Industrial Sewing Training in Southeast Ohio
A factory that trains its own. HHGC's sewing school turns motivated beginners into certified production sewists, and pays them while it happens.
Why we run a school inside a factory
When garment manufacturing left America, it took the workforce with it. You can't restart an industry without rebuilding its skills, so we built a school on the same floor as the machines. Every sewist on our line came through it, and every trainee is preparing for a real job, not a certificate that goes in a drawer.
What you'll learn
- Industrial machine operation: single needle, overlock, coverstitch, and specialty equipment that home sewing never touches.
- Production construction: seams, hems, plackets, and finishes done to factory standard and factory rhythm.
- One-piece-flow discipline: building complete garments with quality checked at every operation.
- Fabric handling: knits, wovens, denim, and wool all behave differently under a needle; you'll learn how and why.
The structure
- Paid from day one. Training is a job, and jobs pay. Trainees earn a wage during the multi-week program and step up in pay when certified.
- Small cohorts, real machines. You train on the same equipment the production line runs, taught by experienced garment professionals.
- A credentialed path. Through our apprenticeship partnership with Hocking College, your training connects to recognized credentials and a longer career ladder in advanced manufacturing.
- A job at the end. The training program exists to staff our growing line, including the 20 new positions in our JobsOhio-supported expansion.
Who should apply
No sewing experience is required. We look for reliability, attention to detail, and hands that like to be busy. Home sewists and quilters have a head start; so do people from other precision trades. Most of our team comes from Buchtel, Nelsonville, Athens, and the surrounding communities.
Apply or come see it
Email betsy@ohiohhgc.com and tell us a little about yourself, or visit the factory at 17645 Bank Street, Buchtel. Tours are welcome, the best way to know if this trade is for you is to watch the line run.
Learn a trade America needs back
Paid training. Real machines. A job at the end. Right here in the Ohio Valley.