Thursday, January 31, 2008



American Shuttle Looms

This scan is taken from a 1904 Draper Company publication. The now-famous XX denim used on the original Levi's 501 production were woven on Draper looms at the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. In fact, Levi Strauss & Co. historian, Lynn Downey, notes that the denim from their "first waist overalls came from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire, on the East Coast of the United States." ("A Short History of Denim," Downey).

In as early as 1904 the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. owned 1261 Draper Northrop looms (this does not even include other models of Draper looms Amoskeag had; please note not all Draper looms were used for making denim but to the extent of my research evidence most or even all denim looms at Amoskeag were from Draper who practically had a monopoly in loom-building at the time in America).

Today you can see the Model E at Cone Denim in Greensboro, North Carolina. I have not received full clearance to publish detailed info and media but here's a teaser.





Lynn Downey and LS&CO's "A Short History of Denim" (PDF Alert)

Cone Denim Website

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Could not find an email address for your blog. You seem like the person who would be interested in a blog segment we did several months back...

http://www.insiderainbow.com/blog_post.php?id=189

We will continuing "The Art of Denim" into 2008 by previewing new brands with exceptional design techniques and explain the benefits of these denim companies.

Feel free to post something about "The Art of Denim" on your own blog....DC

2/05/2008 09:13:00 AM  
Anonymous viagra online said...

It is amazing that this maquine is so antique. It is beautiful. I can not imagine how many years it has been a productive machine.

1/10/2011 05:33:00 AM  
Anonymous Gibson Les Paul said...

Really awesome to see that US companies like Cone Mills are still working with these looms. Quality is timeless. Too bad a lot of these machines were bought up and shipped to Japan.

7/29/2011 02:28:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a man that has actually taken these machines apart and put them back together again in prodution enviroments. I am curious to know how many Draper looms are still in prodution today here and abroad. I have also worked on the looms you are showing in Cone Mills Corporation.

8/09/2011 09:00:00 AM  
Anonymous xlpharmacy said...

Levi's 501 are the best jeans, did you know that During the launch of Levi's jeans, Levi launched a 5 week integrated marketing campaign that touched on experiential marketing, social media and outdoor events in shopping malls and city centres throughout the UK.

10/31/2011 08:46:00 AM  

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