University of Virginia Library

Textile Mills

One of the most important records of achievement was that of the
plant of Frank Ix and Sons, Inc. Paradoxically, the Ix war output
was devoted primarily to the preservation rather than to the destruction
of life. Ix silk looms had switched from luxurious crepes and
satins to parachute fabrics long before Pearl Harbor. In fact, in
August of 1941 the company completed an extension, at the cost of
$128,000 of its own funds, which increased its monthly capacity by
422,400 yards of parachute cloth.[8] First silk and later nylon were
woven into fabrics designed to save the life of the aviator leaping
from his doomed plane. The Ix looms also turned out rayon which
was used for parachutes to drop supplies to men in isolated spots or
to retard the speed of descending flares. Ix 'chute fabrics served a
deadly purpose only on fragmentation bombs. Parachutes were attached
to these bombs to delay their descent until the plane dropping
them was safely out of range. The local Ix mill, working a 168-hour
week, together with the firm's New Holland, Pennsylvania, factory
turned out these fabrics so rapidly that one of the trade papers acclaimed
them as “the country's largest manufacturer of parachute
cloth.”[9] In this production the Charlottesville mill outstripped its
family rival.

Further protection to American airmen was provided by Ix-woven
textiles for use in flak suits and flak curtains, which shielded fliers
from anti-aircraft fragments. Another use of Ix fabrics was in the
manufacture of G-suits, designed to lessen the effect of gravity on
pilots in dives and turns. The Charlottesville mill also developed a
special “rip-stop” cloth for airplane wings. This was woven in small,
seamed squares, which kept bullet holes from turning into dangerous
tears.

Far from being a war baby, the Ix mill first became known in Virginia
industrial circles in 1928, but not until 1945 was a Virginia
charter secured for the local plant. Under the direction of Frank Ix,
Jr., the plant grew from 50 employees in 1929 to 370 in 1941; the
wartime peak of 650 workers was reached in 1945. By this time
the $47,000 annual payroll of 1929 had increased more than twenty-fold,
and yearly wage payments amounted to over $1,000,000.[10]

During the war years ten per cent of this payroll went regularly
into the purchase of war bonds. National recognition for the Ix contributions
to the war effort came first on September 26, 1942, in the
form of a Minute Man Flag from the U. S. Treasury Department.
This award was authorized when ninety per cent of the employees
put ten per cent of their gross earnings into war bonds through payroll
allotments. For four years, 1942–1945, the Ix workers participated
a hundred per cent in the payroll allotment plan. During the
Third War Loan the employees each contributed an entire week's pay
to the purchase of bonds in addition to their regular payroll allotment.[11]

The company's production excellence was recognized on April 17,
1943, with the awarding of the coveted Army-Navy “E”. The official
presentation a month later on May 16 was a proud moment in
the history of Charlottesville, marking the first time such an award
had been given in this area. In fact, at that time only two per cent
of the industrial plants of the nation engaged in war work had received
this honor. Governor Colgate W. Darden, Jr., spoke at the
ceremony, stressing the fact that the Ix plant had become absorbed in
the life of the community in which it was located. In accepting the
award Frank Ix, Jr., praised the spirit of teamwork and the intense
determination for victory manifested by the workers. Stars indicating
a renewal of the honor were added to the “E” pennant on February
19, 1944, September 9, 1944, and April 23, 1945.[12]

The local war industry suffered all the usual trouble of labor
shortages, transportation difficulties, and scarcity of raw materials. In
December, 1943, the company through an advertisement in The Daily
Progress pleaded with “Girls Over 18—Also Boys Over 16” to start
to work at wages from $20.80 a week. The draft continued to take
more experienced workers; by April, 1945, some 212 former employees
were in the service.[13] In the face of such losses it was no mean
task to live up to the Army-Navy “E”. The training program for
new workers was accelerated so rapidly that young women after a
short period of training were performing jobs that had once been
handled only by men with as much as four years of training. Commuting
problems were solved by a well developed share-the-ride program
and by a special bus which brought in employees from surrounding
communities. At the same time houses were purchased or
built as homes for employees brought into the community.[14]

The character of the Ix workers is indicated by the record they set
for safety. The plant on November 1, 1944, started a period of operation
without a single accident serious enough to cause an employee to
lose time from his work. On July 9, 1945, the mill carried this
record of safe operation through 1,250,000 man-hours, entitling it to
a Certificate of Merit issued by the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

The Ix mill in Charlottesville receives the first star for its “E” pennant.

for conspicuous achievement in accident prevention. By the
time the award was made, on August 6, the workers had already
added another month to this record and were still going strong.[15] Not
until December 18, 1946, was there an accident to break the record.
By that time 3,251,932 accident-free man-hours of work had been
attained. The Certificate of Merit joined the Minute Man Flag and
the thrice-starred Army-Navy “E” burgee in the honors garnered by
this Charlottesville plant.

Also prized is a letter now in an honored spot in the company's
scrapbook. It was written by Lieutenant General A. A. Vandegrift,
Commandant of the Marine Corps and a native of Charlottesville.
The general expressed his appreciation for the “Navy scarfs”—neckties
to civilians—sent him as a gift by one of the leading war industries
in his home town. Many a Marine, Army, and Navy airman
probably felt even more keenly a sense of appreciation for the
wartime contribution of the nation's largest producer of parachute
cloth.

Not only the cloth for parachute canopies but also shroud lines
were produced in Charlottesville. The Virginia Braid Company
began manufacturing 'chute cords early in 1941, changing over from
its peacetime output of furniture cord and dress braid. Absorbed by
Virginia Textiles, Inc., November 1, 1944, the plant continued to
produce parachute lines, as well as cords for tents, cargo covers, and
uniforms.[16]

Cloth for uniforms came from a veteran producer of military fabrics.
Since 1935 the Charlottesville Woolen Mills had been turning
out goods for Navy uniforms. Cadets at the United States Military
Academy at West Point, New York, Virginia Military Institute, and
Virginia Polytechnic Institute were usually clad in Charlottesville-woven
fabrics. The war therefore meant only an acceleration of normal
production up to the rate of 15,000 yards a month, or a half-million
dollars a year in value. Most of this cloth was taken by the
Navy.

Three other local textile plants took part in the war effort. Henderson
and Ervin, peacetime manufacturer of men's and women's
clothing under the “Rockingchair” brand, began producing uniforms
for Red Cross nurses in February, 1942, and six months later added
hospital uniforms for Army nurses. Shirtwaists for WACs and Red
Cross workers were also manufactured. War production leaped from
26,808 units in 1942 to 84,282 in 1944, while employment rose
from 88 to 128.[17] The plant of the Monticello Shirt Company,
taken over by Knothe Brothers, Inc., produced men's shorts for the
Army at the rate of 100,000 a year. Construction begun shortly
after the end of the war doubled the capacity of this factory.[18] The
Albemarle Weaving Company attempted to convert its looms, designed

for producing upholstery and drapery materials, to war purposes,
but was unable to secure the necessary priorities for the equipment.
The company therefore had to continue its peacetime products
with the result that output dropped from 750,000 yards in 1941 to
350,000 in 1944, while employment shrank from 250 in 1941 to
64 in 1945. A small percentage of this production, however, did
find its way into military service.[19]