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GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY
DO IT YOURSELF
C.J. Bartunek's story on p.8 about a Local sewing coopera
tive is a reminder of what a vital role sewing plants played in
small town economies all over Georgia until recently. Just like
the PALS of Athens Musicians cooperative that is the subject
of her story aims to do, local sewing plants provided jobs
mostly to women. The work was demanding, non-union and
low-paying, but it was steady when there weren't many jobs
for women. Sewing plants made money for their owners and for
their employees, and they were important income-generators.
It is encouraging to think, just as one of the last plants in the
region has recently closed over in Hartwell, that the future
might bring a resurgence in sewing jobs???especially jobs that
are more creative than the old ones.
When I was growing up over in Greensboro, my folks dug
out the area under our big old general store to make space
for a sewing plant. (That meant moving the unclaimed corpse
known only as "Oscar" to an upstairs storage room, an oft-told
Women work in the Carwood Manufacturing Company, Winder, GA, 1960.
tale I won't go into here.) The sewing plant was good for busi
ness, not only because of the rent but also because all those
women needed groceries and clothing. The trick was to find a
reliable business to occupy the space and to replace them if
they couldn't make it.
The quintessential Greensboro (and Athens) sewing plant
story was the arrival of Frank Felchlin, who came driving
through Greensboro one day on his way from Miami to Virginia,
to scout out a location for a sewing plant. The story is that
Frank ran into local attorney Ed Brown and was enjoying a visit
in Ed's office when Ed inquired whether Frank would care for a
Coca-Cola. Frank allowed as how he would, so Ed picked up the
telephone and called over to Moore's Pharmacy to order two
fountain Cokes on ice. Presently, the refreshments arrived, held
aloft on a tray by Nancy, the pharmacy's delivery man, who had
walked them over. According to the story, now legend, Frank
Felchlin was so bowled over by the whole procedure of order
ing two fountain Cokes by phone and having them personally
delivered, that he decided on the spot that Greensboro was the
place for his new business, and he set up his plant underneath
our store. Frank eventually moved his operation over here
to Athens, where he prospered for many years. The business
is still in operation, but not on these shores. Frank and his
sons saw earlier than most sewing plant owners that the only
way they could compete with foreign labor was to move their
plants to the source of the cheaper labor. So, Greensboro and
Athens and Winder and Hartwell and all our other small towns
lost these sources of income. Here's hoping the PALS of Athens
Musicians cooperative can find a way to reclaim some of the
jobs that have been lost.
Efforts like these on a small scale combine our indigenous
Athens resources with people needing jobs and willing to learn
skills. That's where the music scene itself came from, and it's
what we're in danger of losing every time a local business gets
pushed out by a chain. It's those special touches of home
grown charm that make you want to live in a place???the things
that by definition cannot be mass-produced and franchised.
It's the difference between a two-liter plastic bottle and a
hand-drawn drink in a glass that comes walking up on a tray.
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com
EDITOR & PUBLISHER Pete McCommons
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER Alicia Nlckles
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Larry Tenner
ADVERTISING SALES Anita Aubrey, Dede Giddens, Jessica Pritchard Mangum
MUSIC EDITOR Gabe Vodicka
CITY EDITOR Blake Aued
ARTS EDITOR Jessica Smith
CLASSIFIEDS, DISTRIBUTION & OFFICE MANAGER Jessica Smith
ASSISTANT OFFICE MANAGER Sydney Slotkin
AD DESIGNERS Kelly Hart, Cindy Jerrell
CARTOONISTS Lee Gatlin, Missy Kulik, David Mack
ADOPT ME Special Agent Cindy Jerrell
CONTRIBUTORS Rachel Bailey, CJ. Bartunek, Tom Crawford, Derek Hill, Jyl Inov, Gordon Lamb,
T. Ballard Lesemann, John G. Nettles, Sarah Anne Perry, Matthew Pulver, Stella Smith,
Drew Wheeler
CIRCULATION Charles Greenleaf, Will Donaldson, Matt Shirley, Emily Armond
WEB DESIGNER Kelly Hart
ADVERTISING INTERN Charlotte Hawkins
MUSIC INTERN Katie Kenerly
NEWS INTERN Sarah Anne Perry
COVER PHOTOGRAPH of a Kevin Barnes pillow by Emily Blalock
(see feature story on p.8)
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VOLUME 27
ISSUE NUMBER 21
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CIRCULATION
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MAY 29, 2013-FLAGPOLE.COM 3