Secaucus, N.J.-based textile printer and distributor Green Applications LLC — a division of Green Distribution — is investing $9.75 million to set up manufacturing operations and create 323 jobs in Gordonsville, Va.
Established in 2009, Green Applications has grown from a small printing operation employing six people to one of the largest printers and distributors of textile merchandise and heat-applied graphics on the East Coast, with a current workforce totaling more than 450 people. Its 100,000-square-foot (ft2) Secaucus facility houses a screen-printing operation, and it has another operation elsewhere in the Northeast that manufactures heat-applied graphics. The company currently prints and distributes more than 50,000 shirts and garments daily, and its customers include well-known global brands.
The company is installing machinery and equipment in a 170,000-square-foot facility that formerly housed a printer of catalogs and special interest magazines that closed in 2011, putting more than 100 people out of work. The facility will house screen-printing and heat-applied graphics operations as well as a distribution operation, and is expected to open in mid- to late summer of this year. It is situated on a 33-acre site, and there is potential to expand as the need arises.
According to Green Applications Owner and CEO Robert Butters, manufacturing operations in the Northeast will continue, but some distribution activity will be consolidated at the Gordonsville site. “We’ve had a really successful couple of years, and we need more space and we need to grow our workforce. Geographically, it really makes sense to be in the middle of the East Coast, but we also need our Northeast presence.
Butters noted that from its new location in Virginia, the company will be able to ship product to any location on the East Coast within two days. “As the textile print and embellishment industry moves back to domestic production, being located in the center of the East Coast allows us to deliver quick-turn and strategic solutions to our customers,” he said, adding, “I am excited by the tremendous growth potential in the region.”
“It is a pleasure to welcome Green Applications to Virginia as the company further expands its footprint on the East Coast,” said Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who has approved a $540,000 Governor’s Opportunity Fund grant to assist local governments with the project.
March 11, 2014
