Parkdale Mills Inc, Gastonia, N.C., has signed a lease/purchase agreement with Wellstone Mills,
Greenville, to acquire four spinning plants in South Carolina and Georgia.
Wellstone was taken over in late January by bank representatives and the plants were closed,
according to a former Wellstone employee. The plants — one in Gaffney, S.C., and three in Lavonia,
Ga. — employed some 600 workers in ring-spinning and open-end operations. Parkdale CEO Anderson
Warlick said Parkdale is rehiring former plant employees, and expects to retain most of those who
had been terminated. The former Wellstone operations will supplement Parkdale’s existing
operations, which include 25 production facilities employing 2,300 workers in the United States,
Colombia and Mexico.
May/June 2010
