ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210015
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
Dye-Tex Ltd. confirmed Tuesday that it has halted operations at its plant near downtown Roanoke, laying off most of its work force.
The textile plant, which opened some 60 years ago and since then has employed hundreds of people, fell idle during the past month, the result of a downturn in the U.S. apparel industry.
But Dye-Tex officials haven't written off the three-story brick factory near the Jefferson Center. The Passaic, N.J., company, which bought the Roanoke business just last summer from Roanoke Dyeing and Finishing, will resume operations and rehire employees if possible, a company official said.
On Friday, Dye-Tex let go 45 full-time employees and fewer than 10 part-time employees, leaving a 10-person office and maintenance staff. The laid-off workers had been sent home on what was supposed to be an unpaid - but temporary - leave in mid-January. They earned an average hourly wage of $8.50.
``This is a strategic retreat,'' said Nick Glennon, the chief marketing and sales official at the plant. ``We're attempting several alliances and projects that will, hopefully, provide us with an opportunity to go forward.''
Increased imports of foreign-made clothing and lower overall clothing sales have hurt the U.S. apparel industry, which is shedding thousands of jobs. Consumers have trimmed their clothing purchases in response to what some see as a lack of new fashions, said William Reed, a vice president at Kurt Salmon Associates in Atlanta, a management consulting firm to the apparel and textile industry.
As recently as 1990, the Roanoke plant employed 300 people, a former manager said. But the number had dropped to under 100 by last year.
Dye-Tex, which runs a dyeing plant in Passaic, bought the Marshall Avenue business from Roanoke Dyeing and Finishing, saying it aspired to expand its business in the South.
Dye-Tex's Roanoke operation dyed and finished fabric for clothing manufacturers who make T-shirts, jerseys and sweat shirts.
At the time of the purchase, the company had no idea it would be laying off workers in seven months, Glennon said. But in last year's fourth quarter, adverse business conditions hit swift and hard, Glennon said, adding that he has never seen conditions as poor in the 15 years he's spent in the textile industry.
Rather than remove the equipment and break its lease on the building, Dye-Tex is looking for a way to use the facility, which can handle 200,000 pounds of fabric a week, and to take advantage of trained textile workers in the area, Glennon said.
Companies that survive must adapt, he said. But Glennon said he did not know when the company might announce its plans for the plant.
The building, which was constructed in the early 1930s, may be difficult to market to a new user because of its age, said Phil Sparks, Roanoke's chief of economic development. It also has multiple levels, a feature that modern manufacturers tend to avoid, Sparks said. Finally, the property would leave little room for growth, he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. 1. Nick Glennon, chief marketing andby CNBsales official in Roanoke, said Dye-Tex hopes to find new projects
so that it can reopen the 2. Marshall Avenue plant and rehire
employees. color. KEYWORDS: JOBCHEK