But one researcher based in Vienna, Gottfried Richter, had a suggestion for something better. Various other materials were explored, such as mungo (recycled wool), shoddy (a byproduct of wool processing), flax, and even paper.
It became clear that an alternative to cotton-based textiles was needed, not least to supply the armed forces in the trenches. The authorities rationed stockings to two pairs per person every three months, introduced a rule on maximum dress-length, and requisitioned old blankets, table-cloths and handkerchiefs for recycling – even the linen on which old maps were printed. "An appeal was made to the patriotism of German women to maintain a simplicity of dress 'more in keeping with the seriousness of the times'," noted a trade report written in 1918 for the US Department of Commerce. In 1916, the German clothing industry was urgently placed under state control, and the private trade of second-hand garments was forbidden. The British Navy had introduced a blockade of European ports to starve Germany and Austria-Hungary of goods and raw materials, including cotton, so the scarecrows' garments had become too valuable to be left for the birds. It wasn't that they had gone for a wander, it was because there was a serious shortage of clothing. During World War One, the scarecrows of Germany began to disappear from fields.
0 kommentar(er)
