Prewett Hosiery History

On May 18, 1953, V.I. Prewett Sr., and Jr. converted their garage at 204 1/2 12th Street into what would be the beginning of a lasting hosiery corporation. Prewett Sr. was the superintendent of manufacturing at a local hosiery mill. Prewett Jr. had recently graduated in engineering from Auburn University and was beginning a career with National Carbide in Columbia, Tennessee.

On one particular weekend when the whole family was at home together in Fort Payne, Alabama, father and son made the decision to go into business. Prewett Sr. had been reconditioning some old knitting machines in his spare time and knew where they could get some inexpensive used knitting machines. In order to determine the price and how much yarn was used in each sock, V.I. Jr. unraveled one dozen socks and took them to a local drugstore to be weighed.

The late V.I. Prewett, Jr.

V.I. Prewett and Son, Inc. (Feb 1955)

Prewett Sr. negotiated a deal with his former boss to sell him the total weekly production of socks. The office for the first year of operation consisted of a card table used as a desk and nail kegs for chairs. Old onion and cabbage sacks were used as work sacks and the walls and ceiling were covered with yarn cases.

Production began with six full-time employees and eight part timers. Lala Prewett, V.I. Jr.'s wife, was a top puller for quality inspection and Alice Prewett, V.I. Sr.'s wife, inspected every sock on an old converted kitchen table. Over forty years later, V.I. Prewett Jr. has said, "People are everything. They're your biggest asset and the best thing you can invest in. All of us owe a real debt of gratitude to those pioneers who worked in the garage and laid the solid foundations on which this company was built."

With V.I. Prewett Sr. passing away in 1975, V.I. Prewett Jr. continued to build this family business into one of the largest hosiery producers in the nation. On November 26, 1996, V.I. Prewett Jr. passed away but left behind hundreds of associates with the same values and work ethic that built this company.

In March 2006 , the family companies related to Prewett merged to form one integrated company.

On October 15, 2007, V.I. Prewett and Son, Inc. was acquired by Gildan Activewear Inc.