Singer Corporation

Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with the New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. It was renamed the Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865 and the Singer Company in 1963, and its global headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. Its first large factory for mass production opened in 1863 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and by 1860 it was already the largest sewing machine maker in the world. The firm began marketing its machines internationally in 1855, built a large works at Kilbowie in Scotland in 1885, demonstrated the first workable electric sewing machine in 1910 and pioneered installment payment plans for buyers. In 2006 its parent, Kohlberg & Company, acquired the Husqvarna and Pfaff brands, and the three were merged into the SVP Group.