Company History

Our company had it's origin in Franklin Virginia in 1944.  This is how we got our name.  The plant was purchased in 1950 by Wick Narrow Fabric Co. and enlarged to manufacture flat braided tapes.

In 1956, facing the need to expand our facilities and manufacturing capability, the plant was moved to Emporia Virginia.  Equipment was installed to produce braided drawstrings and we became a major manufacturer of these products.  Over the years our plant was enlarged many times and additional equipment added for more capacity as well as a wider range of products.

In 1980 we became a subsidiary of Wayne Mills, located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.  Wayne is a producer of woven tapes and light weight webbing and specialty coatings on narrow fabrics.

The new ownership proved to be very beneficial for Franklin Braid.  We have continued our growth by adding additional buildings and equipment.  At the present Franklin Braid has 90 employees and 80,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space.  Our production now exceeds 20,000,000 feet of product per week produced on over 2,000 machines including high speed european braiders.  Products are produced for almost every industry including garments, medical products, marine, bags, military specs, and many more components for manufactured products.

In 2004 we moved flat bed knitting equipment from Coventry Rhode Island to Emporia Virginia. This equipment manufactures knitted elastic.  We now make many types of elastic including drawstring elastic, insert, furniture products and general garment elastic.  We also make elastic for the medical trade.  A finishing range handles special finishes required by our customers.

Franklin Braid exports and imports from many countries around the world.  We use just about every type of yarn that is made and can make special products to specification furnished by our customers.