After attending a wonderful talk at Otto’s bookstore with Steven Kurutz- famed New York Times featured reporter and author of American Flannel, I had the opportunity to read his book. It is about the decline of the garment industry in this country (including Woolrich) but inspiringly told through the eyes of a few entrepreneurs and ‘makers’ who are trying to bring craftsmanship back to the USA.

What struck me was how close to home this story is to the Pajama Factory- once the largest manufacturer of pajamas in the world. With1500 workers in the building making pajamas at one time, the history of this buildings has touched so many families in the Williamsport community like other mill town communities cited in the book. We often hear stories about someone’s aunt or mother or grandmother who worked here. In 1978, the Pajama Factory was forced to close its doors like so many other garment manufacturers at the time.

But while many of the old mill towns died with the closure of their factories, today, the Pajama Factory can help be a catalyst for helping to rejuvenate our town. It is transforming itself to once again be a ‘maker’ space for how we live today-not making pajamas, but a place to house artisanal businesses like software developers, craftsmen, artists, ceramists, woodworkers and other makers. We are able to tap into a resurgence of value that many people place on local workmanship, quality and the benefit of being locally produced. In addition, we have small businesses and entrepreneurs in the building who are visionaries – full of dreams of ‘what can be’- similar to those personal accounts reflected in the stories told in American Flannel. With over 150 tenants, we have a community of ‘makers’ in the Pajama Factory; a redefining of ‘factory made’ for our city.

SUZANNE WINKELMAN

Williamsport

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