Sacony Sewing and Cutting Operation
Oliver's Auction Service
James W. Jenkins: If my memory serves me correctly, the original building consisted of the portion on the left half of the present structure. It was a sewing room where bundles of cloth that had been cut into proper sizes were distributed to each sewing machine. There were long rows of machines from the front to the back of the building, each machine placed equal distance from each other so that the entire building was filled. The operation had a sense of organization and a hum of machines that produced a distinctive sound. Ross Burr, Jr. kept the machines repaired and in good working order. The sewing operators were paid on the number of pieces they successfully put together in a day. A minimum number of pieces were required and a scale of additional pieces was used to encourage workers to be more productive. The numbers were based on time-study programs that were designed to keep workers attention focused on the process and discourage socialization. Bathroom breaks were scheduled to keep the operation moving more than to accommodate the machine operators. The cutting department, located in the right side of the building, was a later addition. It consisted of long rows of tables on which large rolls of cloth were hoisted onto a rolling frame and two “spreaders” (one on each side of the table) would unroll the cloth along the table and cut them into equal lengths. The stacks might be from 25 to 50 layers of cloth. After the correct number of layers were in place, a large paper pattern with all the pieces needed to make a garment was placed on top of the layers. The pattern had perforations that allowed the mark to be transferred to the top layer of cloth when the marking chalk was applied. Once the marking chalk was applied, a specialized cutting device that resembled a large hand-held gig-saw was used to cut the stacks into the proper sizes. The individual pieces of the pattern were numbered in the marking process and they were tied in bundles, placed in the canvas carts, and carried to the sewing room where the process of assembling the individual pieces into a finished garment took place. The cutting operation required considerable skill and was considered one of the most desirable positions, probably because it paid the highest wages. The slightest miscue could ruin several pieces of cloth at the time. My mother worked at Sacony as a sewing operator for a number of years. In the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college, I worked in the cutting room as a “spreader”. This was my first experience with an industrial operation and found it to be repetitious and monotonous, but the worse thing about it was that I was on the second shift (three till eleven) and that ruined the social life of a teenager. One of the Plant Managers was Jim Cullinan, who moved here from up north. Mr. Cullinan was a redheaded Irishman with all the qualities that implies. They initially lived in a house near the plant, but later moved to Cheraw. They were the first Catholic family that I can recall in Chesterfield and I think their moving to Cheraw had to do more with a place to attend church than with being dissatisfied with Chesterfield. They had two boys and I became friends with young Jim who was about my age. He had grown up playing “street basketball” up north, and was well advanced as a player compared to those of us who learned basketball locally. Jim and I ran into each other in New York City many years later. He had a management career with the Sonoco Corporation. The younger son was named Jay.