This is a tale of two families and their Berkshire business at Newtownards.
1 Founders It all started in the year 1866 in BARMEN, Germany where two boys were born. At the age of 23 they met, for the first time, in a boarding house in New York City. Ferdinand Thun and Henry Janssen were interested in the braiding trade and decided to form a partnership to make braid.
They started their business in Reading, Berkshire County, Pennsylvania in 1892 and 4 years later moved to a farmland site in Wyomissing, west of Reading. By the turn of the century Janssen had become recognised as a brilliant engineer. He had examined a neighbour’s fire-damaged hosiery machinery which he had been asked to repair. His resulting knowledge enabled the partnership to start the manufacture of fully fashioned hosiery machinery.
 
2 The undyed stocking was closed with a straight seam at the back. |
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Sales Director Brian McMeekin with a Fully Fashioned Stocking
in a Sample Folder |
3 Parent Company In 1900 an order for the first two machines was received. This was the start of the world renowned ’ Reading’ fully-fashioned machinery and the business empire built around it. Braid continued to be made under the title of Narrow Fabrics. The stockings were made by Berkshire Knitting Mills (BKM) and the machinery by Textile Machine Works (TMW) in adjoining plants. Berkshire became the top selling stocking brand and TMW dominated the world’s fully-fashioned hosiery machine market with its Reading machine. In later years Reading was described as the hosiery capital of the world.
Aerial Photo of BKM and TMW
Click here to enlarge
4 The boom years of the twenties rewarded the partners who made a generous response for their Community. Their philanthropic work extended to the local hospital, museum, library and polytechnic as well as to national charities like the Red Cross. It would be hard to exaggerate the influence of the partners in the entire Reading area. In 1948 Henry Janssen died and Ferdinand Thun’s death was the next year. The Businesses were continued by their families. Mr Thun’s twin sons Ferdinand (Ferdie) and Louis became Chairman of BKM and TWM respectively. Mr Janssen’s granddaughters’ husbands became Presidents respectively. TMW sold its machinery world wide but Berkshire Stockings were a domestic brand.
Mr Ferdinand Thun (Jnr)
5 The next generation changed Berkshire's attitude to the export business and, in the decade after the war, manufacturing plants were opened in South Africa, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Japan, Canada and Northern Ireland.
6 Start Up And now to the specific development at Newtownards, in Northern Ireland. In the late forties Ferdie Thun began his study of the British market. It was desirable to have a partner with knowledge of the ladies retail market. An arrangement was made with the Donaldson brothers of Alloa, in Scotland, who manufactured and sold their ladies knitwear direct to retail stores under the brand name of DONBROS.
Board of Directors
Board of Directors of Berkshire Knitting (Ulster) ltd
William Crone, Alex H Fetherston, Ferdinand K. Thun, John Bowman, Alastair Donaldson and Paul E. Guenther
7 Ferdie had a meeting with Sir Stafford Cripps, Chancellor of he Exchequer, and with the Ministry of Commerce in Belfast. Arrangements were made for BKM, in partnership with Donaldson’s (Donbros) to build a large hosiery mill in Northern Ireland. However, problems arose back in Reading and Ferdie was unable to commit his company to such an extensive venture. Nevertheless, with the help of his brothers and friends in Britain, sufficient capital was found to make a start. Jack Walton, an English manufacturer using Reading machinery, became Chairman of a new company named ULSTER KNITTING MILLS which, after a short period of rented acommodation, built a factory on an elevated, 25 acre farmland site on the Donaghadee Road overlooking Newtownards and the picturesque County Down country.
Aerial View of the Berkshire Factory at Donaghadee Road, Newtownards
8 The company started production of fully-fashioned stockings in 1947. Northern Ireland had no experience of manufacturing fine gauge hosiery and intensive training had to be undertaken with the help of the Reading company.
Most of the senior management was recruited from the English fine gauge hosiery industry; and the trainees, many from farming backgrounds, were quick to learn. After the devastating war all types of goods and machinery were in short supply and there was an insatiable demand for the new nylons which were replacing the silk stockings.
The company was fortunate in being able to acquire some reconditioned machines from its parent company BKM. These were just right for the job and their purchase was subsidised by the N.I. Government.
9 Progress By 1952 the company had become very profitable and it was ready for fundamental changes which included–
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The buy out of the individual promoters shares by Berkshire and Donbros. Berkshire acquired 2/3rds and Donbros 1/3 rd.
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The retirement of Jack Walton, Chairman, and other Directors. Ferdie became Chairman and his American colleagues were joined by Alistair Donaldson. To strengthen the ties with Northern Ireland
Alex H Fetherston, a partner in the firm of its Belfast solicitors, also joined the Board. Ferdie, like his father, was a thinker and cultured. He was educated at an American Ivy League university and later became Chairman of its board. He was fond of people and knew the employees and their names. He chose the site for the factory at Donaghadee Road and was responsible for its lovely gardens, landscaped by R.C.W. Grubb.
