how the fee of living crisis of the Nineteen Twenties fueled a black market in men's fashion

Since just about all men's fashion is now bought off the rack or online, the “harmful dropper” has long been forgotten.

This Nineteen Twenties slang term is simply utilized in Australia and New Zealand roving fabric sellers. Most lower-quality droppers sold men's suits comparable to serges and tweeds. They walked town streets or went door to door in suburbs and cities.

Sparked by a cost-of-living crisis after World War I, the shabby decline was finally worn out by rising wages within the Fifties.

The practice highlights how quickly fashion markets reply to economic aspects comparable to supply, demand, inflation and wages.

“Scammer in a suit”

The most successful shoddy-droppers were smooth talkers attractively wearing tailored three-piece suits.

They often went door to door attempting to persuade potential customers that they may afford to decorate like them. All a customer needed to do was purchase the “high quality” suit lengths of the inferior dropper at a price they’d not find elsewhere.

Some inferior droppers also claimed to have one Special offer with a tailor This allowed buyers to have their suit tailored at a bargain price.

The term “Shoddy Dropping” plays on the double meaning of the word “shoddy“. The first was a noun that referred to a cheap fabric made from a mix of new and recycled wool. The second was an adjective meaning “inferior or poorly made.”

Both meanings of shoddy were included in an Article Published in a rural newspaper in New South Wales in 1913.

Although the writer didn’t use the term “shabby dropping,” he did use these words to warn readers about traveling “suit-length scammers.”

Bad items are sometimes dismissed as top quality fabrics by irresponsible men.

The variety of substandard droppers at any given time was likely small, but since they weren’t on the books it’s inconceivable to quantify them.

However, crime and news reports suggest that the practice began in the beginning of the First World War.

Supply, demand, inflation and wages

Bad falling rose into the air the Nineteen Twenties and Nineteen Fortiesas prices shot up as a result of the war.

An ad encourages men to consider the luxury of an immaculate suit.
After the First World War, the demand for men's suits skyrocketed.
NLA/Trove/start number 7898102

Another factor was working-class men's desire for well-fitting suits. If Melbourne Wagoners And Factory employee For example, testified to the Australian Royal Commission on the Basic Wage in 1920 that the majority men they knew wore tailored suits to and from work.

This led to financial stress; Due to rising costs, it was difficult to afford tailored suits.

Fashion was one other likely reason for the rise in fads within the Nineteen Twenties and Nineteen Forties.

The slimline Jazz suitwhich became fashionable within the early Nineteen Twenties was only one example.

The jacket of this suit was single breasted and easily displayed from the waist, while the trousers were narrow and short enough to disclose silk-knit 'jazz socks'.

The mischievous charisma of the jazz suit Louis Stirling Below, it's easy to assume how an elegant, low-quality dropper persuaded fashion-conscious young men to purchase her wares.

Louis Stirling was a suit salesman who was photographed by Sydney police in 1920.
New South Wales Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice and Police Museum, New South Wales History Museums

Stirling was a suit-wearing salesman who was photographed by Sydney police in 1920 after he was caught stealing fabric. He later gave evidence that he was a nasty driver to avoid being charged with vagrancy in Melbourne 1922.

The high variety of restless job seekers from the First World War was one more reason for the rapid increase in mine sales within the Nineteen Twenties.

Consider returning soldier Reginald Sharples (aka Walter Johnson). In 1920 the police brought charges against him and an accomplice Theft of men's suits price over £1,000 from a tailor on Sydney's Hunter Street. The amount today was roughly A$83,000.

Sharples was caught after transporting the stolen cloth to Melbourne. Like Stirling, he later presented convincing evidence that he was a nasty man to avoid charges of vagrancy.

In his 1920 mugshot, Sharples is wearing an early interwar version of smart casual street style. He had paired a light-weight pinstripe suit with a cream turtleneck, a black fedora and a returnee badge.

Reginald Sharples was a nasty dropper of the Nineteen Twenties.
NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice and Police Museum, History Museums New South Wales.

Sharples was also an example of links between bad dropping and arranged crime in and after the Nineteen Twenties.

Aside from the suit theft charge, Sharples was also convicted Theft of morphine and cocaine from a wholesale druggist in Melbourne in 1922. He too was unsuccessful charged with vagrancy along with Louis Stirling in 1924.

Both men were rumored to be linked to underworld figure Squizzy Taylor swirled in court throughout the process.

A story about the fee of living

Had bad dropping disappeared within the mid-Fiftiesbecause of rising wages and increasing complexity within the production of ready-to-wear suits.

Men in suits answer phones in an office.
Many men within the postwar period longed to wear tailored suits and high-quality textiles.
NLA/Trove/PIC/15611

These aspects resulted in fewer low-income men who believed that the one approach to afford an honest suit was to first buy fabric “off the back of a truck” after which face the uncertainty of to have it custom-made.

Although substandard dumping went under the radar back within the Nineteen Twenties, it's price recalling today as a reminder of the unscrupulous sales practices that thrive during cost-of-living crises.

Along with the evidence within the extraordinary Informal Sydney Police mugshots Set within the interwar period, Shoddy Dropping provides further insight into Australia's history of male fashion consumer desires.

It has often been said that Australian men are a thing that has escaped fashion. Poor dropping suggests that many actually longed to wear tailored suits and high-quality textiles. However, for a lot of, these raw materials have been frustratingly out of reach.

image credit : theconversation.com