Mad Hatters

Hypercompetitive, bubble-riding, style-mad is the $100,000,000 U. S. millinery industry. The Federal Trade Commission last week published a study of its scrambled distribution methods. Prime thesis of the report: chain and syndicate distributors (who combine the functions of wholesaler and retailer) handle close to half of the total trade, are not the pirates that manufacturing milliners think them: "With a better understanding the manufacturer will come to realize that he has not been the victim of oppression by the syndicate."

Engaging are some of FTC's findings:

> A few weeks after headgear is brought out as the new thing, it may be old hat. "Millinery . . . has no intrinsic value at all. . . ."

> On fewer than 20%, of the 1,300 styles which New York City's 500 millinery manufacturers try out each year are there sizable repeat orders.

> ". . . The store that operates its own millinery department and is dependent for merchandise upon infrequent trips to the market by its own buyer . . . cannot hope to keep up with the style demands of the consumer."

> Important are millinery departments managed by syndicates, on lease, in department stores. One trick of less responsible syndicates: 1) to use a store's good name to sell bad goods at a high price, later move on to a new store.

> "Unlike industries requiring a substantial capital investment" (in New York City, which accounts for 56% of millinery production, total equipment is estimated at $1,000,000), "hard times produce an increase in the number of millinery manufacturers. The failure of one concern results in the formation of three or four new concerns, for the owners, salesmen and factory workers of the firm which goes out of business . . . start new factories of their own."

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