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EVENING LEBGEB-PHITJA:DM:PHIA MONDAY, MAY 3, 1916;
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FROM 25,000 A YEAR TO 25,000 A DAY
There are few stories of business success which
should have more interest for Philadelphia than
.that of the Northwestern Knitting Company. This
is one of the companies which contributed to the
36 increase in the industrial output of Minneapolis
shown by the last census.
It is the story of a staple product underwear
familiar to Philadelphia manufacturers.
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It is the story of a campaign of continuous ad
vertising since 1897 a long, steady pull.
It is a story of the use of large, dominating space
in leading periodicals employed in such a way as to
impress not only the public, but also the dealer.
In 1896, when the present management took
charge, the production of this company was 25,000
garments a year.
Last year's output was more than 8,000,000 gar
ments, and it is expected that 1915 will show
9,000,000.
The first Munsingwear advertisement appeared
in The Ladies' Home Journal in 1 897. It occupied
two inches. In 1906 The Saturday Evening Post
was used for the first time.
In 1908 the first full page was used in the Journal.
Since then the company has never used less than
full page space in either the Journal or the Post.
The policy has always been to standardize in
the public mind the mill brand. "Don't say under
wear say Munsingwear."
This company was one of the first to appreciate
the effectiveness of advertising in securing the co
operation of the retail merchants. It did not merely
advertise. It saw to it that the trade knew that it
was advertising! and in a big, powerful way.
It considers the merchant just as much a part
of its selling organization as are its own salesmen.
It puts particular emphasis on the quality of the
service it renders to the trade, and the financial
strength of the institution as it affects the merchant.
The tremendous growth of the business made
necessary continual additions to the plant, culminat
ing last year in a building containing 15 acres of
floor space housing 2000 employees, who receive in
wages more than $1,000,000 annually making 75
different knit fabrics and weights, or a line of more
than 7000 different items. This building when fully
equipped will make possible the production of 40,000
garments daily.
Already it produces as many garments in one
day as were produced in an entire year before the
advertising began.
x.
The attitude of the Northwestern Knitting
Company toward advertising may be summed up
in this statement :
"It pays to advertise goods that it pays the
public to buy.
"Advertising bears the same relationship to the
problem of distribution that machinery bears to the
problem of production. Under right conditions, it is
an economy in selling. It either reduces the cost of
merchandise or increases the quality, and conse
quently the value. It usually does both."
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When this one company has employed advertis
ing successfully for 18 years, from the time when its
production was 25,000 garments a year to the time
when it produces 25,000 a day surely no manu
facturer in Philadelphia can be too small or too large
to consider seriously the possibilities of using the
same method.
THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA
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The Ladies' Home Journal
The Saturday Evening Post
The Country Gentleman
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