Maine shirt plant closes

WATERVILLE – A last-ditch attempt to save the nation’s last major shirt manufacturing plant ran out of steam as sewing machines came to a halt Friday at the plant whose shirts were made world-famous by the man-with-an-eyepatch logo.

C.F. Hathaway, which has been making shirts in Maine for 165 years, will go the way of Arrow and Van Heusen, once strong competitors whose shirts are now being made overseas.

Like those other brands, Hathaway shirts will live on but they will no longer carry the “Made in the USA” label.

The last stitches at the Hathaway plant were sewn at about noon. Only a handful of workers remained to box and fold those shirts.

Distribution of the remaining shirts will keep 25 people employed through December. The closing is putting 235 people out of work.

A trickle of workers carried fans, which kept them cool in the hot factory, and other belongings to their cars, where they lingered to say their good-byes.

“It’s losing your family. My God, we’ve been through divorces and deaths and children growing up and grandchildren, we’ve been though everything in there and we are family,” said Sherry Laliberty, 59, who worked in the plant for 35 years.

The Hathaway factory’s demise became inevitable after it failed to win a key contract to make shirts for the Air Force, and the nonprofit Made in the USA Foundation failed to line up investors to take over the facility.

Once hopeful, workers weeks ago resigned themselves to the closing, which came on a bright, clear fall day as the leaves shone their autumn brilliance outside the plant on the banks of the Kennebec River.

“A lot of people saw the writing on the wall five or six years ago,” said Ron Fingel, the Waterville city administrator. “It was expected for so long it wasn’t like a shoe dropping in a quiet room.”

Hathaway, known for its man with an eye patch logo, began production in 1837 – it once manufactured shirts for the Union Army during the Civil War – and over time set the standard for men’s shirts.

Windsong Allegiance Group, which operates the Hathaway plant, was willing to donate the equipment to anyone with the financial backing to keep it going, said Colette Sipperly, spokeswoman for the company.

Hathaway follows a growing number of apparel and shoe companies that have moved production overseas.

Those include G.H. Bass and Cole Haan, which shut down their Maine shoe factories in 1998 and 1999. The Dexter shoe plant also closed late last year, putting 475 people out of work.

Hathaway put up a fight before succumbing to pressures of foreign competition that sent others packing.

It was on the verge of closing five years ago before a local investment group financed a bailout. It was again on the verge of collapse last fall when Windsong Allegiance Group bought the company last year.

Less than six months after Windsong bought Hathaway, the company announced plans to shut it down in June.

A last-minute, $5 million contract from Wal-Mart staved off the inevitable, but only temporarily as the Made in the USA Foundation tried in vain to find investors to keep the plant open.

Some criticized Windsong, which they believed was interested only in the brand, not in the factory. But Donald Sappington, president of Hathaway, said the company tried.

He said it’s difficult for a U.S. manufacturer to compete in a global economy when products can be made elsewhere at vastly lower wages. He said consumers are interested in the lowest-priced shirt, not where it’s made.

Windsong already has launched a Hathaway sportswear line that’s made overseas, and the Westport, Conn.-based company will line up plants to continue the Hathaway label for men’s shirts, as well, Sipperly said. Windsong also has plants overseas making apparel brands like Alexander Julian and Joe Boxer.

“Basically we think the future looks bright because it’s a great brand and there’s great recognition,” Sipperly said.

The company may even bring back the man with the patch.

“It really needs to be reintroduced to a new generation,” she said.