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 In 1851, the Singer sewing machine company granted limited distributorships for their sewing machines. The language, format and contractual agreements used in that early franchise document (i.e., Prospectus or United Offering Circular) are still in use today
Singer machines became the grand prize in tug-of-war contests among the head-hunting Igorots of Northern Luzon, in the Philippines. The coveted prize allowed the victorious warrior to attract the most desirable bride
Kwakiutl chiefs in British Columbia gave away Singer machines, along with Hudson's Bay blankets, at their Potlach Ceremonies
Singer, Quebec, was one of several company towns that Singer built "from scratch" around the world, building schools and providing medical facilities for the families of its employees
Singer President George McKenzie's nephew Peter was named the Count of Serra Largo by the King of Portugal for mysterious services rendered while working as Singer's agent in Brazil, and retired with his Brazilian wife and seven children to baronial splendour in Scotland
After the revolution Mexican agent Sir Edwin Ching, who spoke no Spanish, used to leave Mexico City on horseback once a month, in formal English morning coat topped with a Mexican sombrero, to collect the "mensualidades," the monthly installments on Singer machines, from customers in neighbouring villages
Ching was greeted in the "zocalo," or town square, by Singer customers dressed in their Sunday best, who proudly handed over their installments, often earned using their machine
Such was Singer's customer loyalty, that Singer agents worried if the default rate rose above 3% - the norm was 1%
Though Singer company records, including its credit reports, were destroyed in the Philippines by the Japanese during World War II, over 60% of Singer's Philippino customers repaid their debt after the war
Singer's employees tended also to be tremendously loyal to the company. All over the world generations of families have worked for Singer, passing jobs down from father to son
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In the first decades of The Singer Company's existence, many US agents were skilled machinists who started in the factory and then realized it would be more lucrative to work for themselves, establishing a Singer agency or franchise in another part of the country. One of the best-known is James Bolton who, in addition to running the Chicago branch, invented one of Singer's best-known machines, "The New Family Machine." Bolton's memoirs record the turbulent first years of the company, including a series of arrogant blunders on the part of Mr. Singer that could have sunk the Singer ship.
| Isaac's Singer's first financial backer, George Zeiber, supported Singer and at least three of his families through several years of trying, and failing, to market a machine for making wooden typeface. Zeiber then lent Singer the money to perfect, patent and make the first prototypes of his sewing machine. Singer bought Zeiber out of their partnership for $6,000 just months before Singer sales shot through the roof, making the remaining partners millionaires. Doubtless licking his wounds, Zeiber moved to Brazil, where he set up Singer's first South American Headquarters in Rio de Janeiro in 1858. |
By 1860 Singer had salaried employees in Brazil, London, and Glasgow, and commissioned agents and distributors from Paris to Cuba. It sent sewing machines via the Isthmus of Panama to Valparaiso, Chile "at considerable expense" as early as 1864 and by steam ship and clipper ship to every port city in the world by the end of that decade.
By the 1870s Singer stores could be found in every city and town. In photographs from that period, the Singer store, its awning or window inscribed with the company name, is the most prominent feature on any main street, anywhere in the world.
Singer translated its sewing manuals into 54 languages, and provided its agents with an advertising budget to promote their machines in local newspapers and through trading cards, flyers, and other promotional materials. |
The Singapore office in the 1870s had a giant red "S" twelve feet high painted on the side of the building; the local Singer agent travelled in a rickshaw emblazoned with the name of the company. Soon the red "S" was recognizable all over the world as the Singer emblem, while the word Singer became synonymous, in many languages, with the sewing machine.
Singer agents abroad were at first given considerable autonomy, and were well-rewarded for their diligence and initiative. A Spaniard named Abad took charge of the Singer agency in the Philippines just before the outbreak of the Spanish-American war in 1898, and moved into the company's offices to protect the premises and equipment for the duration of the four-year conflict. At the end of the war he was rewarded for his bravery and loyalty with a year-long paid vacation in Europe.
 Enterprising young men could go far in Singer's employ. Frederick Neidlinger, a German machinist, arrived in New York in 1858, when he was 17, and soon found work at the Singer factory. Five years later he was sent back to Germany, entrusted with opening a Singer agency in Hamburg. Within a few years Neidlinger, and then his brother George, were running Singer's operations in all of Northern Europe. George eventually opened branches in Turkey, the Balkans and in the Scandanavian countries, and brought Singer its biggest prize, the huge Russian market.
| One unforeseen consequence of Neidlinger's enterprise was that many Europeans for years thereafter assumed Singer was a German company. This created a problem for Singer during World War I, when its employees in Allied countries were often arrested as German spies. In Lithuania and Warsaw, the entire Singer staff was imprisoned by the retreating Russian army. While Singer managed to secure the release of its female employees, the men were shipped to Siberia. Many never returned. |
Laurence Louis Otto Harnecker emigrated from Germany to Scotland to attend medical school in Edinburgh. He soon realized the Singer Sewing Machine Company, enormously important to the Scottish economy by the 1880s, offered much greater opportunities for advancement. He joined Singer in Scotland, and soon thereafter transferred to New York. Harnecker was sent to Mexico to audit the Singer operations in the 1890s. His report was so enthusiastic about the local opportunities for growth that he was immediately sent to Mexico as Singer's General Agent.
Harnecker, who soon spoke fluent Spanish, became a confidant of Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz, a great believer in "progress" and friend of private enterprise, and considerably raised the profile of Singer in Mexico. By 1896, when President Bourne and Vice-President Alexander came to visit and meet with Diaz, Singer had 500 salesrooms in the Mexican republic, and was selling 1,600 machines a month. Such was Harnecker's social standing that he had one of Mexico City's few private telephones (number 238).
Harnecker was evacuated to Singer's New York headquarters at the start of the Mexican Revolution, and promoted to General Manager of the entire Latin American operations. For the next several years Harnecker and his family spent two months a year sailing in grand style around South America, visiting all of Singer's offices. Harnecker would likely have succeeded Alexander as President of Singer had the president not hung on to his job for over 50 years.
Singer Salesmen 
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