Deal ‘Pampers’ Maine workers Kent Inc. playwear to be displayed alongside diapers on store shelves

FORT KENT – Just days after signing with Wal-Mart to sell its clothing for infants and toddlers, Kent Inc. will today announce another deal with a big-name company.

Michael Gans, president of Kent Inc., will meet with the 150 employees of the Fort Kent manufacturing plant to inform them that the company will now produce its Infant Sleep and Playwear line for Pampers. The company has, at any one time, as many as 400 million boxes of diapers on store shelves across the country.

Gans said recently that the deal means that Kent Inc. clothing will sit alongside Pampers’ diapers in grocery stores and pharmacies nationwide. The contract is the result of a new effort by Pampers to expand its sales into other facets of the infant and toddler industry. Kent Inc.’s clothing will be sold under the Pampers brand name, Gans said.

“The pickup of the Pampers brand will help us expand our base of business,” Gans said in a telephone interview from his New York office recently. “Up until this point, Pampers has not done anything except distribute diapers.” The garments, geared to infants and small toddlers, will be marketed in Pampers television commercials, Gans said.

“This secures [Kent Inc.’s] future as a significant force within our industry, and consequently, the security of the jobs in Fort Kent,” said Mark Coburn, the company’s chief executive officer.

The announcement comes fresh on the heels of a contract with Wal-Mart to provide 500,000 of Kent Inc.’s blanket sleepers to the retailing giant’s 2,600 stores nationwide. The two contracts could amount to as much as $5 million to $7 million in new sales for the company over the next two years. The company hoped to expand its current Fort Kent work force by 50 to 75 workers in the next year, Gans said.

The facility Kent Inc. now operates was once the site of Gerber Childrenswear. That company closed in September 1996 and laid off its more than 140 workers. The Fort Kent Development Corp. negotiated with Gerber to buy the facility and, in turn, leased it to Kent Inc.

Kent Inc. did some $2.5 million in sales in its first year of existence. Those figures steadily rose to $8.5 million in 1999 and $12.5 million in 2000. With the new deals, Coburn said he expects to see sales of $15 million or more in 2001.