22 T H E C U B A R E V I E W 



Cuban Commercial Matters 



Market for Shirts and Collars in Cuba 



British Vice-Consul at Havana (Mr. D. St. Clair Gainer) reports as follows on the 

 market for shirts and collars in Cuba: — 



The principal exporter of shirts to Cuba is the United States of America and she 

 contributes at least 99 per cent, of the whole trade. Amongst other countries competing 

 with America may be mentioned France and Spain, but their position in the market is 

 so small as to render them unworthy of serious discussion. There is also a small local 

 production — one factory — and the shirts of local manufacture have the appearance of 

 sound workmanship and durability. Scrupulous care has been taken to imitate detail 

 for detail a well-known and popular type of American shirt, and in order to gain 

 favour with a conservative public it is sold with an American-sounding name. Owing 

 to the difficulty in obtaining skilled labour the local company's products compare un- 

 favourably with the imported American article and sell at a slightly higher price than 

 the best quality American shirt. Some 75 per cent, of the American shirts sold in Cuba 

 may well claim to belong to one well-known brand. The American company making this 

 brand advertise very extensively and have produced on the minds of the importers in 

 Cuba the impression that their shirt is superior to any other kind offered to-day. The 

 other manufacturers doing business there, though making shirts quite as good are 

 always left a little way behind. It would, therefore, be well that British manufacturers, 

 desiring to enter the Cuban market in this trade, should not in any way under-estimate 

 the class of goods to be encountered there. While the position held by British material is 

 and has always been unassailable, it is claimed by importers and others who are in- 

 terested in the trade and who have in the past handled shirts of British manufacture, 

 that in every case it was obvious that no efforts had been made to study local require- 

 ments, that little attention had been paid to accuracy of measurement, a matter of the 

 greatest importance, and finally that the goods were in no case packed with a view to 

 making them attractive. For this market shirts should be made in the following sizes 

 of neckbands, 133^, 14, 14^, 15, 15>4, 16, 16>^, 17, 17^ inches. It would also be 

 useful to mark the neckband in centimetres as well as in inches. Each size should be put 

 up in four different sizes of sleeves, the size of sleeve to be measured from the centre of 

 the neckband to the wrist. Convenient sizes are i2, Zi, 34 and 35 inches. Thus a 

 person desiring a shirt measuring 14 inches at the neck would have four choices of sleeve 

 lengths, namely 32 to 35 inches. 



If British manufacturers are to enter the field with any success, the very keenest at- 

 tention must be paid to these points and others of the greatest importance, enumerated 

 below: — 1. All shirts should be of the type known as "open" i.e. open all down the front. 

 2. Collars are frequently sold for wear with the shirt of the same pattern, colour and 

 material, etc., as the shirt, and are included in the cost of the shirt, usually one, possibly 

 two, collars. 3. Collar bands of the shirts should range from 14 inches upwards includ- 

 ing half sizes. Sleeve lengths from 32 inches upward according to the collar band size. 



4. There should be no hard, starchy substance in the shirt anywhere except the collar 

 band, which should be stiff. For the rest the softer the material used the better. 



5. Cuffs, which must be soft, should be double and should be so constructed as to be used 

 with links. 6. The shirts which find the greatest favour there are shipped in flat card- 

 board boxes, constructed so as to contain just three shirts. Shirts of a rather inferior 

 quality are usually packed in half-dozen to the box. Every care should be taken that the 

 boxes have externally as well as internally an attractive appearance, while particulars 

 should be stamped on the outside in a manner plainly discernible (i.e., sizes, etc.). 

 7. The material should be selected for its thinness, its softness, and its durability. It 

 should be striped. 



Of the collars sold in Cuba about 75 per cent, are of the soft variety, and here 

 again the majority of the trade is in the hands of the American manufacturers. Style and 



