Pillowtex Corporation plans cutbacks at Columbus plant

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Posted 11:49AM on Friday, March 1, 2002

COLUMBUS - Pillowtex Corp. will cut nearly 1,000 jobs at a local towel manufacturing plant, company officials said Thursday. Kannapolis, N.C.-based Pillowtex said the layoffs will save the company $20 million a year as it tries to work through bankruptcy reorganization. It makes towels, sheets and other bedroom and bath accessories. Brands include Cannon, Fieldcrest, Royal Velvet and Charismas. "There are $1 billion worth of towels being imported" each year, said Allen Oakley, executive vice president of manufacturing for Pillowtex. "Pakistan, India, China, Brazil. That's where most of the towels come from." Oakley said 980 employees -- 50 in management -- will lose their jobs. Layoffs go into effect June 1. The firm employs 1,170 people who make bath towels and washcloths at Columbus and Phenix City, Ala. plants. Yarn warping and weaving operations will continue at the Phenix City site. The Eagle & Phenix mill on Front Avenue will close. The 710,000-square-foot building, which is listed on the register of the National Historic Society, dates the late 1800s. It will be up for sale "immediately," Oakley said. The news didn't surprise Clarence Screws, a 30-year employee. "They had been cutting back a little bit at a time," said Screws, 50. "I was looking for it any time now. It was just getting worse and worse." Pillowtex filed for bankruptcy protection November 2000 and began closing factories in March 2001. "Columbus, Georgia, was founded by these companies," Columbus Mayor Bobby Peters said. "They are the ones that got it going. They're ones that built the momentum. But this is a transition we saw coming for quite some time. I hope that other businesses in this area will make room for these employees."