1940: Textiles

No other major industry has more ramifications than textiles in the conversion of fibers into finished merchandise, and none other is subject to more intense competition. All this operates, of course, to the distinct advantage of the great consuming public, for monopolistic price trends are impossible, and the incessant urge for more beauty and novelty is uppermost.

Taken as a whole, the industry operated on a moderately profitable basis during 1940, and several important branches of the trade established new all-time records in production and consumption.

Consumption of Textile Materials in 1940.

While raw cotton consumption averaged about 327,000,000 pounds per month for the year, during the last four months of 1940 the average reached the high level of around 357,000,000 pounds, making the year's total 3,924,000,000 pounds.

Raw wool used during the year amounted to slightly more than 400,000,000 pounds. Beginning with August, the effect of defense requirements became manifest, and for the period October through December, apparel wool consumption reached the highest levels since 1918.

A total of 41,611,311 pounds of raw silk was consumed (mostly in hosiery) during the year — this indicating a drop of 18.4 per cent from the 1939 total. These figures indicate very plainly that the competitive position of silk is becoming increasingly weaker.

Rayon yarn consumption in 1940 set a new all-time high record, with a total of 390,000,000 pounds — exceeding the 1939 total by 8 per cent. This covers all types of rayon. The most spectacular gain was registered by spun rayon, with an increase over 1939 of 55 per cent.

Textiles in the National Defense Program.

High lights in the year's developments were: the very definite stimulus provided by the large requirements of the National Defense Program, the spectacular and successful introduction of nylon hosiery to the consumer, and the rare opportunity afforded American designers and fashion experts to take over the style leadership that was the former undisputed possession of Paris, France.

It is not to be assumed that the improvement recorded in both the cotton textile and wool textile fields was due solely to this vastly increased Government business (for all the armed services), because even without this factor these branches of the trade would have registered gains over 1939. But the business placed by the Army and Navy was considerable and figured in the net results.

One point that has long been definitely established within the industry, but is apparently little understood by the press and public is, that both the Army and Navy make the most rigid demands in their textile specifications. Both services have trained textile technicians and modern laboratories for the complete testing of all goods purchased.

Officers in charge state that the manufacturers who work on these specialized contracts welcome the tests to which their goods are subjected. The mere fact that a textile mill has successfully competed on invitations from either branch of the armed services is in itself definite assurance of the dependable quality of its products.

So far as industrial mobilization is concerned, the textile industry has a distinct advantage in the present defense plans, because its problems remain basically unchanged, and in this field past experience is of immense value. In the last war the lack of understanding of what was wanted and its immediate and violent need was filled with destructive elements to both the textile manufacturer and the Government.

As standards have not been hurriedly or carelessly adopted, fabrics purchased for our military requirements are superior to those used in any other country in the world. In marked contrast to the situation obtaining in the last war, the Army and Navy very definitely know what they want, and furthermore, have educated the textile industries to a full knowledge of their needs.

During a radio preparedness forum, broadcast late last year, Dr. C. T. Murchison, president of the Cotton-Textile Institute, speaking for his own as well as the textile industry generally, said in part:

'Our industry is prepared to provide new cloth constructions, new weave patterns, new designs, new surface finishes and unending originality in the adaptation of goods to new and perhaps unheard of purposes. Present indications are that the cotton requirements for the Army and Navy during the next year alone will approximate no less than 900,000,000 square yards. The cotton textile industry can take this production in its stride, since it represents less than 10 per cent of our normal annual output. And the other branches of the textile industry are equally well equipped to handle the emergency task confronting them.'

The industry has formed group committees to cooperate more effectively with the National Defense Program, and is giving priority to Government needs.

Nylon Hosiery.

No single development in textiles during the past fifty years has received such inspired publicity and such widespread public interest as the final introduction, on May 15, 1940, of the remarkable new man-made, protein-like, chemical product — nylon — in women's full-fashioned hosiery.

Its success was instantaneous and the volume of business done during the first few weeks (and even now) was restricted only by the limited available quantities of the yarn itself. At present capacity levels the output of nylon can only meet about 10 per cent of the total required for the particular type of hosiery mentioned, and even with another nylon plant due to start production in the early spring of 1941, the supply is far short of the demand.

While it may never entirely displace silk in hosiery, it already occupies the upper price brackets, and its superior qualities in the matter of longer wearability are established beyond all doubt. So popular had it become in the fall of 1940 that retail buyers presented something of a wild scramble in their efforts to buy enough goods to meet the Christmas demand.

New Finishes.

Mention was made in the 1939 report on textiles, of the revolutionary and far-reaching gains registered in the field of textile chemistry. This had reference not only to the constantly improving qualities of various rayons and other new chemical fibers, but to the extraordinary effects achieved on all fabrics by the use of new chemical agents in the dyeing and finishing industry. Both beauty and durability are heightened by these new products of the laboratory, and progress during 1940 was quite as spectacular as in the preceding year.

Rapid and successful developments in every conceivable branch of sportswear have given impetus to experiments with new chemical finishes. Many cottons, for example, which were originally confined to the most humble uses, have undergone a complete change of face and emerged as shining examples of laboratory skill.

New types of colors, faster dyes, treatments for greater crease-resistance, shrinkage control, permanent crispness and a finish which controls or 'stabilizes' the original finish of the cloth, are but a few of the developments that point the way to increased sales and greater consumer satisfaction.

American Fashions.

For many years Americans have bowed to the leadership of Paris — in the broad field of creative design and fashion origination, but now that Paris is, at least for some time to come, in eclipse, there is a growing feeling that American designers of novelty fabrics, print patterns, and general fashion interpretations have the golden opportunity for which they have long been waiting.

See also CHEMISTRY.