The Reading Management, being satisfied with the quality of the stockings were prepared in 1955 in a further move to root itself in Northern Ireland the English Managing Director was replaced by the Belfast board member. This change led to increased emphasis on the Berkshire brand and also to significant fashion development.
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New circular machines were installed to meet the demand for seamless stockings. Instead of producing fully fashioned flat fabric these machines produced circular tube stockings with the same number of loops at the top and toe. To give a perfect fitting stocking the loops were knit slack at the to pand gradually tighter at the ankle and foot. It also required a new skill and continual daily testing by Quality Controllers to make sure that the tubes fitted well, and had an even depth of colour in the denser fabric at the ankle area.
10 Marketing It was difficult to introduce a new brand in a conservative market against heavily promoted and long established existing stocking brands. All British hosiery manufacturers bought the same yarn from one source, British Nylon Spinners and most of the leading ones used the same Reading machines. The products showed no visible difference on the leg. The Company asked what could be done to differentiate its product from others. The answer appeared to be the packaging.
11 The Newtownards management with its advertising agents and design consultants got to work on a new form of presentation. Hitherto all hosiery packaging had been standard, namely the width of the stocking in a plain folder with the brand name and the stocking colour. It was sold by the retailer in same signed rigid boxes stocked immediately behind the counter. The hosiery trade said there could be no change to this tradition and management got no encouragement. It nevertheless persisted and created and introduced a new and extremey successful half- width pack named “slimfold “; bearing a picture or colourful design on the cellophane. It was aggressively marketed to the retailers as an additional help to them. Its success was almost immediate and soon all stockings and tights worldwide were sold by the hosiery trade in this size and type of folder. A pity no patent was sought!
Original Broadfold Packs & The new Slimfold Packs
 
12 Expansion From the time of the packaging change the Company made steady progress and entered a period of expansion.
In 1957 factory extensions were made for new machinery and an office block was erected at the front of the factory.
Further expansion was still needed and in 1959 a new 30,000 square feet factory was built six miles away at Dundonald by the Ministry of Commerce to the Company’s requirements.
With the improved and expanded production facilities the spotlight fell on sales and marketing. The Company felt that the time had come to make direct Berkshire brand sales to its UK retail customers. The arrangement withDonbros was terminated and the Company became wholly owned by the Reading Company.
In October1960 we had a visit, at our Reading Headquarters, from The Minister of Commerce,
Lord, and Lady, Glentoran, accompanied by Mr K.A. Bloomfield, the Government representative in USA.
The products and prospects were demonstrated and discussed by Directors Ferdie K Thun and Paul E Guenther
13 A sales force of twenty five men with two Area Managers was formed and a distribution centre established at Newtownards. Reliable deliveries across the Irish Sea had to match the competitors quick service from English and Scottish centres. It was a mammoth task undertaken successfully by a young and confident management team. The distinctive packaging and the direct sales service gave the Company a real fillip and by 1963 employment had reached one thousand.The Sales force was closely integrated with the factory staff and Conferences were held, annually, at the mill. The parent company was also expanding its overseas activities and added International to its name. The N.I. Company followed and became Berkshire International (UK) Ltd
Sales conferences in Newtownards
14 Knitwear Growth continued and now came diversification. The relationship with Marks and Spencer was developed by supplying them with knitted outer-wear made on new 21 gauge fully fashioned machines.
21 Gauge Knitwear garment Garment Inspection
 
The gauge was again related to the number of number of needles in 1½ inches of the needle-bar. The finer fabric of stockings was knitted on 45, 51, 60, 66 and even a miraculous 75 gauge while knitwear was on 5 to 21 gauge.
The knitwear machines were installed in the Dundonald factory. By 1965 further space was required at the Newtownards factory and a 23,000 square feet extension was made while the following year an IBM computer was installed and with it came reorganisation of the office. The Northern Ireland Company had now become the flagship of the Berkshire overseas operations.
15 International In 1966 its growing importance was recognised in two ways. First the Group's International Conference was held, for the first time, in Northern Ireland with representatives from the parent company and overseas mills attending. The meeting took place at the nearby Culloden Hotel which was taken over for the event. Social events at the Hotel included, Irish dancing which was led by the Irish dancing champion who happened to be an employee of the Berkshire!
Secondly, Alex H Fetherston, the Managing Director of the N.I. Company was appointed to the main board in Reading to represent the overseas companies. It was a departure from the tradition of family representation.
