As times progressed the cottage industry of Framework Knitting was overtaken by the large factories such as that at Huthwaite shown here. This was The Cooperative Wholesale Society factory, best known as CWS, which provided many employment opportunities for the daughters of the miners’ families in a wide area. There were many other such factories in the neighbouring parishes, the nearest being a John Smedley factory on Newton Lane hill in Tibshelf, which later became a Marathon clothing factory.
A girl from the Freeman family of Shooters’ Row in the 1940s walked up Littlemoor Lane and over the fields to the CWS factory daily, no doubt accompanied by friends on the same mission.
Most factories had training schools where from leaving school, girls could learn the various sewing skills, -seaming, linking, overlocking,- until they became proficient enough to move to piece rates where they were paid by the number of garments completed.
Knitting machines were developed to produce large volumes of panels for knitwear, underwear or hosiery, and traditionally these were operated by the men, who also took on the roles of mechanics and management.
We look forward to hearing and recording your stories of factory life to add to this page.