Work in the Factory - The Finishing Room

LFP 1950-01-13 Holeproof Hosiery London; Dougan 2D.jpg

A photo of a group of young women working in what looks to be the finishing department at Holeproof Hosiery. LFP 1950-01-13. Dougan 2D. London Free Press Collection of Photographic Negatives, Archives and Special Collections, Western Libraries, Western University.

The finishing room was where the socks were finished and were prepped for sale. Some stockings had to be seamed manually – where the machine knit only the tub and a woman had to seam the toe. For other socks, women had to manually sew on decorations like pompoms. Women in the finishing room were also responsible for fixing socks that had been damaged in the knitting room but were still salvageable for sale. Finally, women would package the socks in this department – folding them carefully and placing them inside specific plastic sleeves.

1950-11-24 Holeproof Hosiery Finishing dept Ron Nelson 4878.jpg

A photograph of the finishing department inside Holeproof Hosiery. It depicts multiple woman working on hand-sewing and packaging socks. 1950-11-24. 4878. Ron Nelson Photography Collection, Archives and Special Collections, Western Libraries, Western University.

Somann depicts the finishing work that was done by the women in the finishing department.

Sargent describes the work she did in the finishing department at London Hosiery Mills.

Work in the Factory - The Finishing Room