As has been said before, the demand for woolen goods is so much greater
than the supply that it is necessary to resort to various measures
to increase the supply of cloth. One method is to use the wool over
and over again. Rags are bought up by the rag man, sold to the larger
dealer, again to the “shoddy” manufacturer who cleans them, sorts them,
tears them to pieces, using the best all-wool rags to produce fibers,
which are respun and again woven either separately, if of very good
quality, or mixed with new wool or cotton. Such a material is warm,
looks well for a time and has its place, but must not be bought for
new wool, or demand the price of good woolen cloth. This industry is
enormous and shoddy is often found in expensive novelty materials as
well as in cheap “all-wool” cloth. Because of the shortness of the
fibers it may be detected readily, when used alone, but in combination
with good wool it is more difficult.
One class of shoddy consists of very short fibers, clippings from the
mills, which are worked into the surface of a felted cloth after it is
woven. These short fibers after a time work out, and are found in the
bottoms of coats, inside the linings, etc., leaving the surface of the
cloth threadbare.
Fig. 4 shows a piece of shoddy cloth, sold for all wool at fifty cents
a yard. This cloth would be warm, but does not look as well as more
expensive cloth, and will not wear as long as new wool. There is some
cotton mixed with the wool before spinning, therefore it is difficult
to detect.
[Illustration: FIG. 4]