NC Textile Giant Shutdown Triggers Layoffs, Deepening Job Market Woes

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Gastonia-based Parkdale Mills will close its Sanford plant in November, resulting in the loss of 74 jobs, the company announced via a state filing.

“The decision to close the facility is due to the significant economic challenges we are facing, particularly the rapid increase in energy costs, which has rendered our business model unsustainable,” Vice President of Global Human Resources Karen Menting told the N.C. Department of Commerce in a filing. The layoffs will begin Nov. 17.

Affected employees have been notified and there are no bumping rights in this case, Menting says. Parkdale officials in Gastonia and Sanford did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lee County had an unemployment rate of 4.7% in July, compared with the statewide unemployment rate in August of 3.8%.

North Carolina employs more than 35,000 people in the textiles and nonwovens industry, more than any other state., according to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.

N.C. textile employment peaked at 293,600 in 1973, then declined to 211,300 by 1986, according to NChistory.org.

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