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Show FASHION COI1NEM HAT BUYING BIG BUSINESS You probably know about the semi-annual trips to New York markets that the millinery buyers buy-ers from towns all over the country make every year. Many of the millinery departments in the store are managed by big firms which stage gigantic hat shows in New York on a scale that is hard to imagine. They assemble chapeaux from all the leading manufacturers and designers, de-signers, and then the job of the buyers is not made hard by trying try-ing to find the new styles hut by trying to strike a balance between be-tween the perferences of their customers and the bewildering array of headgear that they have to select from at the show ings. One of the largest com- panics of this kind in the coun-i coun-i try, is run by Ralph Haverfield, a Columbus, O., man who started start-ed out many years ago with just one department in a Columbus store. Now his buyers go not 1 only to New York but to Hollywood Holly-wood as well, in their quest for hats for the women of America. The story of Mrs. and Miss America's hats is a fascinating one. They even have artists at these buyers' showings. The artists sketch the different ways the hats can be worn. The thing that interested me most, and that has always amazed me, is that buyers have to buy winter hats in July and summer hats in January. I always wonder how they can be in-the-mood. |
