Stevens Companies Records

In 1899 concerned with the ability of their selling agent, Faulkner, Page & Company, to continue to promote their goods, M.T. Stevens & Sons decided to reorganize their firm's marketing operations and form their own commission house.

Moses T., his sons, Nathaniel, Samuel and Moses, Jr.; John P. Stevens (eldest son of Horace Stevens); A.D. Gleason and others, agreed to form and support J.P. Stevens & Company. Headed by John P. Stevens (formerly of Faulkner, Page & Company) the companies first accounts were Moses T. Stevens and Sons and A.D. Gleason, a wool manufacturer of Gleasondale, MA. J.P. Stevens used experience and contacts gained at Faulkner, Page & Co., to bring together talented designers and veteran salesmen in an effort to create a secure foothold in the rapidly changing textile market. The decline of the over-the-counter sales of woolen fabric (due to the popularity of ready-to-wear clothing) was having a tremendous impact on traditional mill operations.

Seeing that change was in order, J.P. Stevens & Company pressed the mills to change; new machinery was purchased and new techniques developed as the garment trade demanded sample pieces in a wider array of colors and textures.

By 1912, J.P. Stevens & Company, represented nine cotton mills in addition to its woolen and worsted accounts. Selling cotton grey goods for this company was considered a "radical departure" from the selling of finished woolens by piece, but by World War I having both cotton and woolen divisions allowed Stevens to meet the military's requirements for clothing and blankets. At war's end the installation of wider cards, ring spinning frames and automatic looms provided Steven's mills with the ability to keep current with styling shifts and to stay "modern" in an ever evolving industry.

In 1923 the business was incorporated as J.P. Stevens & Company, Incorporated with John P. Stevens as president.

Throughout the 1920s the number of Stevens' cotton spindles in the South grew until they eventually surpassed those in the North. It was in this time period that the man-made fiber, rayon, was first made available in commercial quantities. Initial efforts to market this fiber as "artificial silk" were unsuccessful but by 1929 Stevens' had developed a French crepe of rayon at their Dunean Mills. Recognized as a leader in the spun rayon field and with rayon sales climbing, J.P. Stevens & Company, Incorporated, formed a separate rayon division in 1937.

In the early 1940s, J.P. Stevens & Company, Incorporated was representing eleven woolen and worsted mills in New England and ten Southern mills which produced cotton and rayon fabrics. With the advent of World War II, Stevens once again turned its production towards military needs. Synthetic and man-made fibers came into prominence as nylon met its great expectations and rayon and cellulose acetate rivaled their natural counterparts.

Dynamic change would be the hallmark of the post-war era in both textile technology and merchandising. The new chemicals and fibers used for the military were now being touted to the general public who clamored for the "latest".

In 1946 Nathaniel Stevens II, president of M. T. Stevens & Sons Co., Inc. died at the age of eighty-nine. His death combined with the sizeable growth of the Stevens' investment interests and the company's expansive physical growth during World War II served as the impetus for what some consider the greatest change in company history: "to go public."

After months of negotiations, the selling and productions companies were merged: J.P. Stevens & Company, Inc., M.T. Stevens & Sons, Co., Inc. and eight other companies became J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc.

Although they no longer retained exclusive financial ownership, the Stevens family remained in control of the management of the new firm. Robert T. Stevens and John P. Stevens, Jr., (who upon John P. Stevens Sr.’s death in 1929 had taken control of J.P. Stevens & Company, Inc.), became President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, respectively.

After the merger, J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc. represented fourteen divisions operating twenty-nine mills. Using the experience he gained as Deputy Director of Purchases in the office of the Quartermaster General of the Army, newly appointed President Robert T. Stevens reduced the number of divisions from fourteen to three: wool, cotton, and synthetics. Equal emphasis was placed on both marketing and manufacturing, and a vice president was appointed for each division.

Robert T. Stevens was also instrumental in developing a long-range plan which included binding production more closely to the market; maintaining the traditional “hard-times’ policy of acquisitions; and perhaps most importantly, the relocation of manufacturing plants to the South. J.P. Stevens was one of the first textile companies to close down northern mills and move South in order to escape escalating production costs. Between 1947 and 1963, Stevens closed down four northern mills and built eight new mills in the South. By 1963, of the nearly seventy mills owned by Stevens, only seven still remained in the North. One company executive quoted in “Durable Threads of J.P. Stevens” (p. 108) stated: “Bob Stevens would close even the North Andover mill if it didn’t make a profit; he’s not running any museums.”

