Sock machines have a metal tube in the middle with dozens of needles that act like robotic claws, grabbing pieces of thread and knitting them. Every few minutes, each machine spurts out what's called ...

This is the first of a two-part report. Fort Payne is filled with people who built entire lives around the sock mills. In a town of 13,000 people, there were more than 8,000 sock mill jobs just a few ...