored coats, a responsible and exacting task. Trimming cutters cut out velvet and silk collars, cuffs, pockets, and belts. Canvas cutters block out the pieces of canvas used for interlining. Helpers and apprentices assist the regular cutters by laying up goods, notching cut pieces, bringing patterns, and sometimes cutting out small pieces.

The proportion of workers in different cutting occupations in suit, cloak, and skirt factories, in which about three-fifths of all the garment cutters of the city are employed, is shown in Table 2.

“ os ete

‘ +; , a et - ’

- ma! , ° 7 DY ee i e x — y : “ Cor Wa he

“ ae Wa fxg - 4 we a.)

. AS,

L400 ot sere

TABLE 2.—DISTRIBUTION OF CUTTERS IN 23 CLOAK, SUIT, AND SKIRT FACTORIES, CLEVELAND, OHIO, 1915

Kind of cutters Per cent Head 2 Graders 6 Cloth, hand 62 Cloth, machine 7

Lining and trimming 12

Canvas 5

Apprentices 6 Total 100

TRIMMING AND ASSORTING

A certain amount of ‘‘go-between”? work must be performed in gathering the cut pieces of garments in proper order for the sewing or construction department. In the making of men’s clothing, the gobetweens are called trimmers or fitters. They finish the work of the cutters by trimming linings to fit the outer part of the garment and by cutting facings for pocket flaps. They prepare the garments for machine operators by marking the location of the pockets, by matching the different parts of the garment and labeling them in order to keep track of them during the process of manufacture.

Assorters or assemblers, dividers, and trimming girls do the go-between work in the making of women’s clothing. The assorters, called dividers in waist factories, take the piles or bundles of cut-out parts from the cutters, sort the pieces for separate garments, and sometimes sew or paste on identifying tickets. Trimming girls fill requisitions for trimming, their work being partly of a clerical nature. They cut off lengths of braid, and select buttons and other trimming as specified in the list received from the manufacturing office and put them as ordered with the assorted garments.

MACHINE OPERATING

With the exception of felling linings and sewing on certain kinds of buttons and trimmings, nearly all sewing in connection with ready-made garments is done by machine. An operator may do only one operation such as making straps for vests, or she may transfer from one operation to another at frequent intervals; she may do a group of operations, such as all the sewing of a sleeve, or she may do all the operations on a garment.

The extent to which the work is specialized depends largely on the kind of garment and the labor supply. Where the materials are delicate or where the labor is tailor trained, the work is more likely to be done by all-round or piece operators; while where materials can stand a good deal of handling or where the factory depends on green hands for its labor supply, the work is likely to be highly specialized, each operator doing one operation or a group of operations.