WHAT IS A MODEL STOCK? 39 
} Style merchandise is, of course, subject to violent fluctua- 
tions of demand, as the current fashion shifts. What is 
good style today may be poor style tomorrow. As style 
has worked its way into many classes of merchandise that 
were previously not affected by it, it becomes an integral 
constituent of almost every full line.! 
Novelties are the highly unusual items which, if they take, 
show a sudden bulk demand. Any novelty may in time 
become a staple; it is more likely to give way to other 
novelties and become obsolete. In some classes of mer- 
chandise they are far more important than in others. 
Ouisizes enter a line only if size is an element. For the 
most part these are items of clothing for those persons 
extraordinarily large or small or of unusual proportions. 
Some provision must be made in the full line for these per- 
sons; there must be merchandise in outsizes available to 
them. The man who wears a 1314 shirt will not buy his 
shirts in the boys’ department, although naive salesmen have 
been known to suggest this. In a full line there must be 
definite stocks of the outsizes which can reasonably be 
demanded. Under the Model Stock Plan it has been found 
that gradually the supply makes the demand, and a growing 
trade is built up as the customers find that their demand is 
being catered to. So definite in value is this growth that it 
has resulted in very profitable special departments devoted 
only to outsizes. It is possible to increase total profits 
materially by getting our store generally regarded as a good 
place for outsizes.? 
These four classes of merchandise—staples, style goods, 
novelties, and outsizes—are fairly obvious. The other two 
constituents of a full line of a Model Stock are not obvious— 
the Best Buy and the More-Profit Item. Their importance, 
_ 1Tt should be borne in mind that style is not so complicated a question as 
is usually thought. Much of the apparent complication has been artificially 
injected into the subject by fallacious thinking and by unjustifiable stimu- 
lation of new styles as a means of avoiding competition on a basis of value. 
This point is discussed in more detail in Chap. VIIL, p. 111. 
2 This is also true of such highly special goods as mourning goods and 
maternity goods. The degree of specialization profitably possible with such 
goods is treated in Chap. XVI, p. 235.