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Adams MiUis AmCO NcWS
Vol. 40, No. 1
April 1984
Company Joins Adams-Millis Family
Silver Knit Has Long, Prosperous History
Silver Knit Industries has
worked hard to be at the right
place at the right time with the
right products at the right price.
For more than 50 years, the
company has strived to create a
niche for itself in the hosiery in
dustry.
The portion of the market
Silver Knit operates in was just
what Adams-Millis was looking
for when it decided to expand its
operations by buying out its
neighbor in downtown High
Point.
“It will give us another market
area that we’re not in,” said
Adams-Millis President Robert
M. Bundy, Jr. of the sale. “They
are high-priced, high-quality pro
ducers; not to say we’re not high-
quality, but we’re more a volume
house that caters to the large na
tional chains.”
Silver Knit is a custom house
for men’s and girl’s hosiery. They
produce a lot of wool blend, orlon
and specialty yarn products. Leg
warmers have been a strong item
for them in the past several
years.
Silver Knit Industries, Inc. was
a family-owned company which
was born during the Great
Depression and gained a foot
hold in the business during those
lean years.
It had its beginnings in
Kingsport, Tenn. in 1930 when
Milton Silver, a young man from
High Point, acquired a small
company known as Rex-tex.
Gene Hall Roy Hayes
Plant 1 Earns Honors
For New Safety Record
Plant 1 in High Point has reach
ed a milestone for Adams-Millis.
As of January 31, the plant had
worked 1,000,000 hours without a
lost-time accident. It took Plant 1
three years to reach this goal and
it is the first time an Adams-
Millis plant has achieved such a
record.
“Reducing accidents reduces
cost and time away from the job
when an injury occurs,” said
Robert M. Bundy, Jr. Adams-
Millis President.
“We think this 1,000,000 safe
hours is a remarkable ac
complishment and congratulate
the management and employees
at Plant 1 for an outstanding
job.”
Gene Hall, Plant 1 Manager,
When Milton’s brother, Robert,
joined him in the operation, Rex-
tex had 45 knitting machines and
about 10,000 square feet of
manufacturing space.
After operating in Tennessee
for a while, Milton and Robert
decided to move the company to
their hometown. Not only did
they feel literally more at home
in High Point, but they knew the
conditions and people there and
were also better known by the
community.
So in 1933 the depression-bom
manufacturing enterprise first
located on Wise Street in High
Point and became the present
Silver Knit Industries.
It operated at that location un
til 1935 when it moved to its pre
sent site on South Hamilton
Street where it occupies approx
imately 275,000 square feet.
Silver Knit, its Drexel Knitting
Mills division and Hayward-
Marum, Inc. have nearly 600
employees. Sales offices are
maintained in New York City and
they have sales representatives
in Chicago, on the West Coast and
in the Southeast.
Through its more than 50-year
history, the company has been
under the direction of the Silver,
family. Milton’s sons, Edward
and Don, came into the company
in 1952 and 1957 respectively.
They bought out Robert’s interest
in Silver Knit in the 1970s and cur
rently Edward is Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer and Don
is President.
Continued on Page 3
ing
Continued on Page 3
Pam Wilson “Boards” socks.
feels the record reflects a com
bined effort of supervisors and
employees in maintaining a safe
work environment.
“We have tried to keep the
plant as safe as possible,” Hall
said. “We all know we’re crowd
ed here and that means it takes
extra effort on the part of every
employee. I feel our people are
proud of this honor and they cer
tainly should be. We’re proud of
them and their efforts.”
Hall agrees with safety experts
that the cause of most accidents
is carelessness or “just not think-
“All of our people have worked
together on safety,” he said. “We
try to call attention to potential
Sandra Combs, left, Sue Caldwell “Pair” hosiery.