Wm. J Mills & Co: Oldest Sailmaking Business in the Country Remains a Family Affair

Robert L. Mills III comes from a storied family — he works alongside his father at a business founded more than a century ago. He is the great-great grandson of William J. Mills, who founded the sailmaker Wm. J Mills & Co. in Greenport, back in 1880.

“I do a little bit of everything around here,” Mills said.

Mills took the long route to his current role. He graduated from college and worked in Manhattan for a few years before deciding to return home to the North Fork.

“I was always, always told I could go out and find my own way. And my own way ended up being back here,” Mills said. “I wanted to come back and work on something that I could be proud of and try to carry on the legacy that everyone before me has continued over the years.”

The business has long been about more than just sailmaking. Mills & Co. fabricates custom canvas products of all types. Awning, cushion covers, blinds, bags, and the occasional sail are all part of the services the company offers today.

The demand for sails has waned greatly over the last century. Bob Mills, the father of Robert Mills III, says that Mills & Co. is one of the last players in the sailmaking business, and easily the oldest. According to him, in the 1930s, every sailmaker in the United States was contracted to make a sail for the USS Constitution, the only sailing vessel in the U.S. Navy.

“We built a sail for them … we’re the only sailmaker still in existence from that list,” Bob Mills said.

Bob Mills got started when he was around 10 years old. His father developed a new type of clip for mounting canvas to Boston Whaler vessels and ordered 5,000 of them made. Unfortunately, the clips had to be modified for a newer rail system. That became Bob Mills’s after-school job.

“He would pay me a penny apiece to come down after school, bend 100 or so clips, get my dollar and go buy some candy,” he said. “I did all 5,000 over the course of a school year.”

There is one simple secret to the Mills family’s near century and a half of success.

“There’s a reason why we’ve lasted this long, and that’s been instilled in me from day one: making sure that we take care of our customers,” Robert Mills said.

According to the father and son team, the company isn’t looking to branch into new products as much as trying to refine its technique. Mills & Co. is always working to employ newer technology in its 15,000-square-foot fabrication shop, which is also located in Greenport.

They have the largest machine cutting table in Long Island — a device that cuts huge sections of fabric accurately when programmed by a computer. They also employ photogrammetry to design covers for boats. It works by taking a series of photos of a vessel and combining them into a digital model. They can accurately use that model to design a canvas cover.

There’s a lot more to the Mills & Co. story. For example, William Mills founded the Cedar Island Oyster Company in 1921. His son, Robert Mills I, ran three oyster boats after returning home from the U.S. Navy during World War I, eventually selling the oyster company.

The son of Robert Mills I, William Mills II, served in World War II as a Navy pilot. He took up the family business and expanded it in an altogether new direction. He developed the William J. Mills & Co. canvas bag, which he designed with durability in mind for sailing. According to the family, that first bag is still in working order today.

Robert Mills and Bob Mills give a lot of credit for the company’s fortune to its employees.

“Without our employees, without our team, we would not be successful,” Bob Mills said.

The Mills family has kept a lot of hires in the company for decades. Some employees have been working there for 20 years or more, although there is one employee who really stands out.

Christina Drumm has been working for Mills & Co. for 52 years. She spends a lot of time working on canvas bags for the storefront, although in that half-century she has done a little bit of everything. Drumm has watched some of the Mills family grow up and seen many of them join the business over the years.

“It’s a good family, they’re good to work for,” Drumm said. “I enjoyed working here all these years.”

Robert Mills is the youngest Mills family member in the business, but he may not be the last.

“No kids just yet, but we’ll see,” he said. “There’s always a possibility. I’d love for that to happen. But as it was my choice, it would be their choice as well down the road.”