A 100-year-plus Greensboro-based hosiery company will close a sock manufacturing plant in Asheboro, leading to the loss of approximately 120 jobs, according to a state filing,
Kayser-Roth reports that it will close its plant on Balfour Street in March.
“Ongoing cost pressures have led to a reconsideration of Kayser-Roth’s facility footprint and resulted in this decision,” Kayser-Roth CEO Gianni Orsini wrote in the notice. Orsini had worked for the company for 22 years before leaving in 2022, then returned last June.
Company officials declined to comment Wednesday. The WARN notice at the N.C. Commerce Department stated workers were not part of a union and that all of them had been notified. It did not mention any severance pay or assistance in finding new employment.
Kevin Franklin, president of Randolph County Economic Development, said Wednesday he did not know of the shutdown until seeing the WARN notice. His agency, Work Force Development and Randolph Community College will step up to help affected workers.
“Randolph County always pulls together when we have bad news like this,” says Franklin. “We want to ensure there’s the best possible runway for these workers.” Franklin noted that Randolph County has a 3.6% unemployment rate and Toyota Battery Manufacturing plant and other local businesses are hiring.
Toyota expects to ship its first batteries from the Randolph County factory in March and have about 1,600 employees by the end of the year, according to a News & Observer report earlier this month. Toyota expects to create 5,000 jobs with a $13.9 billion investment there by 2030.
Fortunately, in the labor environment that we are in there are opportunities,” says Franklin.
It was not immediately clear how long Kayser-Roth has operated a plant in Asheboro, but the company has owned the 26-acre property since at least 1993, according to Randolph County tax records. The property has multiple buildings totaling 262,920 square feet, and a tax value of almost $7.4 million.
Franklin says Kayser-Roth and predecessors have been on the site since 1911. He says the building and property are well-maintained. “Once the property is available, we’ll work to market it,” says Franklin.
In December 2023, Kayser-Roth closed the manufacturing portion of its Lumberton facility that resulted in the loss of 136 jobs. That plant manufactured women’s hosiery under the brand names of No Nonsense and Hue. At that time, company officials said the plant employed 200 workers and that it would remain a warehouse and distribution center.
Kayser-Roth also has a location in Graham.
The company is among the oldest U.S. manufacturers of underwear and hosiery, dating to the 19th century. In the 1970s, it started the No Nonsense brand to compete with the L’eggs brand owned by Winston-Salem-based Hanesbrands. Its had a variety of owners through its history, including Italy’s Golden Lady Company.
Note: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect date for the plant closing. The wrong information was contained in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification.