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Hanes to close last plant in Forsyth; 240 workers affected
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Published: October 27, 2009
Hanesbrands Inc. said today that it will end its manufacturing presence in Forsyth County when it closes its Weeks hosiery plant by the end of 2010.
The company said that 240 employees are affected by the plant closing at 401 W. Hanes Mill Road. Affected workers can apply for open jobs at the company's last N.C. manufacturing plant in Mount Airy and at local distribution centers.
"As a result of lower consumer demand, our sheer hosiery production volume has dropped to a point that it is no longer feasible to run the plant," said Bruce Duncan, the vice president of knit-to-shape manufacturing for the company.
The company said that consumers have been purchasing fewer sheer-hosiery products every year for more than a decade, a trend that is expected to continue because of lifestyle trends and less formal workplace dress codes.
Hanesbrands said that its sheer hosiery segment sales in 2008 fell 14 percent, and they are off another 18 percent through June 30.
The closing of the Weeks plant represents another milestone for Hanesbrands, whose predecessor companies Hanes Corp. and Sara Lee Corp. kept thousands of Triad residents gainfully employed in plants that once dotted Northwest North Carolina.
Since Hanesbrands' spinoff from Sara Lee in September 2006, it has closed 12 of its 19 domestic plants.
When Hanesbrands spun out of Sara Lee, it had 4,900 employees in Forsyth County — nearly 10 percent of its overall work force — and 8,600 in North Carolina.
By the time Hanesbrands completes the Weeks plant closing, as well as two other restructuring changes announced earlier this year, the company will have about 2,500 overall employees in Forsyth and 3,785 in the state.
The company will begin to lower its production volume in the second quarter.
Sheer hosiery distribution operations at the Weeks plant, also known as the East Coast distribution center, will be shifted to the Almondridge Road distribution center in Rural Hall beginning in the second quarter. The 80 distribution employees at Weeks will be transferred to the Rural Hall center as hosiery distribution is moved.
The company said that the Weeks plant closing will not affect the research, product development, quality control and engineering operations there. Hanesbrands said it has a combined 200 employees in those operations.
The employee store at Weeks will remain open to the public.
The company plans to sell the 850,000-square-foot plant when the sheer-hosiery production ends and lease space for the remaining corporate operations.
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