The Dress Mess

It was a genuine sheepskin coat, chic, classy and no less than $ 175 off the rack at Saks Fifth Ave. When its wearer reached for a taxi door one morning, only a part of the sheep went with her: the left sleeve tore away from the armhole. A fluke perhaps, but not if the sour suspicions of a swelling number of retailers and their customers are correct. In all price ranges, women's clothing is suffering a major crisis of quality.

Dangling threads, unpressed seams, bulging linings, drooping hems, pop-off buttons, crooked pockets, puckered zippers, flawed fabrics and mismarked sizes are common. Seamstresses are being deluged with requests from unwary purchasers to patch up the flaws. Customers, retailers and even manufacturers acknowledge that the dress mess is critical. "It is the biggest unsolved problem in retailing," says Cyril Magnin, chairman of San Francisco-based Joseph Magnin, adding, "I spend more time on the quality problem than anything else." Margaret Dadian, vice president for the Midwest's Kay Campbell's Shops, headquartered in Evanston, Ill., calls the problem "the biggest, fattest nuisance in the world; it gets me ready to explode." Says Helen Galland, vice president and general merchandise manager of Bonwit Teller in Manhattan: "We could run a button business on the side. The manufacturers have not yet perfected a method of keeping them on."

Blooper Snoopers. To quiet the growing clamor of consumer complaints, retailers are hiring more and more people to examine incoming merchandise. Kay Campbell's used to have salesclerks send back defective clothes once a season; now a full-time inspector examines each garment as it is received. Joseph Magnin has taken on four quality controllers in California and one on New York's Seventh Ave., where most women's wear originates. In the past year, the company has dropped ten suppliers that had repeatedly shipped faulty goods.

Why the mess? The fickleness of fashion has meant that manufacturers have less lead time in bringing out their new styles. "Being first is now much more important than having quality in much of merchandising," says Carl Livingston Jr., president of Livingston Bros, specialty shops in San Francisco. A manufacturer caught in the revolving door of fashion often has to settle for fabrics and workmanship that he would otherwise reject. Because of rising labor costs, more garments are being put together piece by piece on assembly lines, and fewer are hand sewn. Says Designer Anne Klein: "When a worker works on only one section of the garment and not from the beginning to the end, he cannot have pride in his creation. He cannot feel fulfillment."

In addition, the garment industry has long depended on the skill of immigrant tailors and seamstresses. Now the Old World craftsmen are aging, and clothing makers have trouble finding replacements.

Ready to Tear. There may be some relief in sight for women fed up with ready-to-tear clothing. Next fall's fashions, at least the more expensive lines, are promised to be sturdier and less complicated than present offerings, with soft fabrics and classic lines predominating. "The gag thing is over," says Designer Chester Weinberg. "Now clothes are going to become simpler." Until stores can be stocked with these Utopian raiments, women will have to follow the advice of Bonwit's Helen Galland: "People should look closely. It is very obvious what is well made and what is not." Or a woman could simply give in to the natural impulse to wear a newly purchased dress out of the store. If the buttons fall off or the seams split before she gets out the door, she can return it on the spot.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.