Hathaway Shirt Company to Shut Down (200+ Jobs Lost)

The Associated Press ^ | OCTOBER 01, 2002

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) — C.F. Hathaway Co., the nation's last major manufacturer of men's dress shirts, plans to shut its doors later this month.

A spokeswoman for the Windsong Allegiance Apparel Group in Westport, Conn., which bought Hathaway last year, said Tuesday that the company's Waterville factory will close on or around Oct. 18. The plant has more than 200 employees.

``Certainly the Windsong Group regrets that we can't find enough work to keep the plant open,'' spokeswoman Colette Sipperly said.

Hathaway has faced the threats of a shutdown several times.

The 165-year-old shirt company made famous by the ``Man in the Eye patch'' logo seemed likely to close five years ago before a local investment group financed a bailout.

Hathaway was again on the verge of collapse last fall when Windsong bought the company and announced grand plans to revitalize its flagging brand. Windsong owns the Joe Boxer and Change Daily clothing lines, and has licensing agreements for Geoffrey Beene, Alexander Julian and other brands.

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

A contract with Wal-Mart kept the factory open during the summer, and after the nonprofit Made in the USA Foundation stepped forward to buy the factory, its prospects briefly looked bright.

But in mid-September, a lucrative contract to manufacture shirts for the Air Force went to another firm.

Joel Joseph, head of the Washington, D.C.-based Made in the USA Foundation, could not immediately be reached for comment. But Sipperly said the foundation was not able to raise enough money to buy Hathaway.

She said the company is willing to donate the factory's equipment to anybody willing to give the plant a try.

[Willie Green]

There's a previous article about this company buried deep in the FR archives.
For some reason, it didn't pop up when I did a search.

[ffrancone]

WANT TO TAKE BACK THE SENATE??

WANT TO SHOCK HILLARY?

THEN DO YOUR PART TODAY! GO TO:

TakeBackCongress.org

[Texas_Jarhead]

I remember when the last group bought the company. Too bad they couldn't pull it out.

[dts32041]

Where is Anguish, where is Baldi, where is suzie red dress, where is cohen, where is mitchell.

The horror of it the gimme kids from ME can't save and old established firm.

Can't say anything about snowe job her husband bailed the company out once.

[cibco]

BTTT

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

I remember being astonished at the bad fit of the last Hathaway shirts I tried on. I'm not particularly tall--6'--but every one I tried on had a bottom button at least eight inches above my waistband. My impression was that they were using as little fabric as possible to still call it a "shirt".

Sometimes companies fail because they deserve to.

[Willie Green]

but every one I tried on had a bottom button at least eight inches above my waistband.

Maybe you simply need a shirt with a fuller, more portly cut.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"Maybe you simply need a shirt with a fuller, more portly cut."

Touche! But, no. The shirts were cut for someone with his waistband hiked up above his nipples, Wally Cox style.