1. Is the material suitable? will it wear well? is the color suitable or will it fade very soon?
2. Consider the workmanship. Are the seams well sewed? Is the stitching very coarse, or does the garment look well finished? Is the appearance neat, or will it pull apart very soon?
3. The construction should be examined. Is the garment well cut, or is it cheap because it is scant in fullness? This may not permit of freedom in movement, and the garment may have to be cast aside because uncomfortable. Then money is wasted.
4. It never pays to buy anything which one does not need. It is well to have foresight and to plan for what one will need for the year, but experience soon teaches one the quantity. It is foolish to buy unnecessary things because they are pretty. One should learn not to be tempted.
5. It sometimes pays to wait until certain seasons for purchasing garments. Between seasons one can get well-made articles of clothing at considerable reduction, if one can wait. Winter garments are reduced in January or February, and summer goods in July or August. It often pays to wait. In planning one's wardrobe, one can think about this. January is often a good time to buy household linens or other furnishings at a reduction.
6. The use of garments should guide one in making a selection. It is necessary to study one's whole wardrobe and to know what is needed. A girl engaged in business will need an entirely different wardrobe from one who spends most of her time at home helping mother. The first step, then, in economy is to know one's needs and to purchase accordingly. Is the garment needed and suitable for the occasion? Remember about appropriateness, and buy garments which will render the service needed. One does not wear silk dresses for housework.
7. Sometimes undergarments are made in sweatshops under very undesirable conditions for health. The garments are cheap because made by poorly paid workers under very unsanitary conditions. Do you wish to wear such garments? As long as women buy the cheap kind made at the sacrifice of human life, this sweatshop system will continue. One can buy inexpensive underwear made under sanitary conditions. It is labeled with a tag of the Consumers' League. This is an organization which is trying to better the conditions in workrooms and shops in which clothing is made and to improve wages and working hours. This League permits the use of its label on white underwear made under the conditions they approve of: no work outside of factories, no child labor under sixteen years of age, and obedience to the state labor laws. The labels are used by firms agreeing to fulfill the above requirements. If you are purchasing underwear, perhaps you can buy some with the Consumers' League label. It looks like this (Fig. 141). Miss James wears this kind, and Mrs. Oakes and Mrs. Allen, too, now that they know about it.
Fig. 141.—Consumers' League Label and Union Label.
8. It is sometimes more economical to decide on a particular color for a season. One can, as a rule, wear one's clothes to more economical advantage and look better dressed by choosing a particular color than if one has a red dress, a blue coat, and a green dress for best. The coat is probably worn with both dresses and may not look well.