See this link for updated story based on SEC filing Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Greensboro-based Unifi will close its yarn manufacturing facility in the Rockingham County town of Madison in September, resulting in 91 lost jobs.
Production will shift to other Unifi facilities in North and Central America and the property will be put up for sale this year, according to a press release. Unifi has operated the site in Madison since 1998.
Unifi called the move a “strategic decision to enhance operating efficiency, lower fixed costs, improve profitability and further strengthen the balance sheet,” according to the release.
The Madison plant includes a 947,000-square-foot manufacturing space and two warehouses totaling 133,000 square feet. The buildings are on almost 95 acres off N.C. 704. The buildings were built in 1997 and the property has a tax value of $28 million, according to Rockingham County tax records.
Proceeds from the sale of the building will be used to pay down existing debt.
“We are very grateful for the hard work, contributions, and support from everyone involved with the Madison facility, including the community and employees, past and present. We will work closely with our employees and community to ensure the smoothest transition possible, and we are offering existing employees available opportunities at our other facilities in North Carolina,” CEO Eddie Ingle says in a statement.
Unifi is known for creating synthetic textiles using recycled plastic bottles and textile waste. It had 2,900 employees as of June 30 with operations in U.S., Colombia, El Salvador and Brazil. Unifi has about 1,600 employees in North Carolina, including manufacturing facilities in Yadkinville and Reidsville and its headquarters in Greensboro.
Unifi shares have sold between $5.41 and 7.91 in the past year, and are up 2.6% in the past 52 weeks. It has a market capitalization of $114.5 million.
Between 1993 and 2022, employment in textile mills and apparel manufacturing declined 85% and 94.4%, respectively, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce. In 1993, textile mills were the top subsector in North Carolina’s manufacturing industry. By 2022, textile mills had dropped to ninth and accounted for 5.1% in that subsector.