Worldtex Inc., Hickory, N.C., announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Elastic Corp. of America
Inc., will permanently close a narrow elastic manufacturing facility located in Lexington, S.C. The
company will continue to operate narrow elastic manufacturing plants in Columbia, Ala.; Woolwine,
Va.; Asheboro, N.C.; and Hemingway, S.C.We are rationalizing our manufacturing for improved
flexibility to meet the changing market demand by consolidating our narrow elastic fabric
operations. Production from Lexington will be shifted to other facilities, said Barry D. Setzer,
CEO. We will continue to operate our most efficient facilities, where a significant amount of
capital expenditures for 1998 and 1999 have been invested. We expect to reduce our manufacturing
cost by this operational restructuring, he added.The closing of the Lexington facility will affect
approximately 150 wage and salaried employees.
January 2001
