Please View the Photos for Measurements
New Condition with Original Tag
Made in USA ~ Early to Mid-Century Era
SOME HISTORY of the SHIRT MANUFACTURER:
New Albany Clothing
Manufacturing Company was the first name of this building. It was built by the
legendary millionaire playboy Paul J. Rainey at the beginning of the 19th
century. Local legend says that Rainey built the clothing factory to keep
himself and his friends clothed during extravagant hunts in Africa and the
Arctic. Rainey was an avid hunter and adventurer, and his clothes would become
worn and tattered very quickly while hunting lions, bears and other wildlife.
Tupelo Garment Company
became associated with the New Albany plant in 1927. There were many clothing
factories in several different areas throughout Mississippi owned by Tupelo
Garment Company. Mississippi was a major manufacturer of clothing during this
time. The building was expanded in 1932. A two-story building was connected to
the south end of the factory. The changes that were made to the building so
long ago are still visible today.
Six plants run by Tupelo
Garment Company were closed and liquidated around 1938, which was the year that
Irwin B. Schwabe purchased the New Albany plant. Schwabe was a firm in New
York, and one of the largest purchasers of Tupelo Garment products. Business
boomed in 1941 when the Irwin B. Schwabe Manufacturing Co. began making
uniforms for the soldiers of World War II. According to an article in the Sun
Herald, the War Department contracted Irwin B. Schwabe to manufacture several hundred thousand
olive drab flannel shirts. Women sewed, pressed, and packaged uniforms 24 hours
a day to supply clothing for the American soldiers.
Ricky Cobb, the owner of
Riverside Furniture, Antiques and Flea Market, the business that now inhabits
the old factory, said that his mother worked for Irwin B. Schwabe Manufacturing
Co. during World War II. Cobb said that his mother spent many hours sewing
together uniforms, so much so that she was tired of seeing green fabric by the
time the war had ended.
Work in the clothing
factory was no easy job. Accepting a job in the clothing industry during this
time meant demanding work, long hours, and little pay. Most of the employees
consisted of women, but some men worked in the factory as well.
Errentine Stephens, a
native of New Albany, told a writer in 1988 about the early days of New Albany,
and the way that manufacturing and innovation affected the small town.
“Children who once did
not have enough clothes to wear to keep them warm, now dressed adequately and
often attractively. Children who looked as if they were not eating the right
foods began to have good color and sparkling eyes,” Stephens said. “Mothers who
can work will provide these things for their children, whether they make a lot
or a little.”
Demanding work was
common back then. But beauty pageants, not so much. The women of the Irwin B.
Schwabe Manufacturing Co. Worked hard, but had fun as well, by competing in the factory beauty review. The beauty
review was complete with contestants, tap dancing routines, choirs, and
quartets.
Eventually, the Irwin B. Schwabe Co. was bought by Movie Star Inc. That company was also based in New York, and manufactured loungewear. With the purchase of the Irwin B. Schwabe Co., Movie Star Inc. became one of the largest employers in the state of Mississippi.