Hi, everyone! This week’s magazine is another of our many trade journals.
Although this week’s magazine isn’t published anymore, we have complete issues from 1981 through January, 2005. Hosiery News was the newsletter of The Hosiery Association, a trade organization organized to promote the global interests of hosiery, underwear, and sock manufacturers. Founded in 1905 as the National Association of Hosiery & Underwear Manufacturers, the organization wrote grants and negotiated shared advertising deals in order to ease business relations between small hosiery manufacturers and retailers. In 1999, they merged with the Carolina Hosiery Association and changed their name to The Hosiery Association, in recognition of the consolidation of their market.
In 2013, the organization closed its doors, moving some of its standardized testing programs and tools to the Manufacturing Solutions Center in Conover, North Carolina. In addition, they negotiated with the American Apparel and Footwear Association to set up a hosiery focus group to address the advocacy needs of THA’s membership.
https://www.accessoriesmagazine.com/83568/108-years-hosiery-association-shutter
The organization continues to produce webinars and organize promotional materials and events for the industry. Most recently, they compiled a series of webinars for WeConnect, an industry business reporting service we have purchased often.
https://www.weconnectfashion.com/businesses/national-association-of-hosiery-manufacturers
Long time president of THA, Sally Kay, gave the following interview about the organization and changes in the American manufacturing industry here:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/interviews/face2face/the-hosiery-association/sally-kay/606-1/
The archives of the organization currently reside at the North Carolina State University libraries in Raleigh, North Carolina:
https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00506