Durham Hosiery Mill

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Durham Hosiery Mill

1953 circa

Looping department on the second floor of Durham Silk Hosiery Mill.  The man in the picture is Loftin C. Buchanan (“Buck” Buchanan), a “fixer”—the person who maintained the machines.  The loopers pictured,including some black workers, received one stocking at a time rolled up in a long string.  (If it were ironed out, it would be flat, since it had no seams yet.)  The loopers put the stitches at the toe end on a round wheel of needles, and the machine knit the toe seam, joining it front to back. It then went to seamers to do a seam up the back.  Stockings with a seam up the back were called “full-fashioned." The building was located at the corner of Corcoran and Ramseur streets on the former site of the Hotel Carrolina.

1950-1959

Durham (N.C.)

North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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