Sewing up the competition: The larger-than-life story of Isaac Merritt Singer

Managing innovation - creating value from ideas

(You can find a transcript here)

Isaac Merritt Singer, the "father of the sewing machine" , was a larger-than-life character whose life was as dramatic as the stages he loved to tread. Born in 1811, Singer's early passion was acting, but he was also a shrewd entrepreneur and inventor. After running away to join an acting troupe at age twelve , he later used his machinist skills to invent a rock-drilling machine and then a wood-carving machine.

His greatest success came in 1851 with his improved sewing machine. Despite early legal battles and the "Sewing Machine War" over patents , Singer became the world's largest manufacturer by 1860. He pioneered mass production, international manufacturing, and marketing techniques like instalment plans and attractive showrooms. This is the story of the entrepreneur, actor, and innovator who transformed a simple piece of equipment into a global industrial and social phenomenon