The end of textile import quotas was the end of Springs Industries Inc. in Fullerton.
Fort Mill, S.C.-based Springs Industries last month closed its 200,000-square-foot Fullerton plant and laid off 270 workers.
Company officials said the maker of bed and bath products no longer can compete with cheaper products coming in from China and elsewhere, especially after the end of textile quotas at the start of the year.
The facility used to make bed comforters and other home furnishings.
“It had been operating in an environment that has become increasingly challenged due to import pressures,” said Ted Matthews, a Springs spokesman. “Imported products for those lines can be purchased by our retail customers or other suppliers for less than what we can make the products for.”
The Fullerton operation was more costly than the company’s other U.S. facilities, Matthews said.
“We had to reduce our domestic capacity,” he said. “To do that, we had to take out the higher cost facility first.”
The plant’s workers, most of them Hispanic, got severance packages based on seniority.
Some packages last up to six months, according to Matthews.
“The employees at this facility did an outstanding job and did everything that was asked of them and improved productivity and quality,” he said.
Springs has 30 plants in 13 states, as well as in Canada and Mexico.
The company employs about 15,000 people overall. Yearly sales are $3 billion.
Springs supplies products to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. It also makes products under license featuring Harry Potter and Nascar.
Along with big discount retailers, Springs sells through catalogs and department stores.
The company also recently closed a couple of facilities in South Carolina and one in Georgia.
The only other facility in California is a pillow-making plant in Los Angeles that is set to stay open, Matthews said.
“When we made the announcement about the Fullerton custom design facility, our chairman and CEO Crandall Bowles was very frank with the employee group in explaining the reasons behind the decision,” Matthews said.
The Fullerton and other closures are part of the company’s plans to shift from making products here to buying them from overseas producers.
“We are planning on buying more finished goods and making less in the U.S. to stay competitive,” Matthews said.
The end of textile import quotas on Jan. 1 gave fabric from China, India and other developing states freer access to the U.S.
That’s been good for local apparel designers and retailers, though the few textile producers left here are feeling the sting of added competition.
For Springs, it forced the company to change the structure of its business.
“There has been a lot of anticipation worldwide with new capacity coming online especially as of Jan. 1,” Matthews said. “Retailers can shop world markets directly and buy product. China certainly is a growing concern, as well as India, Pakistan and Brazil. But competitive home products are coming from a lot of different world markets.”
Matthews said the company’s lease at the Fullerton facility is set to expire this year.
Landlord RREEF Funds LLC, a San Francisco-based unit of Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG, is seeking tenants for the building.