Problems with the union helped to accelerate the move South. In 1951 the Textile Workers Union of America struck the Stevens’ mill in Rockville, CT. The company issued an ultimatum and when it was ignored, Stevens closed the mill.

Celebrating their 150th anniversary (1813-1963) in 1963, J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc. was the oldest diversified textile company in the world, second in size to Burlington Manufacturing. In its fifty-five plants, seventy percent of its assets including land, buildings and machinery were devoted to the production of woolen, cotton and synthetic materials. With Research and Development exploring the weaving of fiberglass, the production of “non-woven” fibers and the manufacture and marketing of materials made of fibers from polypropylene, they were preparing for the future.

By the late 1960s, J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc. could no longer ignore the demands from union organizers and employees for higher wages and improved working conditions. In a struggle that would last seventeen years, Stevens would become the corporate symbol of resistance to organized labor. From the first union charges against Stevens in 1964 to the four- year- long boycott of Stevens consumer products (1976-1980) Stevens proved to be a formidable and tireless opponent. The settlement signed in October of 1980 between J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc. and ACTWU (Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union) ended a long and bitter battle.

As imported fabrics and apparel products began to flood the American market, the U.S. textile industry was forced to consolidate through a series of mergers, takeovers and the restructuring of many of the industry’s largest companies.

In an effort to reinforce its own industry standing, Stevens closed at least a dozen mills between 1980-1987. A major part of the reorganization involved spinning off its apparel fabrics business and concentrating on producing and selling products less vulnerable to imports such as sheets and towels. The purchase of the domestics division of Burlington Industries gave J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc. just over 25 percent of the bed linen market and approximately a 20 percent segment of the towel market.

Ahead of the competition in developing a strong collection of designer products, Stevens, in addition to its own “Utica” label, produced many designer-named products including: Ralph Lauren, Laura Ashley, Pierre Cardin and Gloria Vanderbilt.

1988 was the year that J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc. was to celebrate its 175 Anniversary. With 58 plants running at or near capacity, a favorable Wall Street report, and a management team that was applauded as being “innovative and insightful,” the future appeared solid. So the attempt in that same year by Whitney Stevens (son of Robert T.) and four other members of senior management to take the company private in a leveraged buyout caught Wall Street and fellow textile executives by complete surprise.

After a two month battle between the Stevens management group and a competitive management group from West Point-Pepperell, the latter emerged the victor purchasing the company in a 1.2 billion dollar deal that would result in the transfer of company assets between West Point and NTC Group and Odyssey Partners, two New York investment firms. Less than a year later (1989) West Point- Pepperell management would find themselves in a similar situation as they lost their battle against businessman William Farley’s hostile takeover bid.

Farley, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Fruit of the Loom, Inc., had built a collection of manufacturing companies largely on junk-bond financing. In 1992 unable to raise the funds necessary to service the debts he acquired in the 1980s, the company was reorganized and Farley was forced to resign as chairman and chief executive officer and to relinquish his stock.

As part of the reorganization, a new company Valley Fashions Corporation was formed which held 95% of West Point-Pepperell. In 1993 Valley Fashions Corp. and West Point-Pepperell announced a refinancing plan which allowed Valley Fashions to acquire the remaining shares of its 95%-owned subsidiary, forming a new company: WestPoint Stevens, Inc.

WestPoint Stevens filed for bankruptcy protection in 2003. In 2004, WestPoint Stevens was the nation's premier manufacturer and marketer of “bed and bath home fashions: mattress pads, feather and fiberbeds, bed pillows, sheets, towels and bath accessories, comforters and down comforters, blankets and bedding accessories.” Their brand names include some of the most trusted and well-known in home fashions including: Martex, Grand Patrician, Utica, Chatham, Vellux, Stevens, and Lady Pepperell.

In 2005 WestPoint Stevens was forced to lay off 2,465 employees and close two plants due to the end of U.S. textile quotas on imports from low-wage countries.