William Skinner and Sons silk and rayon crepe fabric length, in green; 1934. Medium weight, reversible, harsh, lusterless novelty crepe fabric, in armure effect. Same construction as sand crepe (6 shaft harness) and 66 end harness repear -- 40 harness chain repeat. Reed 24/2/1. woven with warp and weft onde crepe yarns (2 right and 2 left), consisting of 1 end 150 denier dull Celanese 40 filaments 3 turns spiraled with 10 turns twist-on-twist around 1 end 63 denier 3-thread 20/22 lustrous silk 65 turns; 2310/1. Commercial name "Mossy Crepe." Color is "spring green."
William Skinner emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1843, finding work as silk dyer. He eventually opened his own silk manufacturing company, the Unquomonk Silk Co., making silk threads and yarns for weaving and sewing. In 1874, the mill was destroyed when the Mill River Dam gave way. Skinner moved his company a few miles away, to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and rebuilt the mill, expanding production to include woven fabrics (Skinner satins were nationally famous) and silk braids. He ran the company until his death in 1902, and the firm stayed in the family, and remained in operation in Holyoke, until 1961, when his heirs sold it to Indian head Mills, which immediately closed the Holyoke operation.