3rd International Conference in 1966
Culloden Hotel was the venue for our first ever Conference in Northern Ireland
16 Tights were introduced and began to run parallel with stockings, later overtaking them and in 1967 fully fashioned production ceased with all the knitting machinery becoming worthless.
Bill Sheeler inspects a new Seamfree Knitting Machine 1968
17 Great changes were also taking place in Reading. Ferdie had retired from his chairmanship and active management, now devoting himself to his community work. His three children sought other interests and for the first time there were no Thuns in the business. It continued for some years until 1968 when it was acquired by the Janssen family. In the same year TMW was sold to Rockwell International, an aerospace corporation.
18 Vanity Fair The following year Berkshire and its overseas companies were sold to Vanity Fair a leading ladies underwear company in the USA. This meant that the two families had no longer any interest in the two great companies. Vanity Fairs business was confined to the domestic market and this limitation was one of the reasons for the purchase of an international textile company.
19 The Chairman of Vanity Fair, M.O. Lee became Chairman of Berkshire NI in 1969 and in the same year Vanity Fair purchased HD Lee the jeans and leisure wear manufacturer. This was a great coup which give the company access at just the right time into a new and thriving market in denim jeans.
20 In NI operations continued under the new masters. They did not affect the growth and in 1973 a large extension was made at the Dundonald factory and an additional factory of 57,000 sqft was rented from the Ministry of Commerce at Comber Road, Newtownards.
21 Two years later Blaxnit, the Newtownards sock maker was purchased. Its plant was closed and its machinery and workforce of two hundred and fifty were transferred to Donaghadee Road headquarters.
22 This further diversification was followed by the making of Lee denim jackets at Dundonald. The extra production of socks and the more bulky denims required additional distribution and warehousing space and a new distribution centre of 40,000 square feet was opened near the Comber Road factory.
23 Slowdown The runaway sales of the newly acquired Lee denim products and the profitability of Vanity Fair made the Berkshire hosiery section, in a highly competitive industry, look unattractive to the parent company; with rumours that it might dispose of Berkshire NI or part of it. In 1979 it was heard with apprehension that the new Chairman would visit Northern Ireland. He was rightly credited with the success of Vanity Fair. His life and business had been confined to the USA and this was his first visit to Northern Ireland. On his route he had visited a Lee operation in Scotland and had expressed himself disgusted with it!
The Newtownards management prepared well for his visit and alerted the Ministry of Commerce who in turn invited him for lunch at the Parliament Buildings, Stormount. The sun shone brightly throughout his entire stay at the Crawfordsburn inn. At lunch in palatial surroundings overlooking the tree lined entrance to the building he told the top Government men that he had come to close the plant. However he was greatly surprised and delighted by what he had seen.
This was the first disclosure of his hand. He then asked if the Government could offer a factory for further expansion in Northern Ireland. Before he left it was decided to open a new plant in Londonderry and that the NI management should take responsibility for the Scottish plant; which had been managed previously from Lee European Headquarters in Belgium. In conclusion he gave enthusiastic support to the hosiery operation.
24 The denim business continued in its expansion first in Londonderry and then in a new plant in the Republic of Ireland at Ardee, County Louth. This was the last extension and the beginning of a slow down of all Vanity Fair operations in Northern Ireland.
Offficial opening of the Londonderry Plant 22nd March 1977
25 Changes The first casualty in the slow-down was in Reading when their hosiery was terminated and replaced by a huge outletstore which made Reading the centre for this type of developing business.
Next was NI in 1980 where a Management buy out of the hosiery business took place. It was a difficult change made during worsening market conditions. The sock business was overtaking the tights business and after further changes in ownership the women’s hosiery production ceased with only socks remaining.
During this time Lee denim production continued under Vanity Fair until they too withdrew form Northern Ireland.
In1989 Berkshire Hosiery (U.K.) Ltd. was acquired by the Glamar Group plc.
The story ends in 2004 when the original Donaghadee Road factory was demolished. For more than a half a century the Berkshire Company, with its Headquarters at Donaghadee Road, Newtownards, had played a prominent part in the industrial life of the province.
26 It started a business which was entirely new to Northern Ireland and trained a large work force which at one stage reached 1800. Its former Newtownards and other employees look at the area which graced the site of what they had called “The Nylon” and yet the great name exists. The shopping centre is known as the Berkshire Centre housing, among others, a Spar retail store with a Petrol Station. Spar, in earlier years, had been an unbranded customer of Berkshire.
Thanks to the two founders in far off Pennsylvania many families in Northern Ireland have enjoyed full lives and secure employment. The two baby boys and the next generation have passed on but history will surely record their wisdom, energy and outreach……………………
Click here for 1982 and later
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