Not a
Golden Future for the Fleece
Something
very serious is going on concerning the future of Brooks Brothers
“Brooks
Brothers is closing all three of their domestic factories by the end of July.
Southwick and Long Island City are still being negotiated with the unions.
Garland is a non-union factory. That’s why the closure can be announced first.
The plan is to close them all at this point unless something drastic happens.”
Brooks Brothers plans for hundreds of layoffs at
Haverhill plant
By
Gintautas Dumcius – Digital Editor,
Boston Business Journal
May 17,
2020, 7:55am EDT
The company
pivoted to producing masks and gowns at the factory in March as the pandemic
caused shutdowns of its retail locations and its customer base began to work
from home. Now it's warning employees that it may be shutting it down
altogether.
Brooks Brothers converts suit factory into medical
supply producer
By
Gintautas Dumcius – Digital Editor,
Boston Business Journal
Mar 31,
2020, 6:05am EDT
Brooks
Brothers, which bills itself as the oldest retailer in the U.S., is converting
three factories, including one in Massachusetts, into a producer of medical supplies.
The
Southwick suit factory in Haverhill is slated to join factories in New York and
North Carolina in turning to the production of medical masks and gowns instead
of ties, shirts and suits.
Health care
workers have been clamoring for the medical supplies as they brace for a surge
in COVID-19 patients in the coming weeks.
The Brooks
Brothers facilities are expected to produce up to 150,000 masks a day, the
company said, adding that executives have been in touch with federal and state
officials, hospital systems and others about stopping the spread of the
coronavirus.
The company
said factory workers making the masks are returning to their workstations this
week, after a two-week “precautionary self-quarantine.” The company plans to
enforce federal guidelines for “social distancing” at all facilities.
Southwick
served as a Brooks Brothers contractor before the company acquired it in 2008.
The company
noted that Brooks Brothers has previously produced U.S. military uniforms,
starting with the Civil War.
“We
consider this a duty, and part of our DNA at Brooks Brothers,” said Claudio Del
Vecchio, CEO, said in a statement.
Del Vecchio
added that the New York–based company, which first launched in 1818, is “deeply
grateful to the medical personnel at the frontlines who are fighting the
pandemic, and we are honored to do our part and join our peers in retail to
provide protective masks that our health care system critically needs.”
The company
has 250 stores in North America. Retail locations in Massachusetts, which are
all temporarily closed due to the pandemic, include stores on Boston’s Newbury
Street and State Street, as well as in malls in Peabody and Wrentham.
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