Village Squire, 1978-03, Page 11These two foot -powered sewing machines (the one on the right is
over 80 years oldl still see service at Young The Tailor.
done. If the measurements aren't given properly the suit doesn't
always turn out the way it should.
One of Jack's plusses is that if problems arise. he's able to
correct them himself because of his training. He does. for
instance. a good deal of altering of clothing for his customers,
people who have bought a suit from him and gained weight or
lost weight. He can, he says, take a jacket apart and make
complicated alternations that others would be unable to
undertake.
Back in the days when he was working with his father, he
learned to draft a pattern for trousers after taking the
measurements and make the pants from scratch. He worked on
pants, vests and sleeves, while his father concentrated on the
jackets.
The day of the small tailer shop is pretty much at an end.
When John Young opened his shop in 1902 there were many like
him in towns all over Ontario. Today, Jack says, there are about
two tailers in the city of London and very few even in Toronto.
And the skills that went with a suit prepared by a tailor have
also been disappearing. Many stock suits are now made using a
fuse process, a way of fusing the material to canvass which Jack
says is not a sign of good tailoring. Such suits are impossible to
alter.
But quality lingers in the made to measure suit though even
here, there are three grades of clothing sold under the made to
measure system. Jack deals with a company that has a jacket
that is 90 percent hand made, though there is little hand work on
the trousers and vests. His experience, the fact he sells top
quality and his nearness to a city have combined to make him one
of the three biggest customers the made -to -measure factory has,
he's been told.
Toronto and Montreal are the headquarters for the clothing
industry these days. The smaller plants making made to measure
suits may have only a couple of hundred employees. The large
companies may have 800-1200 workers.
Imports have effected the Canadian clothing industry in the
ready-to-wear suit business. Labour costs are cheaper in the far
eastern companies that produce most of this clothing. There
have been problems Jack says with some imported clothing that
doesn't meet Canadian needs, that aren't cut right. One dealer,
he knows got a shipment with jackets that all had coats with the
armholes too small.
If you buy a suit in Western Ontario, however, you're likely
buying a Canadian -made suit, he says. Most local dealers like to
stock Canadian -made suits, particularly if the suits are of the
better quality kind.
•
For over forty years
Welcome Wagon hostesses
have been making calls
on newcomers - whether they
be within our own nation or
in a foreign country.
If you are a newcomer,
know of one, or are a businessman
desiring representation
in the newcomer's home, call
your local representative listed below
for WELCOME WAGON LIMITED.
•
604
Call your Welcome
Wagon Hostess now.
WINGHAM 357-3349
EXETER 235-2870
MITCHELL 348-8925
GODERICH 524-6654
STRATFORD 271-5856
VILLAGE SQUIRE/MARCH 1978, PG. 9.