Doffer

Head into a fabric store and you’ll notice that cloth, thread, and yarn are typically wound up around something such as a cardboard square or a wooden spool. This keeps the material orderly and tidy. Your job as a Doffer is to do this winding.

Doffers remove cloth or yarn from a weaving machine, and load them into their winding machine along with spools. You press a button and the machine springs into life, winding the material around and around the spools. While the spinning motion may be hypnotic, tempting you to meditate, Doffers must remind themselves to be alert.

When the spools are full, the machine notifies you with a warning beep, or you watch for a color-coded flag or mark on one particular spindle. You turn the machine off and remove the full spools. It’s this task that gives your position its name. To “doff” means to remove something, but the title “Doffer” has much more class than “Remover.”

You bundle the full spools together and prepare them for shipping. You also fill out paperwork identifying the cloth or thread, and weigh your materials and keep a record of that. Then you drive your bundles to the shipping area, where they’ll be sent to customers.

Your machinery is quite precise and it must be maintained. You may be required to clean the machine during your shift, and apply oil so its delicate parts can spin easily.