http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/16827280.htmPosted on Sat, Mar. 03, 2007
Textle plant to close after six decades
Associated Press
EAST DUBLIN, Ga. - A simple decision to switch from wool to polyester hats for Major League Baseball players was the final out for a 60-year-old textile plant - once the county's largest employer.
Victor Forstmann Inc. officials announced the plant's closing Friday, blaming the loss of its biggest customer after a steady decline in business because of foreign competition over the last 15 years. The plant, which employed 1,500 people in its heyday in the 1990s, now employs just 124.
Those employees will work at the plant at least through April, with some continuing a few months after that while the inventory is shipped.
The plant was built in 1947 by the J.P. Stevens textile company. It became Forstmann in 1986 and then Victor Forstmann in 1999 when the Quebec-based Victor Woolens bought the bankrupt company.
At the time of the merger, plants in Louisville and Milledgeville closed, leaving the East Dublin plant. Two years ago, the company laid off 159 people in East Dublin, leaving about that many employees at the plant.
Major League Baseball's switch to synthetic hats - a decision made to help cut down on sweat in players' eyes - was the "final nail the coffin" for the plant, said Yves Coderre, chief operating officer over Forstmann's fabric division.
"We did our best and our employees did their best, but it comes to a point that when it stops working, you've got to move on," Coderre said.
The company will put the 260-acre plot of land up for sale.
East Dublin is about 60 miles south of Macon.
Information from: The Macon Telegraph,
http://www.macontelegraph.com
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