
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 30, 1993                   TAG: 9306300030
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROCKBRIDGE GETTING WHAT? SECRET FACTORY BRINGING JOBS, BUT NOBODY KNOWS ITS

A New England manufacturer of women's activewear will relocate a plant to Rockbridge County, economic development officials said Tuesday.

They wouldn't say, however, where the company is coming from or who owns it.

The company will operate as Fairfield Manufacturing Co. in Virginia and is expected to employ 50 to 100 people within a year, said Stuart L. Litvin, executive director of the Rockbridge Area Economic Development Commission.

He said the plant is scheduled to take over the former Premiere Products building in Fairfield on July 1 and begin operation in August. Premiere, which made Park Lane actionwear, closed in November 1991, laying off 65 people.

Litvin said the new company was referred to the Rockbridge area last summer by the state economic development office.

He said the building is owned by Herb Somekh of Long Island, N.Y.

The new manufacturer is being so secretive that even the Virginia Employment Commission office in Buena Vista hasn't been able to get in touch with it.

To determine if the company would be able to get enough workers in the Rockbridge area, it ran a worker survey ad and the VEC handled the responses.

The ad was specific, Litvin said. It listed the skills desired, including experience with "net and lycra stretch fabrics and single needle chainstitch and lockstich."

Sharon Dull, job services manager, said her office got more than 100 responses to the ad. She said background on the people who replied was sent to the company by Litvin's office.

However, she said she doesn't know the company's name. She has a Connecticut phone number for a contact, but said she hasn't been able to get in touch with anyone there who is associated with the plant. She said people who answer the phone don't give any company name.

News releases from Litvin and the office of Gov. Douglas Wilder said job queries should be directed to Dull's office.

"That's rather awkward," Dull said Tuesday, "because, unfortunately, I don't have any details."

Litvin said a company official will be in the Rockbridge area in mid-July and has promised to meet with the VEC then.

by CNB