| dc.description.abstract | The commercial manufacturing of apparel has existed in Texas since the Civil War, but only since World War II has the industry undergone rapid growth, challenged the hegemony of the New York and California apparel centers, and achieved international recognition. Concurrently there has been a dramatic increase in industrialization and urbanization, the construction of an excellent transportation system, and the existence of a conservative economic philosophy which discouraged any meaningful unionization of workers. Most important was the emergence of astute entrepreneurs who manufactured clothing better suited to the regional tastes and seasonal demands of the Southwest. Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, and San Antonio became centers of apparel production. Such companies as Finesilver, Lorch, Marcy Lee, Farah, and Higginbotham-Bailey-Logan were well established by the late 1920s. They were joined by the Justin McCarty, Williamson-Dickie, Haggar, Donovan, and Nardis firms. During the 1930s Dallas companies capitalized on the marketability of the cotton house-dress and produced new, distinctive lines of sportswear for national consumption. In World War II firms received federal contracts to manufacture large quantities of military uniforms, modernized plant machinery, and expanded national sales contacts. During the post-war period they formed trade associations, introduced new lines of casual clothing, and conducted extensive advertising campaigns. Seeking new labor markets, they decentralized manufacturing operations by placing factories in smaller communities. Management stoutly opposed efforts by unions to organize apparel workers. New companies such as Page Boy, Howard Wolf, Herman Marcus, and Sunny South established a special niche for themselves in the market and took full advantage of the opening of the Apparel Mart building in Dallas in 1964. Astute entrepreneurship, innovative management techniques, the existence of low-cost labor, and the prosperity created by the Sun Belt phenomenon brought profitability to such other new firms as Prophecy, Victor Costa, Applause, and Billy the Kid. An emphasis on private, corporate ownership and the passing on of traditional values from one generation to another brought about a continuity in ownership and longevity of existence unprecedented in the national apparel industry. Competition presented by foreign imports began to alarm all Texas entrepreneurs. | |
