The manufacture of men's straw hats has been conducted on a commercial
scale in the United States for upward of 50 years. The industry is
centered in and around New York City, in a number of cities in
Massachusetts and Connecticut, and in Baltimore, Md. Statistics of
production of men's sewed straw hats are not available, since the census
of manufactures does not distinguish between men's and women's hats nor
between sewed hats and woven hats. Domestic manufacturers estimate that
the value of the men's straw hats produced in 1914 was $12,000,000, or
about 45 per cent of the total production of all straw hats. In 1920
the value of the total production of men's straw hats was estimated at
$20,000,000, of which about $12,000,000 was men's sewed hats. At the
preliminary hearing it was estimated that the average annual production
of men's sewed straw hats in recent years amounted to 800,000 dozen.
There are about 40 manufacturers of men's sewed straw hats in the United
States. The majority are well established firms.
The production of men's sewed straw hats for the season 1923-24 of 19
factories for which costs were obtained was 553,253 dozen. The factories
may be classified as follows:
TABLE 1.--_Domestic straw-hat factories grouped according to annual
production_
------------------------------------+--------+------------+----------
| Number | Production | Per cent
| | | of total
------------------------------------+--------+------------+----------
| | _Dozen_ |
Group I. Factories with annual | | |
production of | | |
50,000 dozen and over | 4 | 265,767 | 48.0
Group II. Factories with annual | | |
production of | | |
25,000-49,000 dozen | 4 | 122,936 | 22.2
Group III. Factories with annual | | |
production of less | | |
than 25,000 dozen | 11 | 164,550 | 29.8
+--------+------------+----------
Total production | | 553,253 | 100.0
------------------------------------+--------+------------+----------
_Kinds of hats produced._--There are two general types of men's straw
hats produced by the domestic manufacturers:
(1) Woven hats, such as panamas, etc. The bodies of these hats are
imported in the rough and are shaped, finished, and trimmed in this
country.
(2) Sewed hats. All of the operations necessary in the manufacture
of a sewed straw hat, with the exception of plaiting the braids, are
performed in the United States. This investigation relates to sewed
hats only.
_Organization of production._--The manufacture of straw hats is
essentially a factory business and with few exceptions each concern
carries on all of the major operations connected with the production of
hats in a single establishment. Plaiting of straw braid is a separate
industry, the domestic hat manufacturers being dependent upon foreign
sources for their supply of braids. The bleaching of straw braids is
performed by some of the hat manufacturers in their own establishments;
others have the bleaching done by outside concerns which specialize in
this class of work. Some firms make the tips (the inside linings of the
hats) in their own establishments; others buy the complete tip, or have
certain operations, such as printing or stamping, performed by outside
shops.
_Labor conditions._--The hours of labor of employees in domestic straw
hat factories in 1923-24 varied from 42 to 54 weekly. Wages are based
both on piece and time work. Time wages ranged from $15 to $40 per week,
according to the character of the work performed.
The production of straw hats is to some extent seasonal. Orders are
received in the late summer for delivery in the following spring.
Production on these orders begins in September and the factories are
usually busiest in the early months of the year. The summer is a
slack season and factories operate with reduced labor force or close
altogether for several weeks. The following table shows the monthly
variations in the total number of employees of 18 domestic factories
in the season 1923-24:
TABLE 2.--_Employees in 18 domestic straw-hat factories, season of
1923-24_
---------------+-----------++----------------+-----------
| Number of || | Number of
Month | employees || Month | employees
---------------+-----------++----------------+-----------
1923 | || 1924 |
July | 1,116 || January | 3,331
August | 1,775 || February | 3,371
September | 2,542 || March | 3,403
October | 2,765 || April | 3,380
November | 3,221 || May | 3,117
December | 3,291 || June | 1,871
---------------+-----------++----------------+-----------