Made in Chicagoland: Magid Glove Co., Romeoville

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Magid Glove Company was born in 1946 in Chicago with just nine employees.

Since then, they've grown to nearly 500 workers in a brand new 31-acre campus in Romeoville, and they make all kinds of gear.

"Anything that really protects the worker - glasses, hard hats - really anything a worker wears on his job to protect him," said Rusty Cohen, executive vice president.

Gloves are important in that cold or wet weather, but also for safety. First, the leather is cut. Sturdy machines that may be up to 75 years old sew the gloves and test the fit. Once the glove is put together with the lining, it goes to a station where it's turned. The employees work quickly but carefully so they don't puncture the leather in the process

It's the skill of workers who are able to help make 14,000 pairs of gloves a day. There are gloves with grips, and gloves used in working with high-voltage situations.

Magid makes over 2,000 varieties of work gloves and some of the technology didn't even exist five years ago. For example, the yarn in one particular glove makes it heat resistant, cold resistant and cut resistant.

Speaking of the yarn, workers use more than 100 different types of yarns and threads. While they do much of the sewing by hand, some machines with more than 70 needles knit linings of the gloves. While over the years the technology and some of the equipment has changed, the mission remains the same - keeping people safe at work or out in the weather.