This 1940s color promo film produced by DeFrenes & Co advertises and explains the manufacturing process for Berkshire Stockings, at that time one of the world’s largest hosiery brands. The company was founded in 1906 in Pennsylvania as Berkshire Knitting Mills. Nylon fabric, which is shown in the film, was invented in 1939, but not used to mass produce stockings until after WWII.

The film opens with women’s stocking-clad legs going into a building with an “Employees Only” sign. The legs go into a Berkshire Stockings shop, where two brunette female employees wearing black dresses, nylons, and pumps talk. Beige and white stockings line the shelves behind the counter (0:40). The film follows a new employee on her first day at work. The employee places a tan Berkshire stockings box in a paper bag (1:26). A customer, Mrs. Jones, comes in with a run in her nylon stockings and asks to speak to the manager. She wears a black fascinator hat with flowers (3:19). A closeup of nylon stocking loops (3:56), a run in the stocking (4:04) and a snag. The store manager, wearing a pearl necklace and hot red nail polish, folds the torn stockings on the counter and puts them in a “Repair” bag (4:53). She holds a pair of beige stockings; the camera zooms in on her hands. She lays the stocking on the counter and folds it (6:06). The manager points to the stocking parts: the welt, the leg and foot, and the reinforced toe and heel (6:45). The manager unfolds an un-seamed full fashion stocking on the counter (7:12). A graphic shows a ruler next to the gauge for Berkshire Nylon 51 (7:38), a new type of nylon referring to 51 needles for each 1.5 inches of the knitting machine (7:51). Closeups of white women’s legs in nylons with different deniers (a measure of fabric thickness) are shown. A woman’s legs in tan strappy heels and a yellow tulle dress (8:30). A sizing pamphlet titled “How to Help Your Customers Buy Good Stockings.” (8:50). The manager places short, medium, and long-sized stockings on the counter (9:27). The new employee folds the stocking herself (10:26). The two employees sit in red and blue plaid wooden chairs. One shows the other pictures of cherry trees from her Washington, DC vacation (11:14). The manager, holding a lit cigarette, shows pictures from the Berkshire Knitting Mills at Reading, Pennsylvania, where the stockings are manufactured (11:36). Knitting machines operate inside the mill (12:08). Animated closeups of fabric being knit with a thread carrier, loops, needles, sinkers, and dividers (12:56). Animation of the presser edge and knockover bit (13:48). A knitting machine narrows the stocking with narrowing points (14:19). A male employee inspects stockings (15:16). A female employee feeds stockings into a looping machine (16:03). The manager takes off her black pump and shows the heel loops in her stocking (16:23). Female employees seam stockings at a row of machines (16:31). A closeup of a stocking seam on a woman’s legs (16:47). An inspector examines stocking seams (17:21). Employees inspect stockings on air operated expansion poles (17:43). Mannequin feet in stockings undergo friction tests (18:27). A Mullen test machine stretches and pressures stockings to test for defects (18:42). A woman watches a stocking stretched in a tensile strength machine (19:17). Two employees feed fabric into a pre-boarding machine to set the fabric under steam pressure (19:52). A female chemist tests a red dye in a beaker at a lab station (20:09), lays dyed fabric samples, and weighs dyes on a scale (20:30). Stockings are placed in dye nets and dye machines (21:04). Stockings in an extractor to remove moisture (21:32), and dried in boarding machines. A woman stamps the brand name on stockings (22:04) and packs them in cardboard boxes. Customers enter the store: a man in a grey suit (23:23), a woman in a grey hat with lace (24:06), and a woman in a black pillbox hat and fur scarf (24:52). Exterior Berkshire Knitting Mill, lined with cherry trees (26:05). The film ends with another series of women’s stocking-clad legs walking outside, going up plane steps, and dancing.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com