Fully Fashioned Stockings                Seamfree Tights                        Knitwear

Berkshire, while pursuing a policy of high productivity on their machines, retained a very versatile plant. The variety of equipment was such that any known style of tights, together wuth all the complicated features, can be manufactured. The time to knit a pair of tights varies considerably with its style and specification, but as a guide to the rapid developments in knitting machinery the latest machinerycould produce a pair of tights in a fraction of the time 6 years earlier.
After the deveolpment and tests on a new style a Works Specification with Master Samples was issued from Quality Control and Product Development Manager.Thereinafter no changes were permitted without revising and reissuing of the Specification.

Most of the manual jobs were paid on a production-paid basis with inspection, spot-checks and full examination at many key points. A bag of work contained almost 500 singles eamfree tubes which had to be toe-stitched and counted and held at a stock area. Later the same bag would be tumble-steamed and issued to the panty-cutter and thence to the body seamer.

Greige (undyed) stock was held and released as part of a dye-batch then completed its journey to inspection and packing.

Because Fully Fashioned stockings were knit in a set of thirty peices they were neatly folded and sent to the Ancillary operations.

From an operatives point of view it was necessary to have smooth, well-groomed and nimble fingers. Every morning the Supervisor issued hand cream and checked the hands of everyone in her/his section. At one time the company employed a full-time manicurist. Snagging nylon fabric was one of the occupational hazards.

A seamer of Fully Fashioned stockings had a target of about 700-800 stockings in one day.

Servicers issued and collected the production while the mechanics patrolled the Department to fix any break-downs. Down time was always kept to a minimum.

A Production Planning Department issued their programmes on a weekly basis and monitored the daily movements of stock. In the later years the stock-control areas were computerised.