"Textile plants hum again, bringing hope to small towns" is the title of the article in the print edition.

Factory jobs trickle back to the U.S., giving hope to a once-booming mill town

By Abha Bhattarai March 16
@abhabhattarai

THOMASTON, Ga. — Not so long ago, this rural town an hour outside Atlanta was a hotbed of textile manufacturing. ... In the late 1990s, there were six major mills here. Their machines spun children’s clothing for Carter’s, made tire cords for B.F. Goodrich and produced bed sheets for J.C. Penney, Sears and Walmart. ... In all, they employed about 4,000 workers. ... By 2001, all of those jobs were gone.

What has happened here in the 15 years since then tracks the slow comeback of manufacturing in the United States. Two textile companies have come in, investing millions in new technology and adding about 280 jobs in this town where one-third of the residents still live below the poverty line. It is becoming more affordable to produce textiles in the United States as machines become more efficient, companies say. Major firms are more willing to pay higher prices for domestically sourced products, and rising wages in China mean there is less of an advantage to making products overseas.

Last week, there was new cause for celebration when Marriott International announced that all towels in its 3,000 U.S. hotels would be manufactured by Standard Textile in plants here and in Union, S.C., a move expected to bring $23 million worth of business and 150 jobs back to the United States. The hotelier joins a number of other companies, including Walmart, Apple and General Electric, that have pushed for more U.S.-made products in recent years.
....

The United States lost 30 percent of its manufacturing jobs between 1998 and 2016, according to Federal Reserve data. As of February, the country had 12.3 million workers in the sector, down from 17.6 million in April 2008. In February 2010, that figure was 11.5 million. ... There are hints that manufacturing is returning to the United States in small ways: The nation’s quarterly output has climbed steadily since the end of the recession, growing 35 percent and adding 650,000 jobs since mid-2009, according to the Fed.

Letters to the Editor

Staying vibrant when factories close

March 20 at 7:04 PM



A view of the Standard Textile plant in Union, S.C. (Standard Textile)

The March 17 Economy & Business article “Textile plants hum again, bringing hope to small towns,” which reported on Marriott International’s decision to return towel and other textile manufacturing to the United States, described the economic distress in former manufacturing towns.

That desolation was avoidable. And, to the extent that current political turmoil and anger are based in part on hopelessness, that also could have been avoided.

There are techniques and strategies that could have and still can transform those economies into vital, job-creating, income-generating places when large plants close and orders for products leave. But the tools were not used, and people have suffered. We know how to do local economic development. We know how to conduct entrepreneur-based community revitalization. Fortune 500 companies, including Marriott, and their community and social departments could be the catalysts, with help from major trade associations and labor unions. Or county, state or local government, and local universities, chambers of commerce, churches and foundations could take the initiative.

We know how to stimulate small- and mid-size businesses and job growth. We don’t have to wait for large employers to come back.

Richard F. America, Reston