I didn't find the answer with STOMP, because the clothing became invisible after processing the .obj files through it. However, your advice on adding a hard carriage return to the end of the text in the .obj file reduced my render time by more than 1/3 of what it was.... or is that 2/3'rds? Anyway, I went from almost 3 hours rendering, to 50 minutes, using the same light, hair etc. I will keep STOMP around and try it out on other things, it just might be something with these particular .obj files for some strange reason. Thanks again for your time and patience for helping me off board like you did.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi