USA: Ridgeview To Close Finishing Facility
Ridgeview announced today that it plans to close its finishing facility located in Mebane, North Carolina. Ridgeview has been finishing and shipping sports specific socks in Mebane since acquiring Tri-Star Hosiery in July of 1998. The company intends to relocate current Mebane operations to its manufacturing facilities in Newton, North Carolina and Fort Payne, AlabamaApproximately 65 hourly and salaried employees at the Mebane facility will be affected by the company's decision. The production phase out will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Ridgeview is operating according to plan since its Chapter Eleven filing on August 2 and expects to exit that process in February 2001.Hugh Gaither, president and chief executive officer of Ridgeview said: "The consolidation is simply a matter of reducing costs and improving profitability for Ridgeview. It is another step in an operational restructuring which creates a new more efficient Ridgeview sock operation."
November 2, 2000