On the banks of the slow and powerful Merrimack river, there is a town where industry still lives.
Haverhill, Massachusetts is in many ways a modern suburb. Rows of uniform homes run concurrent to each other. Every morning, rain, snow, or shine, many residents rise early to make the congested drive into Boston.
It is a quiet town, but one with a firm grasp on tradition. When you are in Haverhill, you are in New England. There is an efficient and strict way of doing things. The old American roots are deep.
Every morning, many other men and women arise, not to traverse city limits, but to head to the old manufacturing districts, where there is work to be done.
Stepping into the factory is like stepping into another world. At once clean, sterile, and new, but also old. There is respect here for a certain way of doing things.
Since it was founded in 1929, Southwick has been a melting pot. Every morning, hundreds of employees stream through its broad doors. Some have spent their entire lives a stone’s throw from the factory. Others have come across oceans, seeking a better life; where they can work with their hands and mould the future they envision for their children.
An ancient and holistic trade mentality thrives beneath this towering, steel-beamed roof and beaming halogen lights. Masters of the art of suitmaking train teams of young apprentices. One day those apprentices will become masters themselves.
Jim is a quality control manager at Southwick. He’s spent his whole life in factories and now spends his days marching from station to station, clad always in a white lab coat and a look of grandfatherly concern. It’s his job to know every piece of the process. His duty is to make sure it runs as it should. He takes pride in that.
Men like him are hard to find these days.
The decision to partner with Southwick was an easy one for us. They embrace the same values as us - the same ethics. If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
Just as you can walk through our doors for a fitting and relax, knowing that you’re in good hands - we too can relax, knowing that when we make your measurements and put in your initial order, there are good men and women who will take that order and fulfill it.
On the whole, industry in America might be dwindling. But Southwick is proof that as long as there are people who celebrate quality, domestically-made products, there will be skilled craftsmen, ready to make them.
