these seven images are from "newburgh: her institutions, industries and leading citizens" compiled by john j. nutt and published by ritchie & hull in 1891. sweet, orr & company constructed their newburgh factory in 1880, when their production was behind by well over ten thousand garments. they moved their headquarters to the new plant and continued production in wappingers falls, where the company was founded. the buildings shown in the first picture were considered to be state of the art garment manufacturing facilities at the time they were built. they aided greatly in meeting the market demands for sweet-orr garments, a market which extended well beyond north america into south america, europe, and south africa.
the engine room provided steam power to the plant's sewing and cutting machines by way of a system of belts and pulleys. the garment cutting machines are particularly interesting to me and i can't quite get my head around how they received the power that drove them. in the main workroom, lighting was provided by "peculiar semi-glass roofs" of a style that would become commonplace in 20th century warehouse construction. electric and gas were also used to light the factory's rooms.
operating rooms no. 1 and 2 show where the sewing operations were performed. to me it looks like the majority of the machines in the sewing rooms were singer's model 13, but i'm no expert so i'll try to get that verified. the buttonhole department was still making buttonholes by hand at this point which is unbelievable to me, while the buttons themselves were being attached by machinery. i find this period of garment manufacturing especially interesting as the sewing machine operator would have needed a high degree of skill in order to perform their job (or rather her job) successfully.
sweet, orr & company is my favorite manufacturer from the early years of ready-to-wear garments for working class people and it is unfortunate that they no longer exist to promote and defend their legacy. the way in which the company cooperated with the workers that produced their garments was progressive and exemplary. they allowed for their factories to become unionized without hesitation and initiated concepts we take for granted today, such as arbitration in order to avert a labor strike and the placement of the union label on a garment, insuring that it was made under fair and safe conditions. the company's early advertising is intriguing as well, in particular their "tug-o-war" campaign and logo, which i believe predates all other manufacturers use of the same "two things can't pull our overalls apart!" concept.
the way a company positively contributed to the culture of its workers' lives is way more important than pedestrian claims concerning rivets and pocket stitching and fabric and such. the fetish culture surrounding early working class garments needs to snap out of their nostalgic delusions and pay attention to what's really important in a company's history - how its workers were (or were not) organized, compensated, and respected during the manufacturing process. companies such as sweet-orr, keystone, crown, headlight, carhartt, and finck's all made a conscious effort to benefit the lives of their employees and their markets and their legacy extends well beyond the garments and ephemera being fetishized today.